get smart about personal and enterprise vitality

© The BestWork People 2012

Get Smart AboutPersonal and Enterprise Vitality

Precious Gifts from Brain Science

For most of human history, people lived and worked in small groups

They knew each other alltheir lives. They told the same stories and did the same kind of work Elders lived to age 35

We who value prolonged high performance are challenged to develop a new kind of vitality for the modern age.

Table of Contents

Brief Introduction A Bit of Brain Background Challenges for Sustained High Performance How to Promote Vitality - Boosting Personal Vitality - Boosting Enterprise Vitality Current Insights from NeuroScience Conclusion

3© The BestWork People 2012

This eBook is about how to work better with the brain’s powerful wiring – instead

of against it

The human brain was not designed for modern life. Optimal functioning is disabled by:

Prolonged physical, social or emotional stress Information overload Insufficient exercise and rest Multi-tasking


We can stay smart and vital But it takes determination

Humans retain Neuroplasticity as adults – we can learn

Building new neural pathways feels good

The brain gets a shot of pleasure from new ways to contribute

We can actively promote brain fitness individually and in organizational culture

The adult brain is programmed to conserve energy by minimizing ‘new’

Stress of any kind makes learning impossible and promotes illness

We are highly vulnerable to ambiguity and social stress

Working memory is small: can only absorb small amounts of new information

Nothing new can happen while multi-tasking

Good news Bad news


A BIT OF BRAIN BACKGROUND


Cooperation – the basis of commerce - is as old as the first human

community

Developed over more than 200,000 generations

The brains of early ancestors are about 1/3 the size of

modern humans The brain reached it

current size about 1300 generations ago


It all started with a change in the weather…

Pressure from climatic change made increased cooperation a great adaptive advantage: giving rise to language, driving brain development

John Medina,Professor of Bioengineering, University of Washington School of Medicine

Humberto Maturana, Professor of Biology, University of Chile


Society, commerce and the brain co-evolved

Brain Body Business

Lucy

3,200,000 yrs160,000 gens

500 cc Male 5’ 100#Female 4’ 50#Walking upright, arched footSloped forehead

Cooperating and CoordinatingPrimitive toolsLanguage?Communities in Africa

1,000,000 years50,000 gens

1000 cc Heavy brow ridgesLess sloping forehead

Good cutting edgesCommunities throughout Asia, Africa, maybe Europe

25,000 years1,250 gens

1500 ccModernPFC

Male 6’ 150#Female 5’5” 120# Fully modern

Trading over thousands of miles ArtElegant toolsHerdingCommunities in Asia, Africa, Australia, and maybe the Americas

10,000 years500 gens

X X Horticulture, towns, competition for resources

5,000 years250 gens

X X Cities, warfare, taxes, writing

600 years30 gens

X X Italian Renaissance, bankingCan exchange without seeing each others’ eyes

230 years 11 gens

X X Industrial revolution, modern cities People become ‘pairs of hands’


While society and the brain were evolving

Our hunter/gatherer ancestors walked ca. 20 miles/day (children under four were carried;) worked about 4 hrs/day and rested a great deal

People knew the members of their group their whole lives. Tasks and exchanges were understood. Self-worth and belonging were not questions

How the world works, including social requirements, was learned long before puberty – there was little ambiguity

Change was slow

Stress was short-lived (predators, weather)

Population was not dense

Those who lived to old age were precious resources: the libraries and universities of their time


We humans make our living in exchanges

Exchanging with others is in our biology – it’s an essential part of being human

We’re highly sensitive about it – a matter of survival


Social animals thrive together – not separately


We become ingenious when others appear to be vulnerable

People mobilized instantly in 18 degree weather

The mood of the country changed


Interactions with others is the basis of business

and the stuff of human life

Casual or formal,monetized or not,tangible or intangible The brain is hard-wired to keep us focused on others, and on our role and status

When we’re not engaged in some kind of exchange, we’re often thinking about them


Social Pain and Social Pleasure

= Powerful brain chemicalskeep us oriented to sociality:

how we connect and contribute is crucial to how we feel

A broken heart is like a broken leg. Mentoring tastes like sex and chocolate

Matthew Lieberman and Naomi Eisenberg, UCLA Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab


We decline quickly when excluded

© Matthew Lieberman, UCLA, 200816

At its best, the human brain is capable of extraordinary feats

To question To learn To invent To create To interpret To communicate To choose


© Kevin Ochsner, Columbia University, 2008

18

Questions for our time

What puts people in shape for ongoing learning and change?

To thrive in a shifting environment?

To age gracefully and enjoy new stages of life?

To minimize suffering around change, and seize opportunities to contribute more?


CHALLENGES FOR SUSTAINED HIGH PERFORMANCE


We ‘think’ well under optimal conditions

Not when we feel rejected, unappreciated or unloved

Not when we assess risk or experience ambiguity

Not unless the arousal chemicals and neuro-modulators are “just right”

Not when we haven’t had enough rest and exercise

Not when we multi-task


The Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) – the executive function of the brain – is fragile

© Amy F. T. Arnsten, PhD, Yale University, 2009

22


23

25© Amy F. T. Arnsten, PhD, Yale University, 2009

24


25

The brain is bilateral

The corpus callosum is a large bundle of nerves - a very important structure that connects the two sides of the brain

It’s exceptionally sensitive to stress.

When stressed, the two halves don’t communicate – we lose mental dexterity



Ingenuity, innovation, learning and dexterity require both sides of the

brain

Using a tool we know, like a hammer, lights up an area just above and behind the left ear: Wernicke’s area

Devising a new way to use it lights up just above and behind the right ear

27

The uncertainty of modern life generates constant stress

Every day, modern business demands new exchanges, presents new people, new problems and opportunities, new information

In our daily lives, each of us is personally challenged to demonstrate our economic worth, establish our social status, sort huge amounts information, learn new tools and processes, maintain connections that fulfill our hearts and minds, and reassure us that we make a difference, and find ways to care for our bodies and our loved ones


Exchanging with others - the lifeblood of human society – has become stressful

We’re in frequent contact with people and cultures we don’t know – we don’t know what to expect

Our environment changes quickly: technologically, economically, socially, and sometimes politically, climatically

Peoples’ concerns shift in response

New variables often call for new exchanges


Ongoing stress reduces intelligence and drives chronic illness

Organizations, schools, families, communities could learn to work with a brain that is:

Naturally inclined to avoid uncertainty, unless it’s in the form of playHighly sensitive to social stress, disadvantaged working in a world bigger than our childhood ‘tribe’Working memory is small and easily tired Stress reduces executive function intelligenceMulti-tasking dumbs us downPart of a system designed for a great deal of movement


Thriving in a world where peoples’ concerns are continually shifting

That demands: Courage - To question - To take in ‘unwelcome’ news - To risk something new Fitness - To be nimble and responsive to a changing world

Requires staying curious about new exchanges

We’re challenged to learn a new kind of vitality for the modern age


?

HOW TO PROMOTE VITALITY


Vitality is systemic The drivers are interconnected

Personal Vitality Keep building new neural

pathways – be a learner, a graceful beginner Spark and feed curiosity Rest deeply and often Find pleasurable ways to

move Love and contribute Laugh and play Enjoy all 5 senses

Enterprise Vitality Keep building new neural

pathways – design your culture around learning and inquiry Spark and feed curiosity Encourage rest and

rejuvenation Promote enjoyable exercise Celebrate caring and

contribution Reward laughter and play Employ all 5 senses

All are required to sustain vitality


Boosting personal vitality

Remember that the drivers are interconnected Use all of them


Get smart about your personal habits

Keep building new neural pathways (cultivate Neuroplasticity)

- Choose something new to learn every year

- Vary your exercise; find new ways to move and play

- Use brain teasers or guided brain fitness products Spark and feed curiosity

- Avoid multi-tasking and information overload Rest deeply and often Move – exercise at least 3x week for 45 min – keep experimenting, find

what’s most pleasurable Love and Contribute

- Stay connected to people you care about; include others and be included

Laugh and play Enjoy all 5 senses


35

Are you a graceful beginner? Willing and able to enjoy learning?


Are you engaging with others who share your deepest concerns?


Are you challenging and expandingyour abilities?


How often are you really resting?

39 © The BestWork People 2012

What about laughter and play?


It all works together

The island where people forget to die?

There’s no 24/7 on Ikaria, but unlike a ‘modern’ island 3 miles away, everyone socializes with local wine, walks up and down hills to collects wild food, and enjoys living on and on…

Source: NY Times, October 24, 2012


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Boosting enterprise vitality

Remember that the drivers are interconnected Employ all of them


Get smart about your work environment

Promote Neuroplasticity - Rotate the job of sparking meetings with a kush ball exercise, a brain teaser, a challenge about someone else’s business

Reward learning, honor beginners Stimulate ingenuity by keeping stakeholder

vulnerability top of mind: fresh stories about customers, users, strategic allies…

Take stress reduction seriously Make resting cool; make multi-tasking and emails

between 7 pm and 7 am highly uncool Neutralize status with inclusive, collaborative inquiry Celebrate the pleasure of working together, and the

many styles of learning and working© The BestWork People 2012

43

High-performing enterprise cultures are based in inquiry

Promotes inclusion Neutralizes status Provokes curiosity Encourages neuroplasticity Cultivates learning and responsiveness to change

?


Generate the experience of belonging

Create inclusion with play

Create inclusion with sincere questions

Encourage gratitude


Cultivate curiosity and learning


What makes a question powerful?

Provokes curiosity Introduces a new

interpretation, label, graphic, sound…

Focuses on genuine vulnerability

Opens possibilities for contributing

A good question is a pleasure and an opportunity


Change is integral to modern work

A modern productive worker is someone who does a great job in figuring out what to do next. Seth Godin 10/15/12

Unfortunately, the imperative to continually generate new value sources ongoing stress

Thriving cultures ensure that stress relief is as important as seizing opportunity


Designing new value is a natural pleasure for an unstressed PFC

Interpreting vulnerability

Identifying opportunity

Devising ingenious ways to use resources

Driving innovation


Environments at the forefront of ingenuity and responsiveness

Twitter has a rooftop garden with turquoise couches

Dropbox has a music room Skype has a pool and

foosball room Facebook has treadmill

desks Airbnb has a nap room

and communal tables where employees eat lunch together

YouTube’s indoor slide

Source: The Atlantic, December 2012


Minimizing stress is a competitive move

Essential for enabling employees to respond effectively to a changing environment

The task requires investing in innovative management and infrastructure

The payoff is big: not only will it make people smarter and able to learn, it will reduce your health care costs


Building a low-stress environment involves some departures from

tradition

Rest – 3 naps a week optimizes brain function and overall health. Create a nap room?

Social inclusion – play and questions . A play room is just a start. Bring in juggling and clown classes?

New forms of exercise. Make stairwells interesting? Bring in Zumba, Irish dancing…?

Pauses for guided breathing?

Check out what market leaders are doing to ensure people are in great shape:

Zappos has a gratitude board

Warby Parker asks potential hires about their favorite Halloween costume


Smart management practices make everyone smarter

Neutralize status by articulating your most important questions and challenges. Foster inclusion with open invitations to address them

Decrease ambiguity as much as possible. Use fresh graphics and terms to focus challenges. Invent good metrics to track improvement

Be a good role model for rejuvenation. Integrate rest, physical activity, and genuine fun into your environment

Share your personal learning Reduce information overload Make multi-tasking a thing of the past


CONCLUSION


Whether you’re in business or not…

You’ll win by being a source of fresh, rich exchanges

What would your world be like if exchanging with you was the richest experience of peoples’ day…week…?

Embrace the demands of vitality: when the body is rested and PFC is not stressed, people can design and fully partner in any challenge.. In fact, they love it, and you will too


Curiosity is the silver bullet


Connection and contribution are the lifeblood


Exercise, play and rest are foundational


Ongoing stress is the killer


What is possible in life and in commerce is determined by what

the brain can doUnderstanding how it all works may enable us to navigate through another big change in the weather


Brain fitness powers personal and enterprise vitality

New forms of fun, exercise and moving Sincere questions, genuine vulnerability Fresh labels and graphics Breaks and rest Multiple senses: pictures, sound… Experience of belonging

Concerns for status Multi-tasking Fatigue Stress Danger/risk/rejection Ambiguity/change Information overload

Enable with: Impair with:


What will you do differently tomorrow?

How will you make yourself and others

smarter - more responsive to change and open

to learning?


What might be possible if you could leverage the brain’s powerful

wiring?


With gratitude for the thinkers, teachers, and researchers who illuminated the path

Marsha Shenk is one of the pioneers of Business Anthropology. Her models have empowered business leaders for more than three decades.

Synthesizing insights from Neuroscience, Linguistics, Somatics, social sciences and business, her work simplifies the complex cultural, biological, and historical forces that determine the success of modern enterprises.

www.BestWork.biz http://twitter.com/marshashenk


http://www.bestwork.biz/marsha-shenk

http://www.bestwork.biz/

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