Bosses pretending to be leaders should watch this video!.
Has your boss really earned the Leadership position? or is it just "Authority" what she/he actions.
When people feel safe (have a circle of safety) they care about each other and collaborate. This caring, collaboration and work together exchanges create trust, innovation and success.
The role of a true leader is to create this circle of safety and sacrifice anything to protect it.
In the above video, Simon Sinek remind us how our four main chemicals that control all the feelings of happiness and joy, enable us to reward our activities to our best interests and how "true leaders" earned their position by activating the right "selfless" chemicals (no selfish ones); creating and defending their circle of safety around their teams.
Below a quick summary of what Simon talks about each of the chemicals:
SELFISH CHEMICALS
Endorphins
- Allow us to mask physical pain.
- Give us the energy to achieve physical task with no pain.
- Feeling we get when we accomplish a goal.
- We get dopamine when we achieve what we set to achieve.
- Dopamine make us focus to get to that goal.
- Dopamine boost is generated when we reach that dream.
- People love e-shopping because they get that feeling of finding what they were looking for.
- Dopamine is highly addictive: Nicotine, alcohol, gambling, mobile phone.
- Completion of Intense cravings for food release dopamine.
- When people hit dollar based incentives at work they get dopamine releases.
SELFLESS CHEMICALS
Serotonin
- Give us the feeling of pride and status
- When you win something and get public recognition. We get serotonin.
- It gives self-confidence.
- Serotonin is attempting to reinforce behaviour that encourage co-operation, collaboration.
- I will sacrifize and do good things for you so you can continue to do good things for people.
- it can get short-circuited: likes on Instagram and Facebook. but it is artificial as we did not do anything for anybody.
- Conspicous displays of status might offer serotonin but it is fake burst as we did not do anything for anyone to get it. The serotonin feeling eventually runs out.
- Serotonin is the chemical of leadership. Alphas get first choice of meat and made (special treatment) but it does not come free. Leaders will have to be willing to protect their people in times of danger as they are fitter and better fed than anyone else.
- Leaders are the ones who are willing to sacrifize themselfs to protect their people and do not break the social contract.
Oxytocin
- That great feeling of love and trust.
- Oxytocin is trying to get us to look after each other.
- Physical contact produces oxytocin.
- Business is about human relations and our willingness to trust someone we can trust our back and we are not going to get stab.
- Acts of generosity releases oxytocin: spending time and energy with NO expectation on anything in return.
- Givers, Recipients and witnesses of acts of generosity also can release oxytocin.
- Oxytocin make us more generous. Make us nicer people.
and one last chemical Simon did not mention on this talk (but in others of his talks) that also help us...
Cortisol
- The chemical of anxiety.
- Help us be alert to imminent threat.
- Make us hyper aware
Is your boss really building an environment where you feel safe so you can co-create, experiement and collaborate freely?
Would your boss really protect you and your team in case of imminent danger?
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