Every person knows that a persistent and stubborn desire to change does not always work. Often we are not able to overcome internal changes and understand that no beliefs also work. What to do and what is it connected with? How to act more wisely and carefully? How to better understand yourself, your own motives and attitudes? All these questions are answered in his book “The Brain. Instructions for use ”David Rock - a well-known business coach and consultant.
Who is D. Rock?
D. Rock, a business leadership consultant, has trained more than 10,000 coaches in more than 64 countries since the mid-1990s. David is a co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, which brings together leading neuroscientists and leadership experts, the founder and CEO of the NeuroLeadership Group, organizations that teach effective management, not at a standard level, but at a deeper level.
David Rock edits the NeuroLeadership Journal, leads the annual NeuroLeadership Summit, which brings together neuroscientists, psychologists, top managers from well-known companies, writes articles on neuroleadership for the Harvard Business Review, Fortune magazine, Psychology Today and the Huffington Post, and is a guest lecturer at many universities in including at the Said Business School in Oxford.
In 2010, David earned a Ph.D. in neuro leadership from Middlesex University. D. Rock - Member of the Advisory Board, CIMBA, an international business school based in Europe; Harper Business (2009), Harper Collins, (2006), Wiley & Sons (2009), the best-selling author on focus recovery and improving brain function throughout the day. Two David Rock books “The Brain. Instructions for use ”and“ Stop waiting! Take it and do it! ” published in Russian. David lives with his wife and daughters in New York.
What is the author of the book famous for?
“Neuroleadership” is a science that combines the achievements of management, psychology and neurobiology. In 2006, this concept was first introduced by David Rock. Key principles of neuro leadership:
- it takes time for the idea to mature;
- public experience matters;
- do less, but do well;
- work in harmony with the flow of energy.
For effective management, managers need knowledge of the brain. The companies in which work processes are based on this are more efficient, employees have less conflict and realize their creative potential.
Neural leadership shifts the focus from external motivation to internal factors. As writes in the book “Brain. Instructions for use ”David Rock, this knowledge is necessary not only for managers, but also for anyone knowing the principles of work, you can correctly optimize your time, adjust your reaction to stressful situations, hear and understand your body, and increase productivity.
According to studies at the University of London, the IQ of a person who is distracted by external stimuli drops by an average of 10 points, since the functionality of the part of the brain that is responsible for management and planning is reduced. And as a result, a person can’t even cope with easy tasks. But many managers are engaged in many tasks and do not control the flow of incoming information - calls, emails.
According to the canons of neuro-leadership, the solution to the problem lies in a conscious attitude to reality and self-control. It is important to stop in time and in the conditions of multitasking and turmoil to correctly build brain activity - this is what David Rock talks about in his books.
Can you trust him?
Recently, there are a lot of books on the shelves on the topic of leadership, management, written by business trainers. And the inhabitants formed a negative opinion about people who earn money in this way and often, like David Rock, who do not have a psychological or medical education. But there are several points that urge the author to trust:
- NeuroLeadership Summit, where professors of neurobiology meet and discuss the latest research.
- The result - among the listeners of D. Rock seminars - the world's leading companies, including NASA, Accenture, Ericsson.
- Recognition by the scientific community - many books, articles and speeches by the founder of the NeuroLeadership Group are commented on by representatives of leading US universities. Their comments are constantly found in the work of David Rock “The Brain. How to use ”, which will be discussed below.
What is this book about?
The book tells about the work of the brain, about its reaction to stimuli and personality behavior. The main difference of the book is that the author in it considers the problems that many people face when planning time.
This work is focused not only on sales workers, on managers, but also on an ordinary person. We constantly communicate with other people, regardless of age, material support and position. And wherever a person is, understanding his brain gives an advantage in all areas.
David got a great science fiction tutorial on brain function. He talks in simple terms about complex things. In David Rock's book “The Brain. Instructions for use ”- four chapters that describe a specific situation and begin with a case of“ how wrong ”. Then, after clarification and advice, the author illustrates "how to."
- “Problems and solutions”.
- “Keep calm in a difficult situation.”
- “Collaboration with others.”
- “Change and help change with another.”
What does the author say in chapter I?
The first chapter is the action of the book “Brain. Instructions for use ”David Rock consists of six scenes. In the beginning, the author clearly shows the reader the situation of how a person is lost when it comes to new tasks and decision-making. He explains in detail that the brain, on the one hand, is a very powerful tool, and on the other, it can turn into a child even a person with transcendental IQ, if you make him do two things at the same time.
When the brain is occupied with some kind of thought, a limited resource is consumed. For different thought processes, a different amount of energy is involved, and often the most important processes require maximum effort. What does the author suggest?
- Present conscious thinking as a valuable process and save it in every way.
- The brain is lost in front of a problem in which there are several solutions. You need to try to reduce stress, do something pleasant, agree on a postponement, in a word, in any way possible to alleviate the alarm.
- To get out of the impasse, you need to completely free the brain - try to calm the mind, take a break or do something simple.
- Insights come and happen more often when the mind is calm. Instead of biting into a problem, focus on various aspects. Simplify the problem, leaving only the main thing, and focus your thoughts only on it.
- Break working time into blocks with different types of mental activity.
What chapter II will tell about?
In the second chapter, the author explains that human emotions are very confused, and the limbic system of the brain is responsible for them. David Rock explains in detail that it is this system that makes decisions such as “away” or “forward”, and this happens half a second before consciousness learns about it. Under the influence of emotions, the limbic system is excited, moreover, automatically and in various situations.
Overexcited, it reduces the amount of conscious processing resources, and the brain, including “auto mode”, uses the deep functions. When working in this mode, an allostatic load increases in humans, which kills existing neurons and prevents new ones from growing. Therefore, the ability to control your emotions is not a pleasant trifle, but a vital necessity. Without this, success is impossible - neither in work, nor in life.
All human actions are connected with expectation, they affect the brain in the same way as actions: fulfilled expectations cause a positive, overstated ones - a stronger positive reaction, and unfulfilled expectations lead to a reaction to the threat. Therefore, the ability to form the right expectations is necessary. What does the author suggest?
- In any situation, control your expectations.
- Try to reduce them slightly.
- To maintain a positive attitude, find ways to make sure that from time to time the expectations come true, even the most insignificant ones.
- If positive expectations do not come true, try reevaluating the situation.
What is interesting in chapter III?
Few people have to work alone, and cooperation with other people, the ability to keep their feelings under control have become a necessity. Neuroscientists claim that the brain has its own social network, which allows you to interact with other people and understand them. Without receiving social signals, a person does not feel the emotional state of the interlocutor.
The abundance of social signals can also be a problem: emotional information can be transmitted to new people. For example, team members see a smile on the face of the boss and also begin to smile. Negative emotions are transmitted in the same way. A tool that helps the brain determine the feelings and intentions of other people is called "mirror neurons." They help to determine whether it is worth cooperating with a person or it is better to immediately abandon him. And in the brain for friends and for enemies are different neural networks.
One of the engines of community and behavior is status. For the sake of increasing it, people can go far, and the feeling of increasing it can be more positive than material gain. The decline in status, on the contrary, activates the neurons associated with the threat.
As David Rock notes in the book, the human brain is designed in such a way that a simple conversation with a person of a higher status triggers a reaction to threats, so it is important to feel others. There can be no talk of community when everyone wants to raise their own status. What to do?
- Take a closer look at how people behave, feeling a threat to their status.
- Reduce others' perceptions of threatening status with praise by lowering their own status (share experiences, talk about your mistakes).
- Play against yourself - it helps to better understand your own brain.
What is said in chapter IV?
It’s hard for a person to change and it’s even more difficult to help others with this. Recent studies have shown: the stronger a person affects others, the weaker they control. The fourth chapter is devoted to these features. The author talks about simple and short ways to improve other people's productivity.
Surprisingly, the ready-made solutions that we offer to others do not help to improve the quality of work and lead to a loss of time, so the best way to return a person to the right path is to help find the path to insight. The author recommends:
- to stop if there is a desire to offer a ready-made solution, to sort out someone’s problem or to criticize someone;
- help a person focus on his own thoughts;
- encourage a person to self-criticism and reward for it.
What do critics write?
Techniques proposed in David Rock's book “The Brain. Instructions ”, based on scientific evidence and can help everyone. No matter what a person, a senior manager or a simple employee does, the information that he glean from this book is a powerful tool that will help develop intellectual abilities and improve professional life.
What do readers say?
What is the opinion of readers about the book “Brain. Instructions for use ”David Rock? The reviews indicate that it is written clearly, thoughts are stated clearly: the illustrations that the author offers are from a simple life. Each scene is played twice - once before a person thinks and acts, “forgetting about the brain”. The second time the same situation is played after the characters learn to understand the principles of consciousness. Importantly, the book is easy to read, and at the end of each scene are facts about the brain and practical recommendations. A kind of ready-made abstract.