Publications

Abstract

Organizations worldwide as well as scholars in business, psychology, medicine, and the social sciences are racing to identify the rules that drive organizational innovation vs status quo, the rules that drive employee engagement vs oppression, and the rules that drive effective leadership vs micromanagement. This phenomenon is burgeoning because relying on instinctive leadership alone leaves organizations susceptible to the possibility of ineffectual leadership in their hierarchies. To identify these rules, we first need to connect the patterns of how humans learn and solve problems and the patterns of leadership in hierarchies to find the pathways that drive organizational learning vs conformity. Only then can we identify the rules for those pathways, describing how and why learning and growth occurs in any organization or hierarchy. With this operationalized framework, we can now teach supervisors how to recognize the clues and evidence that result from our belief-behavior systems to subsequently convert conformity processes into learning processes, generating organizational innovation and growth as well as employee engagement, loyalty, and trust. PDF

Abstract

The unconscious bias that plagues our police departments is the same unconscious bias that plagues business in the form of employee oppression and burnout, that plagues academia in the form of social promotion and fixed mindset, that plagues law in the form of poetic injustice and that plagues politics in the form of disenfranchisement and voter suppression. Each industry has also attempted to correct the negative effects of unconscious bias with leadership development in business, Montessori method and active learning in academia, restorative justice in law, and voter participation and town halls in politics. The reason that each of these efforts is still in its infancy is that our understanding of the rules of unconscious bias and the behaviors that stem from that unconscious bias have been incompletely understood until now. Good people like yourself and like me have unconscious bias; having unconscious bias is a human condition. But those of us who learn to recognize and overcome our unconscious bias become more impactful and powerful stewards of society. PDF

Abstract

In order to understand the well documented patterns of mental health, human learning, human behavior, and the mechanics of hierarchies such as academic institutions, political systems, and business organizations, one must discover the rules and pathways that cause those patterns. My Belief-Behavior Systems archetype is the first of its kind to reconcile the theories and insights from social sciences, political science, psychiatry, and evolutionary biology into a unifying paradigm which explains how socialization and human interactions evolved into the patterns we recognize today. More importantly is that this new contribution to our understanding of human behavior within hierarchies provides the key insights to guide the restoration and repair of our dysfunctional hierarchies which, unfortunately, all too often oppress, manipulate and exploit our humanity. PDF

Background

One in four US adults suffers from depression or anxiety. The ubiquitous nature of these mood symptoms points to systemic and institutional dysfunction as the likely etiology rather than individual dysfunctional brain chemistry. The World Health Organization agrees, with their identification of “burnout” as a global, occupational phenomenon. Additionally, our burgeoning understanding of adverse childhood experiences and trauma-informed care also highlight our realization that dysfunctional systems and institutions negatively impact our mental health, physical health, and wellbeing, and are thus global public health crises. URL

Background

To prevent the unhealthy and often toxic workplace conditions that lead to demoralization and burnout, organizations must recognize and remove unconscious bias from their leaders, their policies, and their processes. By operationalizing the autocratic-democratic belief-behavior systems© framework, leaders can now understand where unconscious bias occurs in our thinking, why it is so difficult for us to recognize, and how we can learn to overcome it. Additionally, this framework describes the science of social justice and democracy, why humanity often struggles to achieve social justice and democracy, and how we can create true democracy and social justice within our systems. And finally, this framework describes the human thinking and human behaviors that result in diversity, equity, and inclusion, social values being sought in nearly all sectors of society. This organizational investment in democratizing our leaders, policies, and processes is essential to create engaging, protect and serve cultures that not only prevent burnout but that also exceptionalize the health and wellbeing of frontline workers which subsequently drives organizational success and sustainability. URL