Our lives are a rich swirl of interacting emotions, fears, excitement, intuition and souls moved by the invisible forces of humanity. And for the most part, when we are healthy, we love this about being human. We love it to an extent. When we have to deliver bad news, will an election, face a friend who just lost someone, our instinct is to avoid honest emotions and go to what we “believe” we can control. We revert to order, rationality and logic. In truth, we stop using the tools that are so natural to us (being human) because it is uncomfortable. But we are deeper than logic, and are guided with an arsenal of instincts that are there to help us, if we allow them too. And, if we don’t start using all out human tools to make certain progress, we may not evolve at all.
I have been enjoying the latest book by David Brooks, The Social Animal (2011). He approaches the subject of our social equation is as naturally as it can be told. We witness characters play out their lives while Brooks brings in the research to support the human story. He lays over an emotion, and instinct, with a logic research study that proves the power we have to the most rational among us. I am left with the joy of how complex we are, and how much potential we have to evolve to being even better than we are, if we allow ourselves to.
Combine Brooks’ micro thinking with Thomas Friedman’s new book, That Used to Be Us (2011), macro approach and we have a road map out of the political divisive rational mess we find ourselves in as a country, a boss, employee and citizen. Reading both these books at the same time screams the answer loud and clear. We are capable of doing great things when we start working together, which requires us to overcome the minor arguments and just use our common sense. We need to pull together, and be human together. I leave these books feeling optimistic because we have an amazing history, and amazing capabilities, and all we need is the collective will.
I recommend both these books to anyone running for office, leading an organization…oh, and I also recommended them to my 17 year old as he begins to navigate college and his own future.
Brooks, D. (2011). The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement. Random House.
Friedman, T. & Mandelbaum, M. (2011). That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux