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Leadership the brain as a prediction machine illustration

The brain as a prediction machine – Leadership part 2

Posted by Matteo Trevisan

In Part one of this Leadership blog I outlined how we actually see with our brains rather than simply with our eyes. So how does that work?

Look up at the sky.

What do you see? If you live in the U.K. there is a good chance your answer is…

Clouds… Lots and lots of clouds.

And if you look a little harder, you might distinguish the outline of a dog, or a fish, or your favourite leader. Our ability to constantly make predictions about the world around us is most obvious when it comes to the visual system. What are the implications of this when it comes to leadership? Read more

Emotional Contagion: Baby it’s cold outside…

Posted by Jessica Sedler

So it’s January – what’s that got to do with emotional contagion?

 

We’ve made it through the first week, hurray! But with a cold snap being forecast and blue Monday approaching, how will you stay warm? Physically and emotionally? And what can we actively do about it?

 

Well, we turn on the heating for our shivering muscles. We crank it up. Our cold bones get warmer; we feel better.

 

So what would happen if we did that with our internal radiators too? To emit warmth for others and in turn, for ourselves?

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Woman with magnifying glass reading emotions

Leadership part 1 – Reading emotions: How does it work?

Posted by Matteo Trevisan

Would you like to start the day with a happy leadership thought?

We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and—in spite of True Romance magazines—we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely—at least, not all the time—but essentially, and finally, alone.

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter is just one in a long string of cynics who probably needed better friends… and a hug. Personally I’m a little more optimistic about our potential for connection in leadership than espoused in the above quote.

Modern neuroscience has come a long way in understanding the functioning of our brain and, even though many mysteries remain, we now have a better idea of what might be going on in that fatty blob of matter which allows us to understand each other.

 

Leadership and motivated followers

 

This is not just a passing interest of course. Being able to understand people, and in particular people’s emotions, is an important element of creating motivated followers and leading them effectively.

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