Coaching with the Brain in Mind

CHAPTER 15

Neuroscience Platform—NeuroLeadership

You and your fellow students volunteered for this experiment, but you had not met before. All the volunteers watched this video, and it was really gross—car accidents and maimed bodies. Then you went into a small conference room and you thought you were supposed to talk about the impact of the video. But your partner acted like it had not had any affect at all. He kept trying to make small talk, and he seemed to have no reaction when you said you had felt like throwing up. His behavior added to your discomfort about the video. When the experimenters measured your blood pressure, it was way higher than normal.

In experiments such as this by James Gross and others (2006), the negative effects of trying to suppress emotions applied not only to the suppressors, the subjects who had been instructed to try to hide their reactions, but also to their partners who had no idea about the instructions. This is just one of many research studies showing that our emotions have an effect on others in our environment—even without their being aware of it. The human brain is superbly designed to share information and energy with others. In an organization, negative emotions can be poisonous; leaders depend on positive ones to facilitate collaboration.

Once we address the topic of management and leadership in organizations, we are engaged in conversations about relationships. A conversation involves sharing energy and information. Certain types of ...