Book Review: Management Rewired by Charles S. Jacobs
We know our brains use a trick when we watch our favorite TV show. The brain merges consecutive still images into a fluid motion and we observe action. Yet, we often insist we objectively observe other events. Latest research shows that everything we experience with our senses is also interpreted through the parts of brain responsible for memory and emotion. We consume everything we experience together with emotions it produces. Since all of us have different experiences, preferences, and abilities the only certain thing about what we observe is that everyone experiences a different version of it.
Other brain research shows that the brain parts responsible for higher level thought have the strongest influence over our behavior. This means that the proper way to influence someone’s behavior is not through explaining and demonstrating desired behavior and facts about it but through affecting one’s motivation leveraging emotion and past experience.
My high-school English teacher openly talked about many times his family showed him how much money he was spending on cigarettes. He was also well aware of health consequences of his cigarette addiction. Yet he would gloatingly say he loved smoking and he would never quit. I knew he was looking forward to having grand kids; his daughter had just got married. So I told him my dad quit smoking when he realized it was affecting his ability to enjoy playing with their grand kids; they kept coughing and could not keep up at the park. (I lied but I really wanted to help.) I could tell by his facial expression my little story caused a change in his thoughts. Still, he didn’t quit – maybe due to my lack of authority or importance in his life.
Finally, brain science also shows us that the more we do something or even think about it, the stronger the neural networks corresponding to that behavior become. This is why musicians become good with practice. Given that stories influence our higher level thoughts, repeating them to ourselves can affect how we behave and experience. So, repeating “you can do it” actually works. Repeated great storytelling ensures the morals of that story become guiding principles of listener’s actions and feelings. This is how great businessmen can rally their employees and how great politicians can mobilize entire nations. My English teacher needed me and others in his life to continue to story tell in order to galvanize his break with the nicotine addiction. He required a major paradigm shift before he could convince himself he needed to quit.
Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn’t Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science
This is — as always — a great review Tihomir! I really like the way you integrate your life stories into your account of the book. What happened to your high school teacher in the end?
Thanks, Jay!
I noticed that my favourite authors like Malcolm Gladwell and Jared Diamond were great story tellers so I try to weave my life stories into my writing. And according to lessons from Management Rewired and Made to Stick by the Heath brothers, others can more easily relate to us when we share our ideas through stories.
My high school teacher retired the year I graduated and we lost touch. The last I heard from him, he was still a smoker.