Written by: Sara Hegy, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Dear overworked ambitious leader who is hungry for development, I am creating a series of development nuggets for hungry ambitious leaders like you. I aim to dissect critical life processes in very simple and scientific depths that help you elevate your self-awareness and the experience of life around you.
A visualization of what we refer to as your brain’s playbook (the set of instructions, rules, and strategies in your brain that help you make decisions).
The most important process to start with is the process of leadership. This is not a dictionary textbook definition of leadership or the phenomenon of being a boss of a team functioning at work in a certain context. No, It’s not about titles or positions; it's about how we lead our lives every single day, in every decision we make.
Leadership in this series as we uncover it is about the process of interacting with one’s self in the level of thoughts, feelings, actions, one’s environment, one’s surrounding people, and one’s resources in a way that creates the outcome.
At any given moment, you are leading yourself, the people, and the life around you. The question is: are you content with where you are? Are your past visions unfolding as you hoped? If yes, let's celebrate and envision the next steps. If not, let's explore together what might be holding you back, and how you can overcome these hurdles.
What’s different about this series is that it’s straightforward yet powerful. We examine complicated processes of the mind to understand them and raise awareness in proactively leading ourselves and the life around us.
In part 1, we talked about the simplest process of the brain: sensing information > processing > output. In part 2, we have shed light on the elements that execute the sensing process.
The question that conceptually evolves is, which part of you prioritizes what is important to you? And where are the key performance indicators (KPIs) instilled in our brains for this process?
What’s the intricate science behind the decisions you make every day? Let's explore the brain's decision-making network and how understanding it can supercharge your leadership.
To help you grasp all this process efficiently, imagine that your brain is playing a football game all day every day towards your vision, scoring goals and missing goals. The football game needs players, strategy, metrics of the game, and a playbook.
Your brain’s playbook
A "playbook" is a term often used in various contexts to refer to a written document or guide outlining strategies, tactics, or instructions for achieving a particular goal or handling specific situations. It serves as a reference guide that individuals or teams can consult to ensure consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness in their actions. But did you ever notice that your very own brain has a playbook?
You’re awake at 7 am Monday and you’re looking through your wardrobe, what will you wear at work? The suit or the dress? The suit, ok! The red, the white, the beige or the black?
You can’t decide but you feel like the beige even though the white looks better this morning.
My question to you is: why did you pick these suits? Why did you choose these colors and styles? Why did you choose those stores to buy clothes from?
Fast Forward, you’re in a meeting at work and you’re given one of two options: cut down the budgets consistent with the economic recession or hire one more experienced member of the staff that helps you progress the performance of the team over the next quarter. Which decision will you make? Will you trust the circumstances or your intuition?
All the answers to these questions come from your playbook and the execution of the strategy of prioritization.
A visual representation of the most important brain centers and messengers that are involved in your decision-making processes.
The strategy of prioritization: The art of choice
Prioritization is the act of making choices about what takes precedence in your life. It's about allocating your time, energy, and resources to the things that matter most to you. Effective prioritization is the key to leading yourself, others around you, and your environment effectively.
Here are the metrics that we scientifically know influence your decisions:
Values: Your core values are the foundation of your prioritization process. These are the guiding principles that reflect what truly matters to you. Your brain constantly assesses whether your choices align with your values. When they do, you experience a sense of fulfillment and purpose.
Goals: Setting clear and meaningful goals helps your brain identify what needs prioritization. Goals provide direction and motivation, giving your decisions a purpose. They serve as KPIs by which you measure your progress.
Emotions: Emotions play a significant role in prioritization. Your brain evaluates how certain choices make you feel. Positive emotions often indicate alignment with your priorities, while negative emotions may signal a need for reconsideration.
Long-Term vs. Short-Term: Your brain assesses whether a choice serves immediate gratification or contributes to long-term objectives. Effective prioritization often involves sacrificing short-term comforts for long-term gains.
Resource Allocation: Your brain constantly evaluates the availability of resources, such as time, energy, and finances. It strives to allocate these resources in a way that maximizes your ability to achieve your priorities.
Adaptability: Prioritization is not a static process. Life is dynamic, and your priorities may shift over time. Your brain's ability to adapt and reprioritize when circumstances change is a critical KPI.
Impact Assessment: Your brain assesses the potential impact of your choices on your experience of being alive and fulfilled. It considers how a decision may affect your relationships, well-being, and overall life satisfaction.
Now that we identified the strategy and the metrics, it’s time to discover the players in the field. There are the actual centers in your brain that are responsible for playing the game of scoring goals closer to your vision (ie. making decisions that dictate what’s important to you in your leadership process)
Centers of decision-making in the brain
Prefrontal Cortex: Think of it as your brain's CEO, the prefrontal cortex is responsible for evaluating options, considering consequences, and making choices aligned with our goals and values. As the CEO, they’re focused on long-term goals and objectives.
Amygdala: Think of it as your brain’s Emotional Advisor, the Amygdala is passionate about how you feel and is deeply connected to your emotional well-being. They provide guidance and input during your decision-making processes by being highly sensitive to emotional cues and signals from your surroundings. They tell you to react impulsively and swiftly to situations based on fear or pleasure. Their role is to also raise emotional flags, helping you quickly identify what feels good or safe and what triggers your fears or concerns. They play another significant role in influencing your decisions by attaching emotional significance to various options.
Striatum: Think of it as your brain’s Reward Analyst, the Striatum is responsible for assessing the potential rewards and outcomes of decisions. They have a keen eye for recognizing opportunities and evaluating which choices are most likely to lead to positive outcomes. The Reward Analyst assigns a value to each option based on past experiences and expectations of pleasure. They are motivated by the prospect of achieving goals and receiving rewards.
Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Think of it as your brain’s Conflict Mediator. They excel at handling conflicts and dilemmas that arise during decision-making. They carefully evaluate competing options and navigate the tension between different choices. The Conflict Mediator strives to find a harmonious resolution and guide the decision-making process toward the most suitable course of action. They are skilled at balancing competing priorities and ensuring decisions align with long-term objectives.
Neurotransmitters: When it comes to neurotransmitters, envision them as "Your Chemical Messenger Carriers" within the brain. These messengers play vital roles in decision-making by influencing our emotional states and motivational drives.
Dopamine: The "Motivation Messenger." This person is highly motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and rewards. They constantly seek opportunities to maximize positive outcomes and boost overall well-being. The Motivation Messenger encourages you to make choices that lead to feelings of accomplishment and happiness.
Serotonin: The "Mood Stabilizer." This person specializes in regulating mood and social behavior. They are essential for maintaining emotional balance and ensuring that decisions consider the broader social context. The Mood Stabilizer emphasizes the importance of collaborative and socially responsible choices in decision-making.
Gaba (gamma-aminobutyric acid): the "calm coordinator" or the "stress regulator."
This person excels at promoting calmness and reducing anxiety. They have a soothing presence on the decision-making team. They specialize in maintaining a sense of tranquility and emotional stability, ensuring that decision-making processes are not overly influenced by stress or anxiety. They also excel in handling high-pressure situations, they step in to keep things in check. They understand the importance of managing stress and preventing it from clouding judgment. They work diligently to maintain a balanced emotional state during decision-making, allowing for clearer thinking and better choices.
Glycine: The "Neural Stabilizer." This person has a calming presence and helps keep your neural circuits and nervous system functions stable. They prevent excessive excitability, allowing for clear and focused thinking during decision-making. They ensure that your brain's electrical activity remains balanced, promoting rational assessments.
Adenosine: The "Decision Reflector." This person encourages periodic breaks and reflection in the decision-making process. The Decision Reflector helps you step back and assess your choices from a broader perspective. They promote restful moments where you can reconsider your options, preventing rushed decisions and providing time for thorough evaluation.
Oxytocin: The "Trust Facilitator." This person is all about building and strengthening social bonds and trust in your decision-making. They encourage you to consider the impact of your choices on your relationships with others. They emphasize empathy, connection, and cooperation, guiding you toward decisions that nurture trust and social harmony.
Cortisol: The "Stress Guard." This person is highly attuned to your stress levels and how they influence your decisions. They monitor your body's stress response and help you recognize when stress clouds your judgment. They prompt you to take steps to reduce stress, ensuring that it doesn't impair your decision-making abilities.
Endorphins: The "Mood Uplifter." This person's primary role is to boost your mood and provide a positive outlook during decision-making. They generate feelings of pleasure and happiness, making the decision-making experience more enjoyable. They motivate you to make choices that align with your overall well-being and happiness.
Glutamate: The "Information Integrator." This person excels at processing and integrating information from various sources. They ensure that you consider all relevant data and perspectives when making decisions. They promote a comprehensive and well-informed approach to decision-making, minimizing the risk of overlooking crucial details.
Norepinephrine: The "Alert System." This person is vigilant, particularly in high-stakes situations. They heighten your awareness and sharpen your focus during decision-making. They help you stay attentive and responsive, ensuring that you make quick and adaptive choices when necessary.
Key takeaways
Leadership is about how we lead our lives every day, and in every decision we make. It's not just about titles or positions, but how we interact with ourselves, our thoughts, feelings, actions, environment, people, and resources to create outcomes.
Understanding the science of decision-making is essential for leaders. It involves a network of brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex (CEO), amygdala (Emotional Counselor), striatum (Motivator), and anterior cingulate cortex (Conflict Mediator). Neurotransmitters like dopamine (Motivation Messenger) and serotonin (Mood Stabilizer) also play crucial roles.
Your brain has its playbook for decision-making, driven by prioritization. Metrics that influence your decisions include values, goals, emotions, long-term vs. short-term considerations, resource allocation, adaptability, and impact assessment.
Balancing emotional and rational aspects of decision-making is critical. Trust your instincts, but also engage in analytical thinking when needed. Mastering this art is essential for leaders navigating a world of choices and decisions.
With the right balance of emotional guidance and rational evaluation, you lead with confidence and make decisions that align with your goals and values. In leadership, where every decision carries weight, mastering the science of decision-making is your secret weapon for success.
Outlook: The challenges to mastering the art of decision-making
Wow, what a complex network of players gifted to us in our human brain to help us perceive life, direct our steps toward our vision, and add an emotional depth to our experience!
In the next article, we will dive deeper into the practical impact of those brain parts in processing our stimuli and creating our output. We’ll also take a deeper look at a societal perspective and how to embrace the science of decision-making in making more informed decisions as leaders. Stay tuned as we continue to unravel the mysteries of decision-making and gain the potential to make more informed, rational, and fulfilling choices in our lives.
Here’s a powerful practice to embrace from this article: Next time you notice yourself taking a decision or realizing that you took a decision, ask yourself which brain center and or neurotransmitter is at play. Is it the calm coordinator, the mood uplifter, or the alert system?
Become more aware of your remarkable decision-making machine (your brain), and dwell on the experiences that motivate or inhibit you. Ask yourself those questions to help you reflect on the current effectiveness of your decisions. Here are a few questions to guide you throughout: "What principles guide my life?" or "What values do I not compromise on?" "How do I feel about this choice?" "Does this choice serve my future goals or just present comfort?" "Am I investing my resources in ways that align with my priorities?" "How have my priorities shifted over time, and how have I adapted my decisions accordingly?"
If you're beginning to understand the necessity of human development throughout the course of your life experience, then book your coaching call with us today here to explore how our leadership services can accelerate your path to success. If you're interested in joining our growing Facebook community for leadership development to engage with others on a similar path of growth, support, and inspiration, join here.
Sara Hegy, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Sara Hegy is an award-winning scientist and a leadership coach who is dedicated to helping other leaders achieve their full potential while being fulfilled. She grew up in an environment where producing results is a measure of self-worth. Hence, she always struggled to apply self-development teachings until coaching helped her gain clarity on her struggles and gave her tools to overcome them. Through harnessing the power of her mind and taking effective action, she graduated with honors, won a scientific prize, and her findings raised a$2.7 million research grant. She's the founder of her coaching business that globally serves. Her mission: Passionate leaders who create massively and live a life that they love.
