Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

People are asking in most media outlets … Why is the Katie Couric anchor position with CBS dropping in ratings? I was interested in the New York Times take on this story as reported at DIGG.

In response to the flying questions I’d like to consider a brain based problem that Katie faces…

Have you ever tried to bring change to a highly competitive – fast paced setting? If so, you’ve likely met resistance at every angle. I operate an International Brain Based Renewal Center – and so have the privilege of working with highly effective change agents all over the world.

There is a core reason change agents, like Katie, often meet resistance from the masses.

It’s deeply brain based and has more to do with a change agent’s different approach than their ability to deliver successfully. Not always - but sometimes.

How so? Deeply fixed expectations for the normal routines experienced are literally hardwired into the basal ganglia of TV news audiences. For instance we might be convinced that news on other channels is less biased because it's always been reported as if that were so. Still, Katie offers a chance to rethink all the angles for innovative results. Not necessarily better - just different.

Fortunately – newly discovered capabilities of the brain’s plasticity shows how the brain rewires daily based on what we do, see, touch and respond to. We will rarely agree on changes that should come -- but that too is a growth opportunity as long as good tone allows us to disagree with respect to all views out there.

Katie is possibly slowly rewiring an entire cultures’ brains to value and respect another way of interacting with news. She is doing it in a woman’s way of reporting news and she is at the top of her game as she adds a multiple intelligence perspective to the conversations! It took risk to stand and deliver – when she knew she was first at bat in this call!

There’s hope for the rest of us who want to give Katie a chance to lead – and that too is based in brain facts. That rewiring I referred to comes to a culture - one brain at a time – and while the Hebbian thinkers will likely fight back to keep all male anchoring approaches – luckily Katie is still hanging in to suggest another alternative. Let's hope she holds the lovely distinctive she developed over a lifetime -- one that will enrich both men and women -- because it is uniquely Katie.

With the talent she offers – she can win this…. It’s just the way the brain operates. In the meantime I am throwing my hat in the ring for another alternative which helps to diversity our culture and return unique talents to the fore. Anybody ready to take the risk and give Katie a shot at bring her best to the stage for CBS Evening News?

What do you think?