Neuroscientists and psychologists are helping leaders to understand the dynamics of their own brain and mind to develop more effective patterns of thinking and action. Those beneficial patterns can be recreated, at a larger scale, in the entire organization. “Over time, this practice can help you take on a quality of strategic leadership: inspiring others, helping organizations transcend their limits, and navigating enterprises toward lofty, beneficial goals,” claim Jeffrey Schwartz, Josie Thomson and Art Kleiner.
Their hypothesis is that better, more strategic leadership can be developed by combining two often-misunderstood cognitive habits: mindfulness (clear-minded awareness of one’s own mental activity) and mentalising (paying close attention to what other people are thinking and are likely to do next). In a nutshell: “The focus of your attention in critical moments of choice can build your capacity to be an effective leader,” write the authors.
In most business decisions, people typically chose one of two basic ways.
The “Low Road”, because it favours expedient actions aimed at giving you what you want and giving others what they want, as rapidly and efficiently as possible. The other pattern, the “High Road”, often manifests itself as a voice within the mind, making the case for fundamental solutions with longer-term and broader benefits. “The Low Road is tactical; the High Road is strategic,” they conclude.
The Low Road activity is also known as “subjective valuation”: It is concerned with what is valuable and relevant. What’s in it for me? How much is it worth? How might we close the deal? What might others want? Though powerfully related to incentives of various kinds, these are not purely selfish concerns; for example, the Low Road is involved when you observe others being rewarded. The Low Road is familiar and emotionally powerful in business because it has real value there. What would consumers pay for our product? What bonus will our employees accept? What does my boss want right now? What must I produce by next quarter? How should we price our stock? But strategic insights — considerations of the purpose of the enterprise, and the long-term value it brings to the world — are more likely to emerge when you travel the High Road.
The High Road instead proposes a solution principally based on what Adam Smith called the “impartial spectator.” That voice within the mind is oriented not just to your desires, needs, and success, but to the overall long-term value of the entire system. What is he thinking? What is she thinking? What will they do next? are High Road questions.
The Low Road and the High Road are both oriented toward achieving goals, they can sometimes be hard to tell apart. “And yet the switch between them can make all the difference to your ability and success as a leader,” say the authors.
How, then, can you develop that capacity — in yourself and in your organization? Two mental activities seem to evoke the High Road. The first practice, mentalising, has also been called theory of mind. When you mentalise, instead of focusing on the desires and problems around you (and whether you need to intervene), you consider people more dispassionately, trying to figure them out, as if they were characters in a novel or film. What makes them tick? What will they do next? What are they really thinking about, and why?
But that is not enough, in itself, for consistent High Road leadership. The other necessary practice is mindfulness. Millions of people have been exposed to this basic practice in the context of meditation. Such you gain an enhanced awareness of thoughts moving through your mind. This practice also induces self-directed neuroplasticity; it changes your brain.
“The more you use your mind to shift activity from this circuit to the High Road circuit, the more effective you will be as a leader. You may feel called upon to play a more visible leadership role within your organization. And with application of the principles described here, you can provide the same kind of guidance for the enterprise,” argue the authors.
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