[TT 024] authority, rewiring brain, new science, leadership
Howdy Thrivers,
This was the first full week of university and I am beyond impressed with the caliber and life experience of people in this program. In my morning section (only 25 people), I discussed leadership with a Singaporean air force colonel, a Canadian olympic athlete, an Egyptian tech entrepreneur, a Chinese neuroscientist, an Israeli cybersecurity engineer, and plenty more incredible folks from the US and abroad. It's been fascinating to see how different cultures and sectors influence perspectives on leadership and especially where there is universal overlap that supersedes any differences.
Beyond school, I wrote up a working draft for our synthesizing sleep science pilot project.
With much joy, on to Thriving Thursday.
On authority while speaking
In this podcast, two famous Stanford professors discuss how to maintain authority while speaking in person or on zoom.
Some of the recommendations are very practical, like how to position oneself in front of a webcam to come across with a strong presence. Other recommendations, however effective, feel like they need to be used exceptionally sparingly and only in appropriate contexts. Like anything, these skills can be used gracefully when applied with precision and awareness.
On magic mushrooms rewiring our brains
A recent study in Cell's Neuron journal found that a single dose of psilocybin grew the frontal cortical region of mice brains. Importantly, the incremental growth was sustained for at least a month.
Of course, we need to be careful to make any extensions from mice models to humans. But if the same holds true in humans trials, that would be rather remarkable.
Did anyone else that read that immediately think, "what does a mouse trip look like"?
On creating new scientific institutions
In creating my write-up for the sleep size, I went back to check in on Alexey Guyez's most recent work.
He's working on a fascinating project called New Science that seeks to create an alternative to the university model of science.
> Our goal is not to replace universities, but to develop complementary institutions and to provide the much-needed “competitive pressure” on the existing ones and to prevent their further ossification. New Science will do to science what Silicon Valley did to entrepreneurship.
It's a fascinating project and I deeply respect the intention and drive. Bemoaning the grant treadmill and publish or perish culture is a favorite pastime in academic circles, but few people go on to actually do something that could change that. I'll be very curious to see how this develops.
On styles and flavors of leadership
Our workshop explored Daniel Goleman's model of 6 different kinds of leadership. They are:
- Coercive
- Authoritative
- Affiliative
- Democratic
- Pacesetting
- Coaching
The coercive and pacesetting styles, though appropriate in rare occassions, are generally poisonous to organizational cultures. In truth, all 6 are to be used fluidly and with precision to match the culture of the team and the specific needs of the individual.
I also asked about how vulnerability and trust filters into this frame and, the unsurprising answer, was that it doesn't really unless you stretch some of the categories. However much valuable insight this model added, it feels a little dated in the current age. I would pay money to see Brene Brown debate against the authors or instructors in our class ...
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That's all for now! Until next week,
~Henry