I read a moving New York Times Article today, where Daniel Goleman describes … Friends for Life: An Emerging Biology of Emotional Healing.
Goleman tells the story of his friend’s battle with cancer… “
A dear friend has been battling cancer for a decade or more. Through a grinding mix of chemotherapy, radiation and all the other necessary indignities of oncology, he has lived on, despite dire prognoses to the contrary.”
It is found that people … like this man … with good friends and family, recover more quickly from disease and live longer.
But now the emerging field of social neuroscience, the study of how people’s brains entrain as they interact, adds a missing piece to that data.
Goleman pointed out that, “The most significant finding was the discovery of “mirror neurons,” a widely dispersed class of brain cells that operate like neural WiFi. Mirror neurons track the emotional flow, movement and even intentions of the person we are with, and replicate this sensed state in our own brain by stirring in our brain the same areas active in the other person.”
Just the other night, over dinner with good friends I heard of a man being let go from a prosperous business because he had a throat operation which lowered his voice to not much more than a whisper. The mangers met with the man to explain to him that they had the company image in mind, and he accepted their decision and quit to save them embarrassment.
What could be done at your business to offer more of Goleman’s emotional support. How could business capitalize more on mirror neurons? What do you think?
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