Leading with Emotional Intelligence: Hands-On ... - always yours

86 LEADING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
things through versus being on “autopilot.” 8 The PFC is relatively
slow in making decisions (100 milliseconds), while the amygdala
is quick (15 milliseconds). 9 This means we feel before we think!
The amygdala can override the prefrontal cortex with uncontrolled
automatic responses.
Over the last few years we have gained a more user-friendly
knowledge base about the brain and leadership from David Rock,
who created the field of NeuroLeadership and has integrated the
works of many neuroscientists in annual conferences and in his
recent books Your Brain at Work and Coaching with the Brain in
Mind. Rock presents the work of Amy Arnsten, a professor of neurobiology
at Yale Medical School. She has devoted her career to the
mysteries of the prefrontal cortex. Arnsten reports that the PFC
holds the contents of the mind, especially those which we generate
ourselves internally. It has limitations, though, as it can only hold
so many thoughts. “It has to have everything just right or it doesn’t
function well.” 10 Deciding and holding what you want to see happen
while inhibiting the plethora of emotions and stresses drains your
prefrontal capacity and creates the foundation for an amygdala
hijack.
BRAIN NEUROSCIENCE: UNDERSTANDING HOW
THE HIJACK HAPPENS
We now know there are two minds—one that thinks and one
that feels. Research by Joseph Le Doux reported by Goleman states,
“The architecture of the brain gives the amygdala a privileged position
as the emotional sentinel, able to hijack the brain.” 11
The stimulus comes in from the eyes or ears and goes immediately
to the thalamus and then directly to the amygdala before a
signal reaches the neocortex. This survival mechanism lets us react
to things before the rational brain has time to mull over the situation.
Unfortunately, the hair-trigger amygdala can be sloppy and