NOT SEEING BEYOND YOUR VISION. The
tough road of entrepreneurship demands
total belief in the enterprise. It's an
invigorating state with a natural dopamine
high. Unfortunately, this state can blind
entrepreneurs to the need to get buy-in
from diverse constituencies. In these cases,
entrepreneurs might not have fully stepped
into their conversation partners' worlds and
aren't focusing on shared success and are
instead creating an unbridgeable gap.
These entrepreneurs need to shift from
talking about themselves and their solutions
to co-creating. This involves plenty of
homework identifying what the people in the
loop want from the enterprise. For example,
a business plan presented to venture
capitalists should document how revenue
has already been generated or the high
probability that it will be, since a VC's primary
objective is to make money.
SHUTTING DOWN OUT OF FEAR. Being
afraid is a realistic response to uncertainty.
When fear dominates, the primitive
brain takes over, releasing cortisol and
catecholamines, a hormone that's released
during emotional or physical stress.
These chemicals shut down the brain's
prefrontal cortex, or executive functions,
which allow for sophisticated strategies.
Instead of responding intelligently and
creatively to investors, banks, or customers,
entrepreneurs could freeze, coming across as dumb, defensive, or unstable for
partnership.
The solution is to acknowledge the fear. That frees entrepreneurs to change the
channel. Instead of protecting themselves they can pay attention to what is going on in
others and manifest empathy. The people they're speaking with will feel that positive
neural connection and cooperate. Researchers in Italy, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti, found
that human beings are wired with mirror neurons which pick up everything going on in
others' brains. When we approach people with empathy, the mirror neurons in their brains
synch with our own, and they feel understood and open to our influence.
NOT HEARING WHAT WAS REALLY SAID. Throughout civilization, effective
salespeople, healers, and change agents repeated what others had said to verify it.
Intuitively, they knew what neuroscientists have recently confirmed: Human beings listen
inefficiently, cherry-picking what they want to hear, and embedding only that in their
memory bank. Therefore, it is likely that entrepreneurs heard encouraging words from
investors who were actually saying they were not interested. It is absolutely necessary
to gracefully confirm what others are saying. For example, throughout the conversation,
ask discovery questions such as, "Where are you in all this?" or "How do you feel about the
pace of innovation?"
23
Judith E. Glaser
Judith E. Glaser was an Organizational Anthropologist.
She was one of the most pioneering and innovative
change agents, consultants and executive coaches, in
the consulting and coaching industry and was the world’s
leading authority on Conversational Intelligence®,
WE-centric Leadership, and Neuro-Innovation, and
was a best-selling author of 7 business books including
her newest bestseller - Conversational Intelligence:
How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary
Results. Through the application of ‘the neuroscience
of we’ to business challenges, Judith showed CEOs
and their teams how to elevate levels of engagement,
collaboration, and innovation to positively impact the
bottom line.
Judith passed away on November 18th, 2018
after a long battle with cancer.
creatingwe.com