Kieran Flanagan - Selfish, Scared and Stupid: Stop Fighting Human Nature And Increase Your Performance, Engagement And Influence

First published in 2015 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

The Impossible Institute Pty Ltd 2014

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Cover design by Steve York, Cream Studios

Title block and heads graphic The Impossible Institute

Back cover image by Ian Butterworth

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the authors and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

To Kerryanne, Gary and Darcy, the least selfish,
scared and stupid people we know.

Dan Gregory and Kieran Flanagan are behavioural researchers and strategists and the founders of The Impossible Institute, an innovation and engagement think-tank founded to make whats not possible!

Their specialisation is human behaviour and belief systems our motives, our drives, the things that make us buy and the things that make us buy in.

Over the past 25 years they have helped develop new product lines for Coca-Cola and Unilever, invented new media formats for Murdoch Magazines, created interaction systems for categories as diverse as fast-food chains and government departments, and launched internal and external engagement campaigns for companies as varied as News Ltd, Vodafone and MTV.

They have also worked as directors and lecturers at Australias premier creative school, AWARD, lectured at the Miami Ad School, taught postgraduate students at Macquarie University, Sydney and the University of Sydney as well as privately coaching and mentoring CEOs and non-executive board members.

Dan and Kieran are also captivating speakers whose business acumen is matched by a rapier wit and rare human insight skills that Dan puts to great use in front of 1.4 million viewers as a regular on ABC TVs Gruen Planet.

Their mission is to turn Impossible Thinking into an epidemic.

An enormous thank you to our amazingly supportive families, who not only allow us to be selfish, scared and stupid with our time but have also been the collaborators who helped us navigate the world of human behaviour successfully. Special thanks to Kerryanne Gregory, Gary Fishburn, Darcy Fishburn, Lillah and Brian Gregory, Toni and Mike Flanagan, Bruce Gregory, Jodie Coates, Simone Carton, Bronwyn Flanagan, George Betsis and Mary Coustas, and Andy and Trish Healy. We love you all and you make the journey more interesting and a lot more fun.

We also want to thank the amazing colleagues and mentors who have shared the ups and downs of our business lives over the years and contributed in their own way to the writing of this book Matt Church, Adam Fraser, Julie Winterbottom, Leanne Christie, Heidi Gregory, Tanja Markovic, Rebecca Tapp, Lauren Kelly, Siimon Reynolds, Bradley Trevor Greive and Marty Wilson.

Last, but not least, thank you to the extraordinary team around us who helped to bring this book to fruition: Mathew Alderson, Kristen Hammond, Chris Shorten, Sandra Balonyi, Peter Reardon, Ian Butterworth, Steve York, Felipe Neves, Phaedra Fuller and Sharon Zeev Poole.

Know thyself.

Socrates

Why did you pick up this book or even decide you wanted to read something? Why did you choose your career, your employees, your belief systems, your partner? Seriously, what were you thinking, given most of the people you dated over the years? If ever you needed proof that we dont truly understand what drives us or the people around us, you need only reach for the nearest photo album or trawl through a Facebook archive for a montage of poorly thought-through relationship decisions, ridiculous fashion choices and some cringe-worthy opinions: unlike!

Given all of us are merely the sum total of our decisions, perhaps a better understanding of what drives these decisions, what makes us buy and buy in, is called for. This is particularly pertinent as many of the theories about human behaviour that are doing the rounds are rather flawed and tend to be based more on wishful thinking than experience.

If were completely honest, for the past 100 years perhaps throughout most of our history the focus of understanding what drives human behaviour (or behavioural research, as it is currently known) has been searching for levers, both psychological and physical, with which to influence, change and attempt to control peoples behaviour. The aim is to make us more obedient followers, better behaved children, and more productive workers and members of society; and, as our society has industrialised and advanced, more willing consumers and more highly performing teams and individuals. These levers have included some pretty grotesque options over the years, such as coercion, torture, kidnap, stand-over tactics and even slavery. Occupational health and safety is not something the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Romans or even Dickensians were particularly famous for.

The bulk of this effort has met with mixed success as models of persuasion have come and gone, and human beings have proved to be rather more stuck in our ways and less controllable than we had previously assumed. We are not machines, and trying to alter our behaviour is no easy undertaking.

However, this tendency, rather than signifying failure, has actually armed those of us who work in behavioural research and strategy with a better understanding of what makes the human animal tick, and in fact, it has become quite an asset in this regard.

Having observed all this, it is still true even today, that we do rather romanticise human behaviour, preferring to see the world of motivation, if not through rose-coloured glasses, through glasses tinted with positivism. We like to think that we are motivated by noble thoughts, selfless generosity, a courageous sense of adventure and a capacity to embrace complexity and work tirelessly to achieve success. (Hows that working for you?) But of course we are; its just everyone else who needs to lift their game!