During my early days in the Air Force as a young non-commissioned officer, I began to wonder why airmen would feel motivated to please one leader and not another.  Why "yessir" invoked positive emotion for the former and negative for the latter.  How could I be the kind of leader that motivated like the former? 

Think back. Somewhere in the deep dark recesses of your mind, you have a distant memory of that Introduction to Psychology course. You learned all about brain function, cognition, memory, learning, and emotion. Now you’ll learn how Psychology impacts everyday leadership skills.

At some point in this course there was a discussion of a nifty little part of the brain called the amygdala.  The amygdala is part of the limbic region, sometimes referred to as the “reptilian brain.” From an evolutionary perspective this is the part of the brain that kept our species alive by sending out clear signals, particularly in stressful situations.

When our early ancestors were confronted by a sabertooth tiger it was exceedingly helpful to make a quick decision. In that situation, you needed an immediate decision; stand your ground and attack, or run like heck to the cave and hope you were faster than the guy that joined you for the hunt. The term “fight or flight” captures the basic impulse that the amygdala sends out when confronted with a perceived risky or dangerous situation.