Weight and Balance
I remember being the last person seated and taking my seat at the back of the plane. Exhausted from the conference, I quickly buckled in, began to rest my head against the window, and fell asleep before takeoff. In the midst of my sleep, the flight attendant woke me up and said, I’m sorry, sir, we are going to have to ask you to come off this flight. Defenses raised I defiantly oppose and ask her why? The flight attendant proceeded to tell me we are on a regional jet and this flight is overweight so I have to deplane due to weight and balance and since I was the last to board, I must to be the first to deplane. As I went back to the gate the agent sensing my frustration said it’s nothing personal but our planes can only handle so much.
Weight and Balance is the predominant theme that runs through David Rock’s book, Your Brain At Work“. The premise of the book is to understand how our brain functions. The book claims to make leaders, employees, and people more effective at work by understanding cognitive disciplines. His book is structured in a play-like format based on four key parts, which Rock refers to as acts, with the first two acts centering on our brain and the way it functions.
The second two acts focus on interacting with other people’s brains. One of the compelling realities Rock touts is the biological limits to mental performance. This is tied to the prefrontal cortex which is the layer of the brain that allows us to make decisions and solve problems. The prefrontal cortex chews up our metabolic food like glucose and oxygen. When we use them up we don’t have much for the next activity. As I think about the many instances where I am feeling lethargic or exhausted after engaging in one meeting, session, or conversation, it now makes perfect sense. I can think back to our Oxford intensive and Martin Percy’s lecture. Sitting in anticipation of this master educator and hearing his perspective on Christ and the church was both edifying and riveting. At the conclusion of his didactic dump, I just had to sit in my seat for a minute, take a few breaths and unpack. Why?? Because Martin Percy violated my prefrontal cortex!
The second half of the book deals with how to interact with other people’s brains. This touches on Threshold Concepts of sorts. We often think we know how to release someone’s brain, we have sayings such back calm down or try not to think about it, but Rock puts forth several fundamental truths worth following. He addresses this in his five scenes of collaborating with others:
• Turning Enemies into Friends
• When Everything Seems Unfair
• The Battle for Status
• When Other People lose the Plot
• The Culture that Needs to Transform
What resonates with me is the false propensities and methodologies we engage in as leaders with the end game of changing a person’s mind. Leaders are tasked with the ultimate responsibility of leading but many fall short, expending failing energy trying to change people. However, It is widely proven you cannot change a person until they are willing to change their mind. Changing one’s mind will not come the conventional route, Rock believes creating a change is by creating a safe space, allowing people to have insight to think for themselves. “While the easy answer may seem to give people feedback, real change happens when people see things they have never seen before. “[1]
When a person is allowed to think and articulate for themselves, this creates a sense of safety helping to put the mind at ease and goals can be accomplished. As the mind has goals of its own the leader must skillfully navigate between the successful balance of an individual’s goals and the goals of a leader/ organization. “…until people’s minds are at ease, focusing their attention on your goals is an uphill battle.“[2]
This book parallels to Simon Walker’s Undefended Leader as front and back stages are reintroduced. The basil ganglia is the part of the brain that stores routine functions. Rock suggests patterned thinking to create space to make our brains more effective. “The more you use a pattern, the less attention you will need to pay doing the task and the more you’ll be able to do at one time.”[3]
As he makes his case for how the human species has limited brain capacity and the need to pay attention is somewhat synonymous with Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast Thinking Slow book where he introduces system 2 thinking as a means of slowing down.
Your Brain at Work gives us a better understanding of our mental makeup with practical assistance. I must admit my initial reaction was here is another uppity scholarly brain book with some low-hanging self-help fruit. However, after reading and digesting this, It quickly moved me from low-hanging fruit to good-quality meat! At times while reading this, it felt like I was back in church similar to when the pastor is preaching and it is one of those sermons where you felt like the pastor was in your house, talking directly to you all while stepping on your toes and convicting you in the same message.
Secondly, it gives a deeper insight with a behind the curtain view of audiences and their capacity to receive. The conflict for me arises as Rock asserts the brain can only focus on one thing at a time. I, like many are forced daily to juggle multiple thoughts, tasks and assignments which fall into my lap, and the tension arises with the understanding limited cognitive capacity breeds the potential threat for dropping the ball and ineffectiveness.
While Rocks blueprint is both credible and reasonable my thought is how realistic is one at a time when life keeps life-ing?
[1] David Rock, Your Brain at Work; Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. (New York: Harper Business, 2020), 220.
[2] Rock, 229.
[3] Rock, 40.
About the Author
Daren Jaime
16 responses to “Weight and Balance”
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Daren,
Nicely written, in my Interviewing and Documentation class that I teach, we talk a lot about the stages of change. Precontemplation is the first stage and the person typically doesn’t want to change or doesn’t recognize the need to change. They don’t realize how their behavior is a weight and balance issue not only in their life but also in the lives of others. The worker’s job then is to help the person see and understand the need for change. In Motivational Interviewing the worker tries to introduce ambivalence, where the person must wrestle with liking the behavior at the same time not liking some aspects of the behavior. For example, a person might say they like drinking because they feel more relaxed and social, yet they don’t like the hangovers and the expense of the drinks. This would be like the leader getting a worker to acknowledge the benefits they get from doing what they are doing (their goals) yet also seeing how their behaviors and ideas might be harming the organization as a whole which inevitably impacts them. In my class students learn that they must create the safe space that people need to assess their current situation and on their own change their minds.
After reading this book, have you decided to change and is there maybe one thing that you are going to do differently to help you juggle your busy schedule more effectively?
Hey Jeff. Thank you for those golden nuggets, they are valuable. I also like how you talked about creating a safe space, because sometimes the lack of a safe space is a major pathway to problems. My takeaway is with the prefrontal cortex. Looking to tackle the heavy first as opposed to last could be an energy saver. Sometimes I am guilty of dealing with the heavy last as a means to avoid the anxiety of how much energy it takes, but putting those things first may be helpful and a game changer.
Daren, thank you for your blog post. Your final question alludes to your resistance to Rock’s assessment of multitasking. Do you ultimately agree with his assessment but don’t like it, or do you disagree with it? Would you unpack this a little more?
Hi Daren, I am putting a related question here – maybe they can be answered in one? What evidence do you have that thinking about more than one thing at a time is needed? Life is still happening, but do we need to ‘think’ about more than one thing at a time? And thanks for this post, it was so clear and great connections.
Hey Julie! My answer to Chad speaks to some of this, but I think it is inevitable to have to think of more than one thing at a time. Through this reading, I’m learning the worth of prioritizing my thoughts and the subsequent actions I may need to take. This book was a good reminder against overloading, which sometimes is my plight.
Hey Chad! In reading Rock’s analysis at first glance i felt like there is no hope for the multi tasker. However, his assertion does make sense as we can only comprehend but so much. The truth is I agree with it for the most part and I don’t like it because I am forced to multi-task more than I care to. What I do takeaway is my need to monitor what I bring on stage and how to shuttle those things off more effectively.
Thank you Daren. I like your last question, but let me turn it back on you: What do you think about when you hear the question, “How realistic is it to think about one thing at a time when life keeps on ‘life-ing’?” 😉
Hey Debbie. My answer to julie has a lot of my response to this. It is surely uncommon to only think of one thing at a time, but I believe Rock was helpful in helping outline a plan to balance our thoughts. He also reaffirmed the energy we spend in thoughts and the draining effect that accompanies it. Front-loading hard tasks and complex things are definitely a great alternative to my normal routine. I’m looking forward to making this shift.
Hey Daren,
I loved your reflection on ” false propensities and methodologies we engage in as leaders with the end game of changing a person’s mind. Leaders are tasked with the ultimate responsibility of leading but many fall short, expending failing energy trying to change people. However, It is widely proven you cannot change a person until they are willing to change their mind.”
How does this perspective compare to your own thoughts on good leadership?
Chris, you hit the nail on the head. Good leadership must lead and not get into mental wars, which at times leads to negative results. Sometimes, the energy expended in trying to change one’s mind is futile and stagnates our leadership. I do like his perspective on helping others see the unseen. This can bring forth a new perspective or put the ball in someone else’s court rather than keeping it in our hands. That is one way I believe a leader can lead more effectively.
Hi Daren,
Ugh to the plane incident. I’m sure you handled it with grace.
You pulled out sections of Rock’s book that definitely connected with my NPO, and I imagine with yours as well. When people can articulate for themselves, they have a sense of safety.
How do you imagine that will play out with your NPO population?
Hey Nancy, I almost handled it differently. (laughing) I believe that when there is a safe space, honesty and transparency can come forth. Creating that and allowing my demographic to think for themselves is a win. I often say we must connect before we can correct and giving space allows the possibility to lead with results.
I also believe taking the initiative to think about what others are thinking about is a win. The issues surrounding young adults, family, and finances, good vs. evil, are on the minds of young adults. It’s refreshing to know someone is thinking about you or the things that are weighing in your mind, and the more intentional we become in doing so, the better the chance of reaching a person/ group.
Daren, thanks for a great read. Im curious to hear more about your response to Nancy. How are you applying this insight to your NPO and the steps you’ll take to imagine a more intergenerational church?
For example, I hear lots of people talk about the importance of “safe space” but also know that it will look different depending on the audience’s needs so would be great to hear about what you feel will be required to build this in your setting.
Thanks for your post Daren. Its a great reminder as a leader who wants to see people transformed by the Good News that are job is to create a safe space where people can grow. How his Rock’s book impacted your leadership this week?
Daren, I love your interaction with Rock’s scenes of collaborating with others. You wrote, “Rock believes creating a change is by creating a safe space, allowing people to have insight to think for themselves.” This is so good. How might pastoral leaders go about doing this a context where there are multiple, often polarized opinions?
Hi Daren,
I enjoyed your post. Your question at the end, “While Rocks blueprint is both credible and reasonable my thought is how realistic is one at a time when life keeps life-ing?” is credible. In what area of your life could you try the “one at a time” to see if it can work during “life-ing”?