Leaders Are Not Fully Aware Of How Chronic Stress Triggers Poor Decisions
My research into Alzheimer’s disease began when I started to assist my father in the latter years of his life. After his passing my research intensified, mostly for selfish reasons (I certainly do not wish to live my final years in cognitive decline).
As I conducted my research, I was thrilled to learn of new neuroscientific studies showing that neuroplasticity — the ability to grow neuronal connectivity across the brain — can continue well into our 70s. I was one of those who believed our brains stopped growing new cells in our mid-twenties.
Likewise, I was astonished to read report after report showing direct links between mindfulness and meditation with the thickening of brain regions, increases in cognitive capabilities, and reductions in the areas of the brain that trigger stress hormones and emotional outbursts.
And most important, I was ecstatic to read about new scientific research showing that mindfulness, meditation, and better dietary habits could slow and even postpone the debilitating effects of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 
Additionally, as I started to learn how stress and poor dietary habits lead to bad decisions, poor thinking, and undesirable outcomes, I began to see brain health as not just a personal health issue, but also a professional, work-related issue not being addressed by companies or organizations.
When I started to link recent scientific research into brain health with my own work in leadership development, it became painfully obvious that leaders are not fully aware of how stress, particularly chronic stress, triggers poor decisions. More important, leaders have not been trained in how to become cognizant of when stress is triggering them toward poor decision making. It was also obvious that very few leaders are aware of the many benefits that mindfulness practices will bring to their decision-making processes and thinking capabilities.
One of the key purposes of my new book Better Decisions. Better Thinking. Better Outcomes. How to go from Mind Full to Mindful Leadership is to provide leaders proven ways to prevent emotions from hijacking their rational and cognitive resources, thus enabling them to make better decisions, think more rationally, and reduce emotional meltdowns and outbursts.
And, while written with leaders in mind, this book has tips and techniques for everyone who wants to make better decisions — in their personal lives as well as their professional lives – and who want to learn some fundamental best practices for building and maintaining brain health.
Get your copy of Better Decisions. Better Thinking. Better Outcomes. now at Amazon (it’s available in both paperback and Kindle formats). Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/2yDiU7l.
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