The Fear-free Organization: Vital Insights from Neuroscience to Transform Your Business Culture - Softcover

Brown, Paul; Kingsley, Joan; Paterson, Sue

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749472952 ISBN 13: 9780749472955

Publisher: Kogan Page, 2015

Synopsis

Leadership that makes a difference takes guts and confidence, plus belief in oneself and belief in the key players in the organization. It is built on trust, not fear. Scared people spend a lot more time plotting their survival than working productively, so TheFear-Free Organization has zero tolerance for bullies, vicious gossip, undermining behaviors, hijacking tactics, political jockeying for position or favoritism. Instead, it works on inspiration. Evidence from neuroscience shows that individuals and organizations are more successful when people are encouraged to take risks, to explore new ideas, and to channel their energies in ways that work for them. The Fear-Free Organization reveals how our new understanding of the neurobiology of the self - how the brain constructs the person - can transform for the better the way our businesses and organizations work.

About this title

About the Author

Dr Paul Brown has worked as a clinical and organizational psychologist for fifty years with an international practice that has taken him throughout Europe, the USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Vietnam and Lao PDR.  He is Visiting Professor in Organizational Neuroscience at London South Bank University - the first such appointment in the UK. He lives in Laos, where he acts as an adviser within the advisory office of the Prime Minister; works substantially in Vietnam with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation concerned with the legacy effects of war; is Expert Adviser to the International Energy Research Centre at the Tyndall Institute, Ireland; and teaches regularly in England and Ireland.  He is the co-author of Neuropsychology for Coaches (Open University Press). 

Joan Kingsley is a consultant clinical and organizational psychotherapist who has spent the past 25 years doing research into the links between brain systems and our psychological lives. She practices as an Executive Coach and works with senior management in business organizations. She is Vice President of a New York based business and sits on the Boards of two UK organizations.  

Sue Paterson is a consultant with a deep understanding of how to live and work successfully in different cultures, and how different organizations work (or not). She has also worked in HR, leading a team delivering talent management, leadership development and recruitment to over 5,000 staff based in Europe.

Review

"Emotions are at the very core of being human because they exert a powerful, often unconscious impact on how we think, feel and behave.  There is a wealth of research highlighting how extended periods of stress, anxiety and fear can inflict a damaging effect on our physical and psychological health with significant consequences for our personal relationships and quality of life.
Conversely psychological wellbeing is strongly correlated with greater energy, motivation and better cognitive function.

There is a zeitgeist and not surprisingly progressive organizations are actively looking at how they can improve and maintain the psychological health and wellbeing of their employees to the benefit of all concerned.

This book draws on robust psychological theory and the remarkable advances in neuroscience to provide the reader with fascinating and invaluable insights into how the human brain works.  Most importantly it outlines a range of effective, practical strategies to help build a healthier environment that can deliver real and measurable benefits to the individual, teams and the organization -- the fear-free organization."
(Dr. Brian Marien Founder and Director of Positive)

"Leadership is about making sense, and this book makes a lot of sense.  I highly recommend it for leaders, and those aspire to become one."
(Rien Herber former Shell Executive and currently Professor at Groningen University)

"Fear pervades the workplace.  It corrodes profits and stunts growth.  This essential read equips CEOs with the tools to build a fear-free environment -- and success." (Robin Morgan CEO, Iconic Images)

"If you work in an organization, you already know this: fear runs the place.  What you may not know is that fear is going to ruin it, too, sooner or later.  This book tells us why. Then it tells us how to change that.  It is a call to leaders to understand the neurobiology of fear, face the damage it is doing, say goodbye to it forever as a tactic, and replace it brilliantly -- as in: see to it that your organization is teeming with joy, with relationships of dignity, with warranted trust.  Make it full of energy, not adrenaline; focused on possibility, not profit; generating independent thinking, not obedience; and spawning meaning everywhere because what really matters there is what really matters.This book gives us all of that by being both academic and accessible, by being, in fact, friendly and in places quite eloquent.  Most of all it hits the bullseye: dear is the problem and relationship of love are the solution.  The sophisticated version of love, that is, the kind that creates intellectual and practical rigour and leaves us smarter and makes us better leaders.  It's all in the brain, it turns out.  And leaders need to understand this particular dimension of the brain and stop fooling themselves.  The neurological fact is that fear destroys; trust creates.  Even the title is worth a month of pondering: The Fear-free Organization -- not an oxymoron after all.  What a relief."
(Nancy Kline author of "Time to Think")

"All organizations suffer from elements of dysfunctionality and all leaders will be familiar with the symptoms.  This book superbly explains what is really going on together with fascinating insights on the fears that all of us have experienced in the workplace and which have such a destructive effect on culture.  And then the authors provide some practical advice on how to change things for the better." (Charlie Geffen Chair, London Corporate, Gibson Dunn and formerly Senior Partner at Ashurst)

"Boy, I wish I had read something like this a long time ago.  In my decades as a corporate leader, I observed and learned the hard way about a lot of themes in the book (eg building relationships, managing energy flow, fostering trust, triggering fear).  I came to know these things were real over the years but never really understood why they were happening until reading this book.

I believe many corporate leaders still believe triggering fear is more productive than triggering attachment -- mainly because that's the only role modelling they've had and all they know how to do.  For many, building relationships, managing energy flow, fostering trust and avoiding triggering fear is all hard and unfamiliar work.  But the resulting increase in affiliation, work satisfaction, productivity -- and yes, business results! -- would be staggering if more leaders would roll up their sleeves and take the plunge." (Thomas M Botts retired Executive Vice President, Royal Dutch Shell)

"I cannot remember the last time I read such a creative, engaging, and absorbing book as The Fear-free Organization.  Beautifully written, clearly structured and brimming with compelling case studies, this new work transports us into the psychological core of organizational life and provides us with rich recipes for understanding the complex and often tortured dynamics of the workplace.  Brown, Kingsley and Paterson deserve our congratulations for offering us an important set of solutions.  This book will be essential reading for anyone who has ever worked in an office." (Professor Brett Kahr, Sr. Clinical Research Fellow Psychotherapy & Mental Health, Centre for Child Mental Health, London)

"The Fear-free Organization is the essential manual for effective management.  It provides the practical methods needed to motivate people to do their best work.  The authors explain, simply and understandably, how to apply the most advanced neuroscientific insights to business management.  It is groundbreaking and indispensable."
(Doston Rader Contributing Editor, Parade)

"The jewel in the crown of all the recent books on this subject... Clear authoritative exposition of the emerging understanding that neuroscience has provided together with a practical common-sense approach.  All leaders of complex organizations should have this book by their bedside and their office." (Professor Patrick Pietroni Director, Centre for Psychological Therapies in Primary Care, Univ. of Chester)

Edition details

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0749472952
• ISBN 13: 9780749472955
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256