Mark Bowden - Tame the Primitive Brain: 28 Ways in 28 Days to Manage the Most Impulsive Behaviors at Work

Contents

Praise for Tame the Primitive Brain

If you keep on doing what you do youll keep on getting what youve gotthats never been a problem for me as a confirmed masochistbut for the rest of you, this book offers a clear, concise and above all entertaining way to take control.

Tim Fountain , notoriously depraved egomaniac and author of Rude Britannia

If you think youre highly evolved and easily able to manage your reactions and emotions, think again. Mark Bowden combines thoroughly researched and accessibly presented science with real-world examples from a wide range of business situations to create a highly readable and practical system for understanding and working with your lizard brain to radically improve your effectiveness at work. Tame the Primitive Brain is now on the must-read list for all of my executive clients.

Karen Wright , leader in the field of corporate coaching and author of The Complete Executive: The 10-Step System for Great Leadership Performance

Tame the Primitive Brain is a fascinating book because it not only provides valuable insight into how your brain works in different situations, but also gives practical advice on how to communicate with and manage your reactions to others. If you want to be successful in your business and personal relationships, buy this book now!

Victoria Stilwell , canine behavioral expert and author of Its Me or the Dog

Tame the Primitive Brain is enormously practical, humorous, relevant, and accessible. You have laid out the red carpet for anyone who has an interest in growing past the implications and consequences of automatic behavior in the workplace, both their own and from those around them.

James DeStephanis , Instructor, Self-Development Lab, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management

Cover image: Getty Images: MedicalRF.com ; iStockPhoto: OKS_Mit

Cover design: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright Mark Bowden 2013. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Bowden, Mark, 1970

Tame the primitive brain : 28 ways in 28 days to manage the most impulsive behaviors at work/Mark Bowden.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-118-43698-1 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-56690-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-56673-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-56650-3 (ebk)

1. Social institutions. 2. Social systems. 3. Human behavior. I. Title.

HM826.B69 2013

306dc23

2012041637

To Tracey:

For wrangling my impulsive behavior at work, along with that of our tribes at home .

I love you

Acknowledgments

A huge thanks, first, to all my family, friends, and colleagues who have helped in their various ways to corral this book into something unique and to be proud ofmost especially: Bruce Van RynBocking for your expertise, insight, and supportive input; Tracey Thomson, for your brilliant ideas and guidance throughout every stage of this process; and Michael Bungay Stanier and Michael Leckie, who are the most resplendently well-humored colleagues one could hope for to whitewash this fence. Thanks also to: Shaun Prendergast, you are the stuff of legend; Den, your genius is a constant guide; Jennifer La Trobe, for your opinions and care and always being there (for whatever reason or none at all); Dan Trommater and Daniel Tomlinson, for your knowledge of the solid and the ephemeral; Toni Grates, for Namaste Bitches; Michael Turnbull, for your hair and approach to design; Rodd Olmstead, Jaime Almond, Adam Green and James DeStephanis, for your input and generous beta testing; and Ian Young, for being a winner.

I am grateful, as well, to my literary agent, Carolyn Forde, at Westwood Creative Artists, and to Adrianna Johnson, Christine Moore, and Lauren Freestone at Wiley, for their focused advice, unwaveringly positive attitude, and what has, at times, felt to me like fanatical support.

To Mum and Dad, Ann, Helen, and David The Bad Dogg Bowden, thanks for buying me all those Asterix the Gaul books so that Ren Goscinny and Albert Uderzo could help me to !@#$ing read and write.

To Thomas, Jack, Emily, Daniel, Peter, Robert, Steve, and Hannah, thanks for coming by every time I am home in England.

Finally, to my children Lex and Stella: Thank you both for asking what I am writing, and being interested in hearing about my book about dinosaurs, brains, and making friends. I love you both and hope you will both read this book one day.

Preface

I have been thinking, speaking about, and researching the primitive brain for many years now. Some people say that I am an expert in the field. Be that as it may, Id like to give a shout out to my friend and coworker Bruce Van RynBocking as someone whose own expertise in this same area has really expanded my understanding as to why people often behave in the impulsive ways they do. A number of the most important ideas in this book were directly influenced by him.

I first met Bruce after giving one of my keynote speeches about body language; my purpose was to help a business audience understand how our primitive reptilian brain instantly judges others as to whether they are friendly and trustworthy, or not, based only on nonverbal communication. Bruce came up to me afterward and said, Hi. That was great! I use the lizard-brain in my work, too. There was a connection.