The HBR Guides Collection (8 Books) (HBR Guide Series)

139

Chapter 10

Positive

Intelligence

by Shawn Achor

In July 2010 Burt’s Bees, a personal-care products com-

pany, was undergoing enormous change as it began a

global expansion into 19 new countries. In this kind of

high-pressure situation, many leaders pester their depu-

ties with frequent meetings or fl ood their in-boxes with

urgent demands. In doing so, managers jack up every-

one’s anxiety level, which activates the portion of the

brain that processes threats—the amygdala—and steals

resources from the prefrontal cortex, which is respon-

sible for effective problem solving.

Burt’s Bees’s then-CEO, John Replogle, took a dif-

ferent tack. Each day, he’ ...