After The Thrill Is Gone
The Harvard Business Review’s issue for January 2006 is devoted wholly to decision-making. I’m about one-quarter of the way through the magazine where there is an article called Decisions and Desire by Gardiner Morse. It focuses on the neuroscience behind our decision-making capacity and the growing proof that "we have dog brains, basically, with a human cortex stuck on top, a veneer of civilization."
Now, before you get excited about the fact that scientists compare your brains to those of your faithful pooch, consider this: without that mammalian part of the brain, we couldn’t laugh, cry, or find contentment. We also wouldn’t be able to make a decision since this is an ability that takes some combination of emotion along with logic.
Later in the article, Morse addresses some of the why behind our attitudes toward money in our careers. Whereas an economist might argue that people work because they place value on the things that money can buy, a neuroscientist could argue that "chasing money is its own reward." Apparently, we have a region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens which is where our desires originate. In an experiment, scientists observed the reactions of test subjects who were presented with the prospect of receiving money. The higher the potential monetary reward, the more active the accumbens became. However, once the money was received, activity in this area of the brain ceased which led researchers to conclude that it was the anticipation rather than the actual monetary reward which aroused the subjects.
All of this seems to explain why we might decide to chase another job for better pay, but often find the same old problems in the new environment. And that’s not to say that better pay isn’t a reason to leave one organization for another. What it does mean is that it’s absolutely essential to be honest with ourselves and develop a good decision-making model. After the chase for a new organization is over, what then? Will it fulfill those other needs that might not be as sexy as money (like fulfillment and learning)?
In other words…can we live with the results after the thrill is gone?
The decision to leave one organization and join another can be caused by any number of factors, but I have found that by the time someone has made that decision, they are always in a state of great rationalization. That is to say, they are so emotionally invested in the decision to move that rational and sound decision-making no longer takes place; they are looking through a lense that allows them to see only factors that agree with their decision.
Allow me to insert my more Freudian interpretation of this issue. Perhaps people job hop because they have internal desires/unresolved issues/desire for approval that makes them hop on every new bus that comes by. Only when a pattern is noticed can anything be done about it–the process of determining what really makes someone ticks begins.
Or mabe that’s just me. Nice piece!
I’ve been reading this issue off and on for the past week, and I really like it. I think what you learned from the article is right on.
It also reminds me of something I heard recently (can’t remember where) about a study that showed that the most satisfaction comes from *pursuing* a goal - far more impactful than achieving the goal. Maybe some of the job hopping is from people who want a new or bigger challenge because of this dynamic? I don’t know - interesting and thought provoking stuff, though.
I started subscribing to HBR to burn up some air miles on an airline I never fly any more, and have been really pleased with the info in there. Before that, I’d only “spot read” when I found myself in a waiting room with HBR around. Now I’m hooked.
Dan, welcome. I think you’re absolutely right. I’ve been there before. We want to be right and it colors much within our frame of perspective. I recall a time when I left one organization for another and knew that I was going more with my emotions and ignoring some rational “truths.” Turns out I knew within three months that I made the wrong decision.
Jory and Dwayne, yeah I think there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface here. Some folks hop for reasons that connect both emotion and logic. Some folks hop for reasons that overemphasize emotion or logic. Without the balance, we tend to not make very good decisions.
I think we can also overemphasize the end point, rather than enjoying the journey to get there. Of course, actually enjoying the journey will take some deprogramming since our culture tends to place a great deal of importance on achieving goals.
The thrill of the hunt
Chris Bailey at the Alchemy of Soulful Work has an interesting post based on his reading of an article in the Harvard Business Review’s issue for January 2006 called Decisions and Desire by Gardiner Morse about what goes on in our brains that causes us…
Another factor is “context”, that is how we see the situation and our chocies. That old “grass is greener” principle. The book Smart Choices has great insights into how we often fool ourselves when making decisions. One of the authors, Howard Raiffa, has been a hero of mine (re how we make choices) since college
I just posted on an article which says that Bangladeshis are the happiest people on earth. They, and all the other people whose countries landed top spots in the survey, are among the poorest people on the planet. Of course, one reason for this is because impoverished people actually do see an improved quality of life when their incomes increase, whereas a $10,000 a year increase for us doesn’t make much of a difference. Also, however, I wonder how a steady diet of moderate poverty (with no hope of ever making more money) might quiet the accumben, therefore flooding the person with less desire and therefore less anticipation/stress/craving. I’m NOT a proponent of poverty, nor do I feel that poverty is better than comfort or wealth or any other human condition. But in looking at this from a Buddhist perspective (that the cessation of craving is the cessation of suffering), I think it’s an interesting link. Here’s the permalink to the article, as I posted it: http://iraisemykids.typepad.com/i_raise_my_kids/2006/01/for_those_of_us.html
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