As a system, the brain is super complex. But there is linearity to how the brain works, and that makes things WAY simpler.
Here's what happens with sensory data in the brain, and what you can do about it...
First, the majority of sensory data hits the Thalamus. In a nutshell, the thalamus will assess novelty.
Ever read 8 pages of a book and can't remember a single word? Ever driven down the highway for 20 minutes and didn't really pay any attention to your surroundings?
When we see something interesting, the thalamus knows it.
So....is what you're saying or showing really interesting? Designed beautifully? Novel in a delightful way?
If not, you're putting their brains in highway mode.
That's the case for design. Not ROI....BRAINS.
Second, we'll quickly encounter the amygdala, assessing for threats.
But not only are tigers and snakes and spiders threats...jerks are too. Ideas that will change someone's day, threaten their social standing, or make things unpleasant for them. Those are legitimate threats.
Is what you're saying going to threaten their standing, intentions, plans, comfort, reputation, etc.?
If so, get ready for some roid rage. The amygdala triggers the release of adrenaline in the bloodstream. Cognitive ability declines by up to 30%. Sensitivity rises. Aggression.
Next, we're going to see the hippocampus come to life. It's going to bring up relevant memory to what the person is seeing and hearing now.
And it's going to play the game we played as kids and circle all the differences.
You know what differences cause in the brain when the hippocampus is playing that game? Stress.
The hippocampus likes familiarity, and strongly dislikes mismatches between what you're saying and what that brain already knows.
Start with familiar before sharing the unfamiliar.
Then, and only then, can your message truly be considered by someone.
1. It needs to be novel and worth paying attention to 2. It needs to be nonthreatening and careful 3. It needs to be a match to some existing paradigm
...then...but probably not...
You will have the opportunity for the drawbridge to be let down and allow you to speak to the prefrontal cortex.
Here, you will be able to talk to a logical, creative, thoughtful, introspective, profound part of the brain. A part that treats information much less emotionally.
But you don't get automatic access to a prefrontal cortex. That's up to them.
And you know the hardest part? You're going to have a hard time with peoples' prefrontal cortices because even they struggle to have a relationship with their own prefrontal cortex.
If you're in the business of sales, customer success, product management, architecture, marketing, you cannot count on access to logic, creativity, and profound thinking centers.
The only thing you can count on is the first three parts of the brain. These are used involuntarily.
So focus on novelty, de-risking, and making the message familiar enough.
Then, watch for whether the prefrontal cortex does or doesn't enter the room. If it does, the person will be asking smart questions and digging in.
If they are asking weird questions in the weeds, judging, raising objections instead of questions, they are speaking from the hippocampus. The memory and judgment center. Don't give prefrontal answers to the hippocampus. It makes for a very angry hippo.
If you'd like to sign up to learn more about neuroscience and how it changes leadership, sales, marketing, planning, engineering, customer success, and more, shoot me a note and we can talk technique and tools to make your life easier and more effective.
@ someone you think this might help
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
A basic understanding of neuroscience will change your perspective on just about everything.
Here's a starter...
First, parts of the brain. Then we will talk about chemicals.
There's a lot of talk about the left vs right brain, but the first thing to know is the inner vs outer brain. The limbic system vs the prefrontal cortex.
There are three kinds of trust. They are very different from each other. Here's what each is, and what your business gets from each of them...
👇
Level 1 trust is trusting that someone else can do something "well enough."
Think of a potluck dinner in your neighborhood. This is trusting your neighbor to bring something, but asking them to bring chips rather than making something. They won't screw that up...right?
What you get from this level of trust is the ability to offload tasks that should go well but there's tolerance for mistakes and poor quality. You get to move faster, but you still have to clean up mistakes sometimes.
If there's one thing you learn today, it should be this:
the scale of...
👹------------------------🥰
Psychological Agreeableness
This comes from the Big 5 model of personality. Here's the skinny...
👇
Put simply, agreeableness is the extent to which a person wants to compete or cooperate.
Competitive people want to create sides, win, and prevail over others.
Cooperative people want to erase sides, come together, and help others win.
But it gets a lot more interesting...
On the high end of agreeableness, you will encounter people who care so much about others that they can struggle to understand their own wants and needs. They have a hard time negotiating for themselves, sacrifice their wellbeing, and struggle with decisiveness.
1. Experts are people who do a task or project well. When there is a job to be done, the expert gets it right, makes few mistakes, and has a high probability of driving great decisions, priorities, and precise action.