The Brains and Brawn Company: How Leading Organizations Blend the Best of Digital and Physical

CHAPTER 6

THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX: MANAGING RISK

There are things that are potentially big in the future but small today—those need to be on the radar of a dedicated independent team with separate resources.

—Carlos Brito, CEO of AB InBev

Humans are naturally averse to taking risks, not because they are dumb but because they are smart. Our ancient ancestors could die at any time from all sorts of threats, and risk aversion became one of the keys to survival. It’s literally hardwired into the oldest part of our brain, the brain stem or “lizard brain,” so called because that part of the brain controls the primitive fight-or-flight instincts that we share with reptiles.

Doing things that we know have a high chance of failure is unnatural, requiring ...