I really enjoyed reading the Adam Waytz and Malia Mason article called Your Brain at Work in Harvard Business Review’s special issue titled, The Brain Science Behind Business. They reviewed four networks in the brain and provided direct linkage to how their processes can be leveraged to both add value to the companies that understand their respective inner-workings, and how they can also create disadvantages, if left to function without guidance. Out of the reportedly 15 brain networks and sub-networks that have been identified by brain researchers, the following four networks have the most consistent backing by neuroscientists, as reported by Waytz and Mason:
- The Default Network: Pathway to Unlocking Breakthrough Innovation
- The Reward Network: Pathway to Structuring Incentives that Motivate
- The Affect Network: Pathway to Leveraging Gut Instinct
- The Control Network: Pathway to Creating Achievable Goals
I will address The Default Network in this post, from my vantage point as a consulting hypnotist, and move into the other three networks in subsequent posts. As a consulting hypnotist, having worked with hundreds of clients, I would refer to the Default Network, along with the Reward and Affect Networks as comprising unconscious parts of mind, and the Control Network to be the core mechanism of conscious mind.
The Default Network is the state of consciousness that the mind defaults to when one is not focused on a task, or outwardly engaged in the external world. The process that takes place in the Default part of mind is sometimes referred to as ‘mind-wandering’ in which spontaneous thoughts arise. Again, through years of practicing hypnosis, I would argue that this mind-wandering state can be directed by conscious mind to wander in the direction of one’s choosing, targeting creative input—from the inner mind—to solve a problem or meet a goal, and I will be bringing out much more on this subject as we move along. The conscious and unconscious parts of mind can work seamlessly together.
When the Default Network is highly engaged, say Waytz and Mason, “people’s brains ‘detach from the external environment, meaning they stop processing external stimuli,” which the HBR authors’ call a state of ‘transcendence.’ From my perspective as a consulting hypnotist, I would call this state of mind ‘trance.’ Anytime a person moves their focus from engagement in the external world to engagement in the internal world, that is trance. Without the scientific backing that the Default Network has today, the state of mind produced by it has had many names throughout history. John Locke (1632-1704) said that the French referred to the state of mind that can now be called ‘Default,’ as a state of reverie.
Waytz and Mason also describe the Default Network as the part of mind that is conducive to Eureka! Moments. I agree with that. As you may have experienced, a Eureka! Moment frequently occurs after you have walked away from a challenge and allowed the inner mind to continue its inner search for a solution. And sooner or later, when the unconscious mind offers up a solution to conscious mind, you say Aha, that’s it! For this reason, the Default Network has been identified as the place where innovation takes place.
In a chapter called An Exploration/Exploitation Trade-Off Between Mind-Wandering and Goal-Directed Thinking in The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought, Chandra S. Sripada refers to the workings of the Default Network as a state of ‘Exploration,’ wherein pattern recognition and creativity are the outputs. Conversely, ‘Exploitation’ utilizes that which has been discovered through “Exploration’ to seize new opportunities.
Psychologists and neuroscientists who study the cycles of human nature (i.e., Circadian and Ultradian rhythms) may refer to the Default Network as the ‘Rest’ component of the Basic Rest-Activity Cycle (BRAC). BRAC is the natural ebb and flow of Ultradian rhythms that people move through in 80 to 100 minute cycles throughout the day. We flow from a state of alert consciousness where task-focus capacities are at their peak, to a state of mind with less focus, wherein daydreams can occur, the mind wanders, and streams of spontaneous, creative thought arise.
Researchers have zeroed in on the Default Network from many perspectives, all pointing to the tremendous resources for creativity and innovation it offers. Hence, it is becoming increasingly clear that creating the right conditions for employees to leverage the benefits of the unfocused, ‘default’ state of mind is a critical advantage for innovation.
So the question is, how can companies create the right environment to tap the creative resources of The Default Network?
As described in their HBR article, Waytz and Mason cite several companies that are already on the path: Google, Intuit, Maddock Douglas, Brighthouse and Twitter. It is the HBR authors’ contention, however that while the leading-edge programs at these companies appear to offer some benefits, their initiatives do not go far enough. Their reasoning is that because the ‘default tapping’ initiatives of these companies are designed to unearth solutions to problems, this means that employee default networks do not detach from external stimuli, a condition they deem essential. Further, after a brief review of the various approaches used at these companies, Waytz and Mason suggest that better approaches would focus programs on the ‘quality of detachment’ created, not on the ‘quantity of time’ offered for internal focus.
Waytz and Mason elaborate, saying that companies could ‘detach’ employees from email, calendars, phones, job duties and other employees, sending them away on trips. While they do mention meditation as an effective way to detach, I would go one step further and say that all of the HBR authors’ ‘detachment’ recommendations can be accomplished through the use of hypnosis, by guiding employees to focus inward to access the creative and innovative resources of their deep inner minds. Employees can be guided inward and taught to use self-hypnosis to travel to any remote, uninterrupted destination of their choosing—in the mind’s eye—and allow the unconscious mind (i.e., default network) to explore solutions, innovations and creative resolution to business challenges. This has a multitude of advantages, not the least of which is less travel costs!