Purple Paper^TM: A leader’s guide to overcoming obstacles—four steps toward opportunity

How can a motivated leader increase his or her ability to understand the obstacles in the path ahead? The answer lies in understanding how the human brain works when facing challenges and pondering opportunities.

Brains are wired to survive, not thrive.

We have the brains of survivors. We have the brains of wily and resourceful people who were good at perceiving, escaping and learning from danger. The people who faced challenging circumstances and survived were able to reproduce and pass along their traits to further generations.

Our ancestors were so good at avoiding danger, the skill of looking for and reacting to threats literally became wired into our brains. This is called the negativity bias—our brain’s tendency to notice, remember, value and act upon information about threats more than information about opportunities.