Basic Leadership Principles at Work
In The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity-and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race by Daniel Lieberman, MD and Michael Long explore the powerful (and sometimes devastating) effects of dopamine on the human brain, behavior, and society. [1] From romantic relationships to addictions to politics, dopamine has a huge impact on our motivations and drive. Contrary to popular belief, dopamine isn’t the chemical that’s released when pleasure is attained, but can be more accurately described as the chemical that is released when we have a reward prediction error (the actual reward minus the expected reward). [2] Essentially, dopamine is released when there are unexpected good things. If I am given an unexpected day off of work, dopamine will be released and I’ll experience a sense of pleasure. But if I am already expecting a day off and always have the same days off every week, my brain will not use dopamine as the chemical reward since I have a high level of confidence that the weekend is coming. This doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy the weekend, but it does mean that different chemicals will have to be released to experience the pleasure of an expected good received over an unexpected good received.
Daniel Lieberman is an American psychiatrist with research focusing primarily on addictions and mood disorders. On bipolar disorder alone, he has written at least 15 peer reviewed articles and contributed 4 book chapters. [3] Michael Long is a writer, speechwriter, and educator. [4] This combination allowed Daniel Lieberman to contribute scientific knowledge while Michael Long was able to communicate very complex topics into accessible language that average readers can understand. While the book averages 4 or more out of 5 stars on most sites, this accessibility to the general public also comes at a cost. Richard E. Cytowic, Professor of Neurology at George Washington University critiques Lieberman and Long both for their writing and communication style as well as the lack of scientific rigor in their research. “Its overblown title signals a kitchen-sink approach—too much, too repetitive, too speculative.” [5] Cytowic also argues that the authors give little evidence for their claims about dopamine and make it nearly impossible for a reader to fact check their assertions. Further, Cytowic maintains that the authors consistently conflate correlation with causation, pointing out that the authors speculate that high rates of bipolar disorder in the United States is caused by the dopaminergic immigrant majority without considering other factors such as differences in health services.
This tension reminds me of what I have experienced professionally on many occasions. In a former role as a data scientist, I would present on data and analytics in Bible translation. With my analytics hat on, there are always many variables to consider, layers of complexity, and nuance that shapes that actual analysis. And then there is the communication of findings to a non-technical audience. A choice must be made to either simplify the content to make it accessible to the majority audience or maintain all the complexity and nuance for a select few to understand. I usually gravitated towards the former. But this strategy has its fair share of problems, because when people hear complex data that has been made accessible, they quickly want to act on the information. This leads to semi-informed decision making at best and misinformed decision making at worst. So every presenter of complex information has to make a judgment call on how information will be presented and who the target audience is.
Even as I was explaining the highlights from the book to my 16 year old daughter, she quickly threw out dozens of questions about dopamine in search of self-improvement. When simplifications to human behavior are boiled down to one very simple component, there is a risk that people will naively act on limited information without grasping all the nuance that exists in reality. Nonetheless, I found The Molecule of More to be a fun read that sparked interesting conversations with my kids on the drive home from school.
As I contemplated how the Molecule of More should influence my leadership, I was reminded that teams can be motivated when there are new challenges for them to conquer and when there are milestones to achieve along the way. While these aren’t new ideas on motivating teams, I hadn’t realized that dopamine is the reason that some basic leadership principles actually work.
So how does dopamine impact your leadership journey?
[1] Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long, The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity-and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race (Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, Inc, 2018).
[2] Ibid, 23.
[3] “Research,” Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, accessed November 21, 2024, https://www.danielzlieberman.com/research.
[4] “Mike Long Writer | Speechwriter | Speaker,” accessed November 21, 2024, https://mikelongonline.com/about/.
[5] Richard Cytowic, “New York Journal of Books,” Book Review, accessed November 21, 2024, https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/molecule-more.
[6] American Psychological Association, “Dopamine, with Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Michael E. Long | Speaking of Psychology,” accessed November 21, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYpqaxO9oU&t=70s.
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Christy
9 responses to “Basic Leadership Principles at Work”
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Christy,
I greatly appreciate your post, it may help me with developing a prototype next semester with a possible solution to my NPO. If I develop a presentation for college freshman how technical do I get?
As I contemplate your question about how dopamine impacts my leadership journey and your comment about dopamine not being released for mundane events, I wonder how I can use dopamine as an advantage to keep students more engaged in my classroom.
In your former role as a data scientist what provided a dopamine release as you examined the data?
Hi Jeff – in this week’s reading, what I found most fascinating wasn’t the topic itself, but the presentation of the topic, haha! I usually lean less technical to get a wider audience, but I think we also have to consider how will critics receive the message.
Any time I solve a problem, fix a bug in the code, or gain a new insight, I would get rewarded with dopamine. For me, problem solving is so much fun that it drives me to keep looking for more solutions!
Hi Christy, I liked your approach to your blog. As someone who has studied neurotransmitters for pathophysiological and pharmacological reasons, I appreciated the authors’ oversimplification.
In my leadership journey, I have had to be very deliberate to not try to multitask and to allow my H&N chemicals to solidify my dopamine reactions. I’m curious if you’ve noticed any areas in your leadership where you need to very consciously allow the H&N chemicals to work?
Hi Kari! I loved reading about H&N chemicals and felt convicted in my level of contentment. It’s such an interesting tension because God created us with drive and dopamine but also created us to be content in all things.
One specific area is celebration. I’m terrible at stopping to celebrate the victories that come along the way. Once one goal is met, I’m usually on to the second. A fellow leader once held an entire meeting to celebrate our wins, and we found that to be quite rewarding for the team.
Christy,
I also came across the article by Cytowic. I thought that he gave a pretty balanced perspective and agreed that the book did not hold to the scientific rigor. Yet, I wonder if a book is really meant to do that? I would see a book as something that should be geared for a broader audience while I would see journal articles and academic papers as something that should be focused on the technical aspects. Would you have wanted the book to be a bit more technical or did you like the readability of it?
Hi Adam, I really enjoyed the readability of the text, but as I thought about Cytowic’s comments, I realized that I need to have discernment when deciding what to act on with such books. It’s easy to draw simple conclusions from simple content, but this can be dangerous when there is nuance and complexity that is unknown to the reader. So while I enjoyed the book, I think I’d like to proceed with caution for such books!
Christy, you asked how dopamine influences my leadership journey, and my understanding of it is still evolving. From what I currently know, dopamine fuels my motivation to achieve, especially throughout this program. In your article, you discuss complex concepts. Reflecting on your own experiences, do you have an example of when you managed to simplify a complex idea for greater understanding while also avoiding the risk of oversimplification that could lead to misinformed actions, particularly in your leadership or communication efforts?
Hi Christy! Nice post and I appreciate your question so from my perspective, Dopamine impacts my leadership journey by shaping my drive for growth and achievement. As a leader, I’ve noticed that introducing new challenges and setting clear goal is a great motivating factor for my leadership group. As Lieberman and Long point out it fuels anticipation and also goal-oriented behaviors. This is a driver for my own creativity and ambition but also requires balance on my part to avoid being too impulsive or burning out.
Hi Christy, I like that you addressed the article by Cytowic in terms of your context. One of the things that I have found to be important is to have a balanced approach in any leadership position. There has to be the motivation or drive to puch through but there need to be attainable goals to reinforce and continue the effort. A while ago, we spoke about your interest in growing in your leadership role at work. Do you see what you have read in the last several books as giving any guidance on specific things that might help you go about working towards that, if it is still something you are considering?