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The Emotion-Reason Connection in Your Brain

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In 1848 – thanks to an unusual, grisly accident that befell a good-natured, popular railroad foreman named Phineas Gage – scientists discovered that specific areas of your brain control how you get along with people. When Gage was laying railroad tracks, his assistant got distracted and didn’t take the usual safety measures, thus causing a freak accident – an explosion of gunpowder that blew a heavy, long iron rod through Gage’s forehead. Although he survived, the flying rod removed the front portion of his brain, and Gage lost the ability to moderate his temper or impulses. Though he could still do calculations and function in his job, his life changed dramatically for the worse. Now cranky and erratic, he lashed out at the mildest provocation, appeared irrationally unable to get a grip on his emotions and no longer got along well with his co-workers. As science now knows, the ability to manage your emotions requires effective biological “wiring” between the reasoning and feeling areas of the brain, and Gage had lost that link.
People are emotional creatures, so always be mindful of the role emotions play in your behavior and that of others. For example, a medical technician named Lily used her emotional intelligence (EQ) to achieve her goals. Stuck in her biotechnology job, and frustrated by the routine and lack of challenge, she got a new job running a start-up drug development laboratory. After a year or so, she felt worn down and again stuck in a rut. She worked up the nerve to ask her busy boss for another position and gave him a detailed report of how the company risked losing large sums of money. As a result, her boss promoted Lily to run the department. She wouldn’t have gotten this new job – a great fit for her – if she hadn’t stuck her neck out in a smart, emotionally intelligent way.
The book Primal Leadership, by Daniel Goleman,

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