Active People Have Better Thinking Power

Just finished reading a fantastic blog post By Ray B. Williams on management motivation and how the brain can be rewired to think the wrong way.

Here is an excerpt from Ray’s post titled: Management Rewired: What Can Brain Science Tell Us About Leadership Behavior? By Ray B. Williams

Charles Jacobs, author of Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn’t Work and Other Supervisory Lessons From The Latest Brain Science, says the brain is wired to resist what is commonly termed constructive feedback, but is usually negative. When people encounter information that is in conflict with their self-image, their tendency is to change the information, rather than changing themselves.  So when mangers give critical feedback to employees, the employees’ brain defense mechanism is activated because that information conflicts with what the brain remembers and knows.

Jacobs’ views are supported by management guru Aubrey C. Daniels, writing in his book, Oops! 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money. He cites a study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) which found that 90% of performance appraisals are both painful and don’t work and further, produce an extremely low percentage of top performers. Modern brain research questions the validly of psychological testing, such as the Myers-Briggs test, used for employment decisions. These tests were developed long before we knew very much about how the brain processes anything.

Check out this fun and motivating scientist as he explains a bit more about why the “Movers and Shakers” at the office are so successful. This video makes the old 1970 managing mantra, “do the walk, do the talk” still has relevance. His book ” Brain Rules” is going to be a must read (or at least watch) for anyone who wants to get more from the gray matter between our ears.

Here is a link to his web page for even more great videos and info.