Otto Scharmer Become a fan
Senior Lecturer, MIT; Founding chair, Presencing Institute
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Capitalism 4.0 & Neuroplasticity of the Collective Brain
Posted: 02/22/2014 5:43 pm EST Updated: 04/24/2014 5:59 am EDT
Dear friends,
This is a long email, forgive me for asking you to read it. A daily task I challenge myself to do is to stop and think, then let go actually to meditate, even if only for a few minutes. In addition, I try to think of ways we can frame the way we share ideas and practice organizing in our communities. On an impulse today, thinking of both George Lakoff's framing studies and the stunning outcomes of Dr.Richard Davidson on Neuroplasticity and its implications of how we can train our brains in frames that build new ways of thinking, approaching solving problems, freeing ourselves for personal growth, --I Googled this phrase: 'Neuorplasticity and Moral values'. I found this incredible article! and my favorite wise-people, the Dalai Lama and Dr. Richard Davidson--- presenting a panel on how we can learn to reset our thinking in order to solve today's problems --- and they were part of a symposium at the (heart of darkness in my view) American Enterprise Institute! --- but the contrast was so curious, I had to read the whole article--- and then needed to urge you to read it--- at least the excerpt I'm sharing, and reflect back to me your impressions and comments.
I have trimmed the quoted excerpt from a much longer one posted in the HuffPost in the section: The Third Metric: Redefining Success Beyond Money and Power.
Title of Blog Article:
by Otto Scharmer Become a fan
Senior Lecturer, MIT; Founding chair, Presencing Institute
Email
Capitalism 4.0 & Neuroplasticity of the Collective Brain
Posted: 02/22/2014 5:43 pm EST Updated: 04/24/2014 5:59 am EDT
"..........The problem of our current economic debate is that we are trying to solve 21st -century problems with 19th- and 20th- century economic thought. That is: our discourse is stuck between "more markets and free enterprise" (2.0) and "more regulation and government" (3.0). In reality, neither of these approaches will suffice. Trying to solve 21st-century problems with 19th- and 20th-century economic thought is like driving a car at high speed while only looking into the rear mirror. That is what the economic debate looked like while it drove us into the crisis of 2008. As Einstein famously reminded us, we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them.
The present economic discourse does have three major views: 1.0--the authoritarian solution (à la Putin); 2.0--the free-market capitalism solution (the neo-liberal view); and 3.0, the stakeholder capitalism solution, which basically advocates "more of the same" in terms of the 20th century welfare state (the progressive view). But the problem with these three views--and the problem with Haidt's three stories--is this: they all look backward, they all drive into the future while using frameworks of the past. What we need is a 4.0 framework and narrative that is based on transforming the patterns of economic action and thought from ego-system to eco-system awareness, in order to innovate at the scale of the whole (as I have laid out here).
Neuroplasticity of the Collective Brain
A panel moderated by Arthur Zajonc, president of the Mind and Life Institute, started off with remarks by Richard Davidson, one of the leading neuroscientists of our time.
Davidson talked about the neuroplasticity of the brain, a concept that has replaced the older static view of the brain. Neuroplasticity is based on the discovery that the structure (anatomy) and function (physiology) of the brain are much more malleable by our behavior and the environment than previously thought. For example, recent advances in epigenetics suggest that our behavior can alter the expression of the genes. According to a recent study, even a single day of mindfulness practices can change the epigenetics of your brain. What follows from this is that well-being and its key drivers, such as generosity and conscientiousness, can be learned. Says Davidson, "There is absolutely no doubt that these factors can be learned."
Listening to Richard Davidson's intriguing presentation, I thought: Boy, the plasticity of the human brain is an unbelievable lever that points us to our ultimate leverage points as human beings: paying attention to our attention. It calls for a new type of leadership work that focuses on the cultivation of our inner instruments of knowing. But what would it mean to cultivate the neuroplasticity of the collective brain at the level of a whole system? That would seem to require a new type of leadership work that we all need to learn to engage in.
I followed that train of thought by structuring my own remarks around four major points.
One, that there are two sources of learning: learning from reflecting on the past, and learning from sensing and actualizing emerging future possibilities.
Two, that in order to activate the future-based learning cycle, leaders and change-makers have to go through a three-stage process:
• Observe, observe, observe: Go the places of most places of most potential and listen with your mind and heart wide open.
• Retreat and reflect: Allow the inner knowing to emerge. Share, reflect, and go to an inner place of stillness to connect with your deeper sources of knowing. Contemplate Who is my Self? What is my Work?
• Act in an instant: Explore the future by doing. Co-create rapid-cycle prototypes that generate feedback from stakeholders, which then helps to further evolve your idea.
Three, that in order to activate that deeper cycle of innovation and future-inspired learning, leaders have to engage in a new leadership work that focuses on cultivating three deeper capacities of knowing:
• The open mind--the capacity to suspend old habits of judgment by paying attention to our attention (mindfulness);
• The open heart--the capacity to empathize, to experience a problem from the viewpoint of another stakeholder, not your own view (compassion);
• And open will--the capacity to awaken and activate the deeper creative, entrepreneurial core that is dormant in each and every human being.
There are many examples of exceptional business leaders who embody these deeper capacities in different ways. Steve Jobs is famous for his claim that the only way to do your best work is by following your heart. Do what you love, and love what you do.
Another one is Bill O'Brien, the late CEO of Hanover Insurance. Summarizing his experience as a successful leader of transformative change, he told me,
"The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervenor."
What he meant is that what matters most is not just What leaders do or How they do it--the process they use--but the Inner Place from which a leader operates, the quality of awareness and attention that they bring to a situation.
An example of acting from this deeper place is Eileen Fisher, the founder and CEO of Eileen Fisher Inc., a highly successful women's clothing company. She not only uses mindfulness practices for herself, as Steve Jobs did; she also introduced mindfulness moments in her company, just as Twitter co-founder Evan Williams has done in his company. For example, at Eileen Fisher, every meeting begins with a moment of stillness.
My fourth point related to the pressing societal challenges that we face across societies today. The number one leadership challenge in today's major systems and sectors of society is the same. Leaders need to change how their key stakeholder systems interact. Instead of interacting based on a narrow ego-system awareness, they need to collaborate based on a shared eco-system awareness--that is, an awareness that focuses on the well-being of all.
What does it take to move stakeholder systems from ego-system to eco-system awareness? It takes a journey. A journey that we are seeing in many successful stakeholder projects in many cultures that moves them through the stages of "observe observe," to listening with their minds and hearts wide open, to accessing their "deeper sources of knowing," and finally to learning by rapid-cycle "prototyping," by connecting head, heart, and hand.
I ended by asking the Dalai Lama how we can apply the power of mindfulness and compassion not only to individuals but to evolving the system as whole. He gave two responses. The first one: "I think you know better [than I do] (laughter). You already have the experience..." He then continued: "My thinking is to emphasize the education. That's the fundamental approach." That approach is part of a major initiative to renew the foundation of education worldwide that the Mind and Life Institute is about to launch.
So here are my three reflection questions of this week: (1) Considering the collective paralysis in Washington DC, what would it take to shift the public discourse to a true dialogue? (2) Considering the evolution of capitalism: What would it take to take the eye off the rear mirror and onto the real challenges that we face in terms of Economy 4.0? (3) Considering the power of neuroplasticity, what would it take to unlock the neuroplasticity for our collective brain--that is, the sum total of our social, economic, and spiritual relationships?
Useful links:
Here is the link to the session: opening remarks by Arthur Zajonc, Richard Davidson, the Dalai Lama, etc.: go to Panel II link
The framework of Capitalism 4.0.
I will expand on these topics in my weekly blog posts here (bookmark this blog).
Follow Otto Scharmer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ottoscharmer1
MORE:Dalai LamaFinancial CrisisThe Third MetricMindfulness MeditationCapitalismNeuroplasticityPolitics NewsBrain ScienceMindfulnessTransformationBusiness NewsLearning
This Blogger's Books and Other Items from...Amazon
indiebound
Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies (BK Currents)
Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-System to Eco-System Economies (BK Currents)
by Otto Scharmer, Katrin Kaufer
Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges
Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges
by C. Otto Scharmer
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From Marcia: -- if you are wondering why I admire Dr.Richard Davidson so much, please find his speeches on YouTube regarding the Emotional Life of Your Brain and other talks about neuroplasticity, the healthful effects of meditation on the brain and body, and much more. His book, The Emotional Life of Your Brain is a triumph sharing the work of 3 decades of development of understanding the science of the functioning of the healthy brain-- and how we can maximize our own thoughtful power.
Please think about the points made in this article by Sharmer, there are points of action we can extract and apply to how we do our grassroots work and framing.
Thank you so much if you have arrived at this point in the email and are still not irritated with me for sharing this. My only goal is that we work together to bring all our 'tools' to bear on saving what we can of our planet, state, and dear communities of living beings.
Hugs to you all,
Marcia
Marcia Riquelme
608-446-1446
