Extinct the Instincts

 Last two decades have seen some really intense effort on part of scientific community to collaborate the distinct faculties of science for better understanding. In a recent panel discussion of one such gathering in San Diego, there were fundamental discussions around social primates, self identity and xenophobia. I have attempted to  further the interpretation in the following manner for Corporate Use.

1. “We are social primates”…we are primed to be social…to have interpersonal relations or equations with family, neighbours, relatives, occupational, society, ecosystem at large. This is exhibited humungously more in humans than any other species.

2.” Deriving self identity also on basis of groups we are a part of”…identity of self has a big component of “belonging ness ” to a group…

….”birds of a feather flock together”…is a classic reference point.
In fact in the Corporate Environment, the employees quickly figure out seeming like-minded ness and align with them. The groupism in corporate are at many level… Department-wise (belonging to a department

…Line Function or Staff Function), Designation-wise (Belonging to a Designation or Hierarchy or Management Rank), Geography-wise, Product wise or Service-wise. The self identity derived is a multi-variate-intersection of all of the above and sort of creates a unique position for each individual…thereby guiding his or her thinking.

3. “Xenophobia can manifest itself in many ways involving the relations and perceptions of an ingroup towards an outgroup, including a fear of losing identity, suspicion of its activities, aggression, and desire to eliminate its presence to secure a presumed position.” Religious scriptures refer to all universal existentialism and all behaviours around the emotions of love and fear. Nature teaches us the universal existentialism around everybody being either a prey or predator in all situation.

Somehow the multi-variate-intersections lends us the territorial instincts….belonging to a designation feeds into long term security of our existence, authority, money (ensuring basics like food, etc), social acceptance, etc. It also gives rise to xenophobia where each corporate employee views many others with suspicion in a manner where self-identity or self-long-term-existence is threatened. ((( This sort of gets built right from childhood where competitiveness is at the heart ….and Darwin’s Natural Selection (survival of the fittest) becomes the order and credo.)))

This leads to several behavioural Shifts…corporate politics, bottlenecking of change management, inter personal rivalry, etc. Hence Corporate Environment tacitly somewhere takes the wild attire of a Jungle.

So how does one Manage the Jungle?

Human History is filled with examples of the conduct of the subject / the followers /members of the community depending hugely on the following aspects of their Leaders:

1. Leader’s Own Conduct…Timeless-Ageless Wisdom of scriptures tried to curb these very territorial instincts belief-behaviour system by appealing to follow a discipline of imbibing Karuna (compassion), Mudito (Cheerfulness), Maitri (Friendliness), Upeksha (steady state towards extreme opposite event or situation).

2. Perception in the eyes of  of the Subject or Followers or Members of Community of the Leader’s abilities to be Fair and Just. In Corporate context, it would mean as to how various decisions around market share, values Vs Valuation, transparency, Governance, Others Over Self, etc are tested.

Till the time Members of the community see their Leaders believe-behave in a feel good, do good, spread good manner…the self-extinction theory takes a half-back-seat. The second-half-back-seat can be triggered by introducing multi-belief dialogue and helping employees understand purpose of life with help of ageless timeless wisdom.