Smile and Your Enemies Will Smile with You

President Obama has received some criticism for smiling at Hugo Chavez, but I think it’s rather short-sighted. Regardless of how you feel about Chavez, or Obama for that matter, no one can disagree that both America and Venezuela will benefit from a better relationship. Obama’s smile may just be the best way to get one.

Neuroscience has taught us that our mirror neurons will mimic both the actions and intent of others, and experiments in social psychology have shown that we will assume the emotional state of those we interact with. If Obama frowns and feels displeasure when face-to-face with Chavez, there will be more reason for the President of Venezuela to continue his criticism of the U.S.  The relationship is liable to get worse.

When Obama is open and friendly in his greeting, however, Chavez is unconsciously prompted to be open and friendly in return.  Not only does that undercut his motivation to criticize the U.S., it makes it far more likely that a good working relationship can be created and conflicts resolved.

But those with a more Machiavellian turn of mind might see Obama as naive and Chavez as the kind that is quick to take unfair advantage.  They would insist that Obama display his toughness.  However, that point of view ignores one of the most powerful strategies for managing an adversarial relationship.

I was once the target of a frivolous lawsuit.  When it came time to depose the person suing me, I eagerly looked forward to my lawyer having at him.  Instead, my lawyer was easy going and friendly.  When I expressed my displeasure, my lawyer explained that his approach was the best way to get someone to drop their guard and make mistakes. Sure enough, his strategy worked and the lawsuit was dropped.

It may feel good in the moment to express our anger, but it’s a costly indulgence.  It’s much smarter to keep our goal in mind, and behave in the best way to accomplish it. Besides, when you’re tough, you don’t need to advertise it.

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Values Investing

Last week, Benedict Carey wrote in the New York Times about a study on the performance of inner-city middle school children.  Researchers found that students who wrote a fifteen minute essay on the values that were important to them significantly improved their academic performance.  While the study was quite limited in scope, I wonder if there isn’t an application to business.

Our values are embedded in high level neural networks in the brain.  It’s been found that such networks can key the firing of ones at lower levels responsible for our decision-making and behavior.  When attention is drawn to our values by a writing exercise, perhaps it stimulates parts of the brain that make us a little smarter or work a little harder.

If so, it might make sense for managers and employees to spend a little bit of time every so often on remembering the values that are most important to them, and on clarifying the link between their work and those values. It just might help them perform at a higher level.  Even the smallest improvement would be a huge return on the investment of time required.

I realize my proposal might sound a little bit too soft for hard-nosed business people.  But the more we learn about how the mind works, the more we’re able to realize its fullest potential, and profit from it  This research demonstrates a link that even the most results-oriented of us should exploit.

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Bad News, Good News

When Jon Stewart interviewed Alan Greenspan several months ago, he asked why we need the Fed if free markets are efficient. The former Chairman’s answer indicated just how strong a role human psychology plays in the economy. He explained that our overreaction to both good and bad economic news needs to be dampened and that’s what the Fed does.

At the beginning of his term, President Obama was criticized for being too negative when he spoke about the economy.  Yesterday, he gave a more upbeat assessment.  CNN contributor Ed Rollins suggested a change in tone was necessary, given that our taxes our due today.  I suspect, however, there’s more to Obama’s strategy, and that he’s consciously managing the psychology of the American people. His example is one managers can learn from.

Brain science teaches us that the “unexpected” stops the mind’s automatic processing, and a failure or crisis is a powerful “unexpected.”  We’re stopped in our tracks, and so we stand back, reflect, and think about what we need to do differently.  This is a necessary step if we’re to change our behavior, but the accompanying fear also slows down the mind and narrows our vision.

When we’re optimistic, the mind speeds up and makes more connections. We become smarter. In tough times, we need to be stopped so that we can learn and change. But then we need to summon all of our mind’s potential to turn things around.

Managers should take this lesson to heart.  Hard times can be a great opportunity.  They prompt us to rethink what we’re doing and they make us more willing to change.  But if we’re to make the most of change, we need to be optimistic going forward.  Perhaps the most critical thing for managers to do in times like these is to express their confidence that things will get better.

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