Read Online Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders by Srinivasan S. Pillay - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Srinivasan S. Pillay
Ads: Link
mind. 45
Brain science can help elucidate what is going on in the brain during mindfulness. Extensive research has shown that mindfulness leads to a better quality of life through feeling better and having lessemotional distress. In addition, mindfulness practice can influence the brain, the autonomic nervous system, stress hormones, the immune system, and health behaviors. 46 Mindfulness is more accurately regarded as emotion-introspection rather than cognitive self-reflection. Rather than “thinking” about the self, mindfulness results in people being aware of themselves without thinking. This has been shown to decrease amygdala activation, whereas self-reflection actually increases amygdala activation compared to doing something neutral. 47 Thus, this technique can be especially helpful when leaders are stressed or anxious.
A recent article pointed out that the human brain is spatially organized in a finite set of specific coherent patterns, namely resting state networks (RSNs). 48 These networks include default-mode, dorsal attention, core, central-executive, self-referential, somatosensory, visual, and auditory networks. The self-referential network relates to mindfulness and its role in self-awareness. This study showed that this RSN exerted the greatest control over other RSNs and is one of the highest-order influences over the rest of the brain. Thus, the network of brain cells that represents mindfulness in the brain determines most powerfully how we see, think, hear, and attend. Therefore, leaders should understand the power of the mindfulness circuit in the human brain.
Mindfulness reflects a steadiness in attention, but within this steadiness are different levels as well. For example, focused attention (when attention is focused on a task or object), open monitoring (where attention is kept in the monitoring process), and automatic self-transcending (not-yet-embodied knowledge) have all been shown to correlate with different brainwave patterns. 49 Focused attention correlates with beta-gamma activity (12–100 Hz), open monitoring correlates with theta activity (4–7 Hz), and automatic self-transcending with alpha 1 activity (8–10 Hz). An article in the Journal of Knowledge Management has emphasized that “in order to successfully compete for increasing return markets, leaders need anew type of knowledge that allows them to sense, tune into and actualize emerging business opportunities—that is, to tap into the sources of not-yet-embodied knowledge.” 50 These different states of consciousness interact with each other. 51
The application: In certain situations, decreasing stress and increasing focus may require mindfulness, which is an important but difficult-to-describe process. Brain science can help us do this. Although the process of mindfulness involves a certain stillness as the strategy, the results can often be quite concrete.
For example, Wong and colleagues described how Yantian International Container Terminals Limited (YICT) used organizational mindfulness perspectives (preoccupation with failure and success, reluctance to simplify interpretations, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience, and reliance on expertise over formal authority) to deal with institutional pressures faced by YICT in its IT management (ITM). 52 They also described how YICT coped with its institutional pressures during its IT development using mindfulness to generate very specific outcomes.
Essentially, mindfulness is a form of self-understanding that does not involve thinking but instead involves self-awareness. This ability to be “still” and to practice just “being” with one’s body and mind without active intervention has been shown to be critical to effective decision making. In fact, the brain circuit that activates when a leader is mindful is probably the most influential circuit affecting information processing. Without this mindfulness, the amygdala overactivates. However, brain imaging
Brain science can help elucidate what is going on in the brain during mindfulness. Extensive research has shown that mindfulness leads to a better quality of life through feeling better and having lessemotional distress. In addition, mindfulness practice can influence the brain, the autonomic nervous system, stress hormones, the immune system, and health behaviors. 46 Mindfulness is more accurately regarded as emotion-introspection rather than cognitive self-reflection. Rather than “thinking” about the self, mindfulness results in people being aware of themselves without thinking. This has been shown to decrease amygdala activation, whereas self-reflection actually increases amygdala activation compared to doing something neutral. 47 Thus, this technique can be especially helpful when leaders are stressed or anxious.
A recent article pointed out that the human brain is spatially organized in a finite set of specific coherent patterns, namely resting state networks (RSNs). 48 These networks include default-mode, dorsal attention, core, central-executive, self-referential, somatosensory, visual, and auditory networks. The self-referential network relates to mindfulness and its role in self-awareness. This study showed that this RSN exerted the greatest control over other RSNs and is one of the highest-order influences over the rest of the brain. Thus, the network of brain cells that represents mindfulness in the brain determines most powerfully how we see, think, hear, and attend. Therefore, leaders should understand the power of the mindfulness circuit in the human brain.
Mindfulness reflects a steadiness in attention, but within this steadiness are different levels as well. For example, focused attention (when attention is focused on a task or object), open monitoring (where attention is kept in the monitoring process), and automatic self-transcending (not-yet-embodied knowledge) have all been shown to correlate with different brainwave patterns. 49 Focused attention correlates with beta-gamma activity (12–100 Hz), open monitoring correlates with theta activity (4–7 Hz), and automatic self-transcending with alpha 1 activity (8–10 Hz). An article in the Journal of Knowledge Management has emphasized that “in order to successfully compete for increasing return markets, leaders need anew type of knowledge that allows them to sense, tune into and actualize emerging business opportunities—that is, to tap into the sources of not-yet-embodied knowledge.” 50 These different states of consciousness interact with each other. 51
The application: In certain situations, decreasing stress and increasing focus may require mindfulness, which is an important but difficult-to-describe process. Brain science can help us do this. Although the process of mindfulness involves a certain stillness as the strategy, the results can often be quite concrete.
For example, Wong and colleagues described how Yantian International Container Terminals Limited (YICT) used organizational mindfulness perspectives (preoccupation with failure and success, reluctance to simplify interpretations, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience, and reliance on expertise over formal authority) to deal with institutional pressures faced by YICT in its IT management (ITM). 52 They also described how YICT coped with its institutional pressures during its IT development using mindfulness to generate very specific outcomes.
Essentially, mindfulness is a form of self-understanding that does not involve thinking but instead involves self-awareness. This ability to be “still” and to practice just “being” with one’s body and mind without active intervention has been shown to be critical to effective decision making. In fact, the brain circuit that activates when a leader is mindful is probably the most influential circuit affecting information processing. Without this mindfulness, the amygdala overactivates. However, brain imaging
Similar Books
