What if?

We learnt in the last post that our brains are not optimized, but rather a hotch potch of bolt-ons that developed through evolutionary circumstance, that the brain doesn’t function as a seamless whole but through an imperfect set of connections with a sometimes rudimentary set of information channels.  What does this mean for humankind surviving in today’s world? 

Our primitive brain is still concerned with only one thing – our survival.  And survival today, for those of us lucky enough to live in relative economic prosperity means social survival.  We depend on the society in which we live.  This means that the threats and opportunities to our survival depend upon our relationships and our ability to navigate complex and subtle rules for success.  If we don’t succeed the penalty is marginalization or exclusion from society, which equates to a threat to our very existence.

Our primitive brain struggles to cope with this complexity and yet is forever on guard.  Most of us experience this as a constant state of anxiety.  Our executive brain concerns itself for the most part with our relationships and our status, while our primitive brain worries.

The role of marketing has made a major contribution to this state of anxiety by portraying a vision of what it is to be successful in society, by associating this blissful state with the acquisition of wealth, goods and services that are needed to achieve a level of status that will mitigate the threat of exclusion.

What if marketing turned on its head and took on responsibility for alleviating the anxiety it has helped to create in people’s lives?

What if marketing helped people to feel validated and supported?  What if products were developed with genuine compassion for their customers and their anxiety filled lives?  What if companies and brands leveled with consumers and spoke to them honestly?  What if companies held their hands up and admitted their failings giving customers permission to be flawed too? 

What then?

Single-minded?

We learnt in the last post that our behaviour is driven by brain structures that were built for simpler times.  These simpler brains are superbly designed to ensure our survival.  To do this they focus on two things only, is this thing a potential threat to or a potential opportunity for my survival. If so, act.

There are two major flaws with this system. Our homo sapiens brain, let’s call it our executive brain, developed language and self-awareness, so that we can spend our entire lives in internal dialogue about the complex issues of ourselves being in our world.  The problem is that our primitive brain has no language to communicate specifically what concerns it.  It can only send messages to the executive brain in the form of emotions.

This is a very simplistic way to orient the person towards or away from something. In fact, according to the work of Paul Eckman, there are only 6 emotions - fear, anger, surprise, disgust, sadness, happiness which make for a very rudimentary communication.

Our primitive brain is constantly on guard, scanning the environment for potential threats or opportunities for our survival.  It is our automatic pilot, taking care of us, while we ponder more lofty thoughts.  This is how we can arrive at work with little recollection of the journey, and yet still react in an instant if something untoward occurs, because the primitive brain has sent an urgent emotional message for us to pay attention.

If we want to gain attention then we need to understand how our message will draw the attention of the primitive brain, what implications does it have for the individual.  Could it evoke fear of threat and turn people away or attract by implying opportunities for survival?

In the next post I will look at how this system functions in today’s complex world where survival depends on social survival.

Since Time Began ...

Today I want to take a step out and away from the day-to day-stuff of life.  In fact I want to go to the other extreme and take in a huge perspective – the history of life on earth.  No less!

Since we stumbled out of the primordial swamp (no apologies to creationists – I think you’re wrong) we human beings have been 400 million (ish) years in the making.  We have had 100 million years of being reptiles and another 300 million years of being mammals.  We – homo sapiens – only arrived on the planet 200 thousand years ago.

Let’s zoom back in. It is clear that we were built by forces of evolution to face very different survival pressures than we face in today’s world.  What then is our genetic legacy?

As reptiles we had a simple brain to instinctively deal with immediate threats to survival and opportunities to stay alive and procreate.  As mammals we developed a more sophisticated brain that allowed us further intelligence to deal with not only our individual survival but also that of our offspring, to provide shelter, to care and nurture. 

When we evolved into a homo species then our brains started to rapidly evolve intelligence that ultimately allowed us to transcend our day-to-day existence, to plan, to dream and hope; to imagine how we can achieve greater wellbeing for ourselves, our loved ones and our planet; to develop arts, science, technology and progress the human condition to a place and at a pace unimaginable even 100 years ago.

We are only aware of our human brain because this is where we have consciousness, this is where we think. The problem is that these earlier stages of our evolution are still present in the structure of our brains, functioning below our 
conscious awareness and driving our behaviour. 

We have three brains but we only think we think with one.

I will be looking at the implications of this in the next blog or two.

For more on this subject read ‘The Triune Brain in Evolution’ by Paul D. McLean.

Business By Numbers

Today I am drawing a comparison between the ‘art’ of painting by numbers and the ‘art’ of running a business by numbers.What do the numbers that drive your business tell you?  Which channel is bringing in most traffic, which promotion has resulted in most sales, how much the brand uplift, or God forbid, downturn has been as a result of the latest campaign.  As a mechanistic view of levers and pulleys the numbers can tell you which lever to press to uplift sales, share, brand or whatever in the next measurement period.  This is worthwhile and yet it worries me because it’s all too simple, and too near-sighted.

And I think that is both the appeal and the trap.  It makes things too easy and really the world ain’t like that.  We human beings are as complicated as it gets.  And that’s all businesses are in the end, a bunch of people selling something to another bunch of people.  To embrace the richness and complexity of what it means to be human, to deeply understand and to bring that understanding to a unique expression of what you can give the world through your business is to produce a masterpiece.

Do we want to produce a painting by numbers or a work of art?

Joining the Dots

I have spent much of my career working in consumer research while developing a love-hate relationship with the research industry and functions.  Love of the people, their passion and integrity (usually) and hate for the lack of respect shown to them and their own ineptitude in demanding respect, along with some entrenchment in out-of-date styles of research and communication.

My academic background which has underpinned my career is psychology.  I passionately believe that there is a wealth of untapped knowledge in psychology that is of huge value to businesses if a communication bridge can be built between academia and business.


Currently I am studying for a Masters in Coaching Psychology which is taking me back to my roots and rediscovering, and discovering afresh, so much insight into the nature of human beings.  

I am finding that so much of what I read, whether text books or marketing magazines, discussion groups or blogs, fires up a series of thoughts and connections between the different worlds.  Hence the title of this first post.

With so many new discoveries and so much to say on the matter I am starting this blog, at the very least it will be a way for me to capture and clarify my thoughts.  At best it might be interesting and useful for others too.

Welcome