Risk & Business Magazine JGS Insurance Magazine Spring 2019 | Page 15

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.
in their brains and others' brains to get
communications back on a productive
neural path. Here are three common blind
spots and how to prevent them.
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.
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?"
Judith E. Glaser is an Organizational
Anthropologist. She is one of the most
pioneering and innovative change agents,
consultants and executive coaches, in the
consulting and coaching industry and is the
world’s leading authority on Conversational
Intelligence®, WE-centric Leadership, and
Neuro-Innovation, and is a best-selling
author of seven business books including
her newest best seller - Conversational
Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust
and Get Extraordinary Results. Through
the application of ‘the neuroscience of we’
to business challenges, Judith shows CEOs
and their teams how to elevate levels of
engagement, collaboration, and innovation
to positively impact the bottom line.
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