President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Power of Emotional Contagion

By Marcia Ruben, PhD, PCC on Thu, Mar 17, 2022

 

I have been closely following the news about the invasion of Ukraine with horror, and like so many, have been in awe of President Zelenskyy’s leadership. As an Associate Professor, I oversee a Master's of Leadership program at Golden Gate University and designed most of the courses. Because of my fascination with neuroscience and its application to leadership behavior, I've included that information in many of our courses.

One of the topics that we cover is emotional contagion. We start that discussion by describing mirror neurons. Mirror neurons were discovered quite by accident by Italian researchers. The story goes that they were researching Macaque monkeys. The monkeys' brains responded not only when they picked up food but when they saw a researcher pick up an ice cream cone. The experiment was replicated in humans. Researchers further discovered that the mirror neurons fired even before observing a specific action. 

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More on Untangling Leadership Fears

By Marcia Ruben, PhD, PCC on Tue, Mar 10, 2009

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." Ambrose Redmon

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Five Tips for Leading Through VUCA

By Marcia Ruben, PhD, PCC on Tue, Dec 02, 2008

It's official. The United States is in a recession, and has been for a year, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. And for many I have spoken to, this recession feels very different from past ones. I believe that the difference is the level of VUCA, or volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Regular readers of my blog know that I have posted a number of blogs on the topic. Simply put, VUCA is like an E ticket ride at Disneyland , in dense fog, with a stuck stop/start gear.
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Courage to Continue in Tough Times

By Marcia Ruben, PhD, PCC on Mon, Nov 17, 2008

This morning's San Francisco Chronicle featured a story in remembrance of the Jonestown massacres thirty years ago. In the front page article, Congresswoman Jackie Spier recalls her trip to Jonestown with Congressman Leo Ryan . For the past several weeks, the daily financial news has been grimmer and grimmer. Business leaders are faced with rising costs, uncertain revenue projections, and a shortfall of cash and credit.

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Marcia Ruben Ph.D, PCC, CMC

Marcia Ruben Ph.D, PCC, CMC

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