Harnessing the Power of the Amygdala for Effective Leadership
Harnessing the Power of the Amygdala for Effective Leadership
Understanding the amygdala’s role in leadership is crucial in the intense atmosphere of a corporate boardroom, where decisions can shape a company’s future.
The amygdala, a small almond-shaped structure in the brain, is an enormously powerful component of our brain. The amygdala is the command center for emotional reactions and the “fight, flight, or freeze” response.
If you’ve ever had an experience that when you looked back on it and thought, “What the heck, why did I react so disproportionately?” That was your amygdala. The amygdala perceives a “threat” that the rational you might see as “no big deal,” the result of that perceived threat is disproportionate and not usually a good response.
Properly managing these responses is essential for effective leadership, as mishandling them can lead to hasty decisions that undermine a leader’s credibility and effectiveness.
