Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Rewiring the Primal Management Talent Code

I came across an interesting book in Borders over the weekend, but didn't have the time to browse it more thoroughly. A few hours later, at home, I looked it up on Amazon.com. I found the description and review comments very interesting, and found myself following links to some related books and reading through those pages as well.

There were three books in particular that struck me as having conclusions that were different, but closely connected, and which combined together to yield something more powerful than any of them does alone. These three books are:
What do you think? Can you see a connection from each of these to the other that suggests a "bigger picture" regarding agility, collaboration, leadership and excellence? How did you connect the dots from one to the other?

1 comment:

Paul Herr said...

Hi Brad,

I'm looking forward to reading the other two books in your trillogy. I'm very familiar with Primal Management because I wrote it.

My thesis in Primal Management is pretty straightworward. Each of us has an elegant and sophisticated system of emotional control wired into our brains. This system is millions of years old and just as sophisticated as the human hand, eye or heart. This system uses emotions (pleasant and painful feelings) as proxies for our vital survival needs.

Companies that work harmoniously with nature's motivational engine, I argue, will harvest 100% of the motivational energy of their employees and thrive in the marketplace. Companies that work against nature's system, will harvest less energy and perform poorly.

My book describes five motivational hot buttons that lie at the core of productive human behavior. Nature built these hot buttons into our brains to motivate innnovation, skill mastery, achievement and cooperation. I show where these hot buttons (I call them social appetites) exist in the brain, which neurotransmitters regulate them, and how human being spectacularly malfunction when these vital systems are damaged by disease or injury.

It took me 30 years to write PM because I wanted it to nail it. Write a book that is so concise and logical that the business community would feel embarrased not to implement the ideas.

Let me know if I met that ambitious goal.

Best,

Paul Herr
Author of Primal Management
www.primalmanagement.com
peherr@primalmanagement.com