Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice”
The iPod story illustrated a point that though a big successful venture can look like a single step creative breakthrough but in reality it is a multi step iterative process based on empirical validation than visionary genius.
Apple’s revival via the iPod bears testimony to the combination of “fanatic disciple” & “empirical creativity”.
GE’s fall in market capitalization over time is not something that should surprise us.
Jack Welch the CEO of GE loved playing the “finite game” with most emphasis given to short term performance and financial numbers.
Gradually this finite mindset , with the metrics focused on performance , pitted the individual employees against one another.The work culture started deteriorating and in turn employees lost faith in the work culture.
This was inevitable keeping in mind that the game of business is an “infinite one” with employees as the drivers of growth and success.
Had it not been for the $139 bail out given to GE by the US Government in 2008 , the once iconic company would have been history by now.
Simon Sinek in his book titled “The Infinite Game” outlines the finite mindset of Jack Welch and how it eroded the work culture of GE and hence led to the downfall of the once iconic organization , in the long run.
Please find below the links that highlight the shortsightedness of Jack Welch as a leader that has landed GE in a quagmire.
Source – theweek.com
https://theweek.com/articles/761357/fall-ge
Source – foxnews.com
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/general-electric-the-worst-bailout-in-the-world
David Rock in his book “Your Brain At Work” makes a mention of “Fairness” as one of the key factors in his SCARF framework to influence the human brain emotional responses.
Human brain is naturally oriented towards fairness and hence unfairness is treated as a negative emotional response.
The “limbic brain” inclusive of amygdala & associated parts e.g. nucleus accumbens which are key to the reward circuitry in our brain gets turned on by fair and just behavior , actions & environment in general.
Hence fairness is considered as a key in stimulating positive human behavior.This is why work places that encourage transparency and fairness in professional work environment are able to get the best out of their workforce.
Its has been proven by research that “fairness” leads to release of “dopamine” , “serotonin” as well as “oxytocin” and hence goes a long way in stimulating long lasting positive behavior and outcomes.
David Rock in his book “Your Brain At Work” talks at length about the relationship of human expectations & their interrelationships with the limbic brain.
“Dopamine” is a neurotransmitter which is conjunction with nucleus accumbens plays a major role in reward and motivational behavior in humans.
Amygdala is the region of the brain responsible for the release of this hormone “dopamine” which plays a very key role in motivational behavior out of risk/reward situations.
Limbic brain follows a “toward” approach for good emotions when the expectations are met and “away” approach when whatever is expected is not achieved.
When our expectations are met , the “dopamine” flow results in motivational behavior helping us achieve good results.
Unexpected rewards can cause much higher level of “dopamine” flow and hence can help us achieve much beyond our potential at times.
Worst effect happens when we imagine and expect rewards out of a situation but the actual results are far away from our set expectations and targets.This is what results in huge level of stress and downgraded performance.
Hence the best way out to avoid such kind of stressful situations is to lower our expectations to ensure that come what may the results would match our expectations.
Our limbic part of the brain has been inherited from apes and is known as the “Old Brain”.This understands only symbols & signals and has no power for rational thinking.
A couple of noteworthy components are HippoCampus & Amygdala.
Whereas hippocampus stores long term emotional memory for later recall and reflection , Amygdala acts as the thermometer of feelings.
The rational brain is a later addition and helps in rational thinking and hence known as “New Brain”.This is what separates humans from other animals.
The quirky part is that both “Old & “New brain” work in the opposite direction. A high emotional arousal leading to high limbic activity results in low rational state and vice versa.
Knowing these quirks can help us focus on top performance.
The limbic part of our human brain is responsible for all emotions.
A high state of emotional arousal is when performance starts deteriorating out of stress , tension , anxiety.
A basic principle of the human brain suggests that a negative emotion has a far lasting impact than a positive emotion.
Since the limbic brain and rational brain work inversely , in a state of high emotional arousal i.e. negative , effective use of symbols instead of elaborate messaging can go a long way in giving control to the prefrontal cortex as against the linbic brain to reduce the arousal.
This is how great leaders are able to stay calm and use their rational senses when confronted with difficult and emotionally charged situations.
