Management rewired

by Charles S. Jacobs

How brain science can help us make smarter management decisionsBusinesspeople are taught to make decisions with facts and logic and to avoid emotional bias. But according to the latest research, we almost never decide rationally, despite thinking that we do. Our experiences carry an emotional charge, encoded in the synapses of our neurons. And when we try to deny what our emotions tell us, we lose what weve learned from the past. Thats just one of many recent discoveries that help explain why management is so challenging. As Charles Jacobs explains, much of the conventional wisdom taught to managers is not only inadequate, it produces the opposite of what is intended. The better path is frequently counterintuitive.For example, it turns out that pay doesnt really drive performance. When we do work thats inherently engaging, the neurotransmitter dopamine is released, creating feelings of pleasure not unlike a cocaine high. But when we work primarily for money, the dopamine isnt triggered