Developed from Head for Leading/Heart for Loving
The old aphorism Monkey See—Monkey Do is this postings topic. However, perhaps I should modify it to Human See—Human Do, which is saying the behavior we see modelled is the behavior we are apt to do.
Copying or mimicry is perhaps the greatest teacher known to humanity. What we see our parents do, for the most part, we are inevitably likely to do as well in life. What we hear our parents say, for the most part, we are inevitably likely to say as well in life.
This also applies to our peers, those we follow, those we listen to regularly, well you get the idea. All of the sensory input we take in can, and often does, influence our behavior at some point, why is this?
I am glad you asked.
Thanks to many neurological scientists, Marco Iacoboni among them, we now know that much of it is due to mirror neurons, and these neurological features coupled with brain chemistry, and brain morphology create an environment for mimicry.
This means that our brains are built in such a way as to enable us to mimic nearly anything we observe. Therefore, we can conclude that the more often we observe an action (behavior) the more likely we are to adopt it, and repeat it.
This then begs the following questions:
- During this pandemic, who are you following, and are they someone you truly want to influence you?
- How is your leadership influenced by those you follow and observe and how is that leadership influencing those who follow you?
- Now that you know, what are you going to do about it?
