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!