Leadership and the Neurobiology of Fear

Dr. Srini Pillay shares insights from his book “Life Unlocked” on the neurobiology of fear and how leaders can understand and overcome it to unlock their full potential

In his book Life Unlocked, Harvard Medical School Assistant Clinical Professor Dr. Srini Pillay draws from the latest brain research to show how the biggest roadblock to reaching our goals is fear. Fear undermines confidence and erodes leadership effectiveness. Understanding the neurobiology of fear and fear conditioning and learning how to recognize it is the first step toward overcoming it. I asked Dr. Pillay to share his thoughts on conscious and unconscious fear and how learning to recognize and overcome them can help project managers unlock their full leadership potential.

Dr. Pillay is the former Director of the Outpatient Anxiety Disorders Program and the Panic Disorders Research Program in the Brain Imaging at Harvard’s largest psychiatric training hospital. He has been a federally funded brain-imaging researcher for seventeen years and an internationally respected expert in stress, anxiety and fear. He writes regularly for the Huffington Post and Psychology Today. Dr. Pillay is also the CEO of NeuroBusiness Group, a company focused on enhancing social intelligence in organizations.

The Interview

Listen now:

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In this interview, we discuss the following questions:

  • How did your background in neuroscience research and as a psychiatrist in the field of stress, panic and anxiety disorders influenced the ideas that you share in “Life Unlocked”.
  • What was the motivation for writing the book and what do you hope people will get out of it?
  • Why is fear such a central topic in the book?
  • You say that Freud was correct when he concluded that human suffering can be alleviated by understanding the unconscious and you open the book by exploring the topic of unconscious fear.  What was our understanding of fear before the latest findings from Neuroscience Research?
  • Talk to us about what the latest Neuroscience research is telling us about unconscious fear.
  • The other topic that you discuss in the book is fear conditioning. Define for us fear conditioning and how it works.
  • In the Chapter about Fear of Success, I was fascinated by your explanation of reason # 2 for fear of success that you call the “disorientation of success”. Can you explain this concept?
  • In your research and practice as a psychiatrist and executive coach, what have you found to be the impact of unconscious fear and fear conditioning on the performance of those in leadership roles?
  • Throughout the book, you provide many techniques for dealing with fear using a method you developed called the MAP-CHANGE approach. Talk a little bit about this approach and how we can apply it in our daily work life.

More about Dr. Srini Pillay:

Other books by Dr. Srini Pillay:

 

Audio Links:

Listen now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Right click here to download the MP3

 

If you like this topic, you may also be interested in these other interviews:

 

 

 

 

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.

Leadership and the Neurobiology of Fear

Dr. Srini Pillay shares insights from his book “Life Unlocked” on the neurobiology of fear and how leaders can understand and overcome it to unlock their full potential

In his book Life Unlocked, Harvard Medical School Assistant Clinical Professor Dr. Srini Pillay draws from the latest brain research to show how the biggest roadblock to reaching our goals is fear. Fear undermines confidence and erodes leadership effectiveness. Understanding the neurobiology of fear and fear conditioning and learning how to recognize it is the first step toward overcoming it. I asked Dr. Pillay to share his thoughts on conscious and unconscious fear and how learning to recognize and overcome them can help project managers unlock their full leadership potential.

Dr. Pillay is the former Director of the Outpatient Anxiety Disorders Program and the Panic Disorders Research Program in the Brain Imaging at Harvard’s largest psychiatric training hospital. He has been a federally funded brain-imaging researcher for seventeen years and an internationally respected expert in stress, anxiety and fear. He writes regularly for the Huffington Post and Psychology Today. Dr. Pillay is also the CEO of NeuroBusiness Group, a company focused on enhancing social intelligence in organizations.

The Interview

Listen now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Right click here to download the MP3

In this interview, we discuss the following questions:

  • How did your background in neuroscience research and as a psychiatrist in the field of stress, panic and anxiety disorders influenced the ideas that you share in “Life Unlocked”.
  • What was the motivation for writing the book and what do you hope people will get out of it?
  • Why is fear such a central topic in the book?
  • You say that Freud was correct when he concluded that human suffering can be alleviated by understanding the unconscious and you open the book by exploring the topic of unconscious fear.  What was our understanding of fear before the latest findings from Neuroscience Research?
  • Talk to us about what the latest Neuroscience research is telling us about unconscious fear.
  • The other topic that you discuss in the book is fear conditioning. Define for us fear conditioning and how it works.
  • In the Chapter about Fear of Success, I was fascinated by your explanation of reason # 2 for fear of success that you call the “disorientation of success”. Can you explain this concept?
  • In your research and practice as a psychiatrist and executive coach, what have you found to be the impact of unconscious fear and fear conditioning on the performance of those in leadership roles?
  • Throughout the book, you provide many techniques for dealing with fear using a method you developed called the MAP-CHANGE approach. Talk a little bit about this approach and how we can apply it in our daily work life.

More about Dr. Srini Pillay:

Other books by Dr. Srini Pillay:

 

Audio Links:

Listen now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Right click here to download the MP3

 

If you like this topic, you may also be interested in these other interviews:

 

 

 

 

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.

Leadership and the Neurobiology of Fear

Dr. Srini Pillay shares insights from his book “Life Unlocked” on the neurobiology of fear and how leaders can understand and overcome it to unlock their full potential

In his book Life Unlocked, Harvard Medical School Assistant Clinical Professor Dr. Srini Pillay draws from the latest brain research to show how the biggest roadblock to reaching our goals is fear. Fear undermines confidence and erodes leadership effectiveness. Understanding the neurobiology of fear and fear conditioning and learning how to recognize it is the first step toward overcoming it. I asked Dr. Pillay to share his thoughts on conscious and unconscious fear and how learning to recognize and overcome them can help project managers unlock their full leadership potential.

Dr. Pillay is the former Director of the Outpatient Anxiety Disorders Program and the Panic Disorders Research Program in the Brain Imaging at Harvard’s largest psychiatric training hospital. He has been a federally funded brain-imaging researcher for seventeen years and an internationally respected expert in stress, anxiety and fear. He writes regularly for the Huffington Post and Psychology Today. Dr. Pillay is also the CEO of NeuroBusiness Group, a company focused on enhancing social intelligence in organizations.

The Interview

Listen now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Right click here to download the MP3

In this interview, we discuss the following questions:

  • How did your background in neuroscience research and as a psychiatrist in the field of stress, panic and anxiety disorders influenced the ideas that you share in “Life Unlocked”.
  • What was the motivation for writing the book and what do you hope people will get out of it?
  • Why is fear such a central topic in the book?
  • You say that Freud was correct when he concluded that human suffering can be alleviated by understanding the unconscious and you open the book by exploring the topic of unconscious fear.  What was our understanding of fear before the latest findings from Neuroscience Research?
  • Talk to us about what the latest Neuroscience research is telling us about unconscious fear.
  • The other topic that you discuss in the book is fear conditioning. Define for us fear conditioning and how it works.
  • In the Chapter about Fear of Success, I was fascinated by your explanation of reason # 2 for fear of success that you call the “disorientation of success”. Can you explain this concept?
  • In your research and practice as a psychiatrist and executive coach, what have you found to be the impact of unconscious fear and fear conditioning on the performance of those in leadership roles?
  • Throughout the book, you provide many techniques for dealing with fear using a method you developed called the MAP-CHANGE approach. Talk a little bit about this approach and how we can apply it in our daily work life.

More about Dr. Srini Pillay:

Other books by Dr. Srini Pillay:

 

Audio Links:

Listen now:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Right click here to download the MP3

 

If you like this topic, you may also be interested in these other interviews:

 

 

 

 

Sorry, comments are closed for this post.