Teach Behavioral Intelligence Across All Academic Fields, Along Every Career Path

The recent “Collaborating and Sharing Bring Real Value” post hijacked my imagination this morning. What if behavioral intelligence could be woven into our college major corriculum?

Principles of Psychology 101 would remain on the basic requirement list. As we climbed closer up our chosen education ladder towards our career path, that’s when we could build an understanding for how to work with people we’ll be collaborating with in the work world.

For any decision making situation — crisis or process — our professor might ask her students some empowering questions. As we move into careers, we might continue asking these types of questions:

• How can I help, not force or overwhelm others into (submission) understanding?
• Who do I admire and might my heroes behave?
• What would Martin Luther King Jr. say ?
• How would Gandhi handle this?
• If I did it like this, might I be elitist, arrogant and doomed like Mussolini?
• How might Seth Godin flip my view in a better direction so that my decision results in something special others find helpful, useful?
• Does what I’m advocating entails shouting at a market rather than what Doc Searls might do: participate with others in a market?
• What question would Jeremiah Owyang ask that’d break down a wall blocking me from reaching a goal with measurable results?
• How might Rohit Bhargava take my well-intentioned approach and subtly re-engineer it into a more interesting, compelling and engaging action that might be more meaningful for my team or others I’d like to run with my idea/hope/plan?
• How would springboard storyteller Stephen Denning craft a meaningful visual anecdote to help me jettison the imagination of my teammates, sending them surfing on a parallel brainwave alongside me?
• Is there a point where I can squeeze in some passion sparked by my “Life Purpose” like Eckhart Tolle teaches?

My BookStack, collection of classics and poetry play a role in my decision making and influence how I embrace change.  I just found Terry’s Take on Business, a cool blog with a great collection of succinct book reviews for business.  For me, data is important but behavioral intelligence is the “core” or “key takeaways” inside every great great book, story, poem, movie…even a campaign plan.

Homer’s Iliad showed me the ruinous destruction of wrath and hubris — something I watch for in me and bubbling up in teammates. Then Homer’s Oddysey opened my eyes to the endless potential of intelligence as Odysseus blends knowledge of self, and open mind, quick wit, teamwork and cunning to keep on course. Odysseus makes me think of Mike Moran’s Do It Wrong Quickly — sure, we’ll stop at this isle of nymphs or scheme the giant Cyclops…be let’s hit it and quit it so we can escape alive and sail back home to my castle to be with the woman I love.

I wonder if The Institute of Behavioral Sciences could help create a common thread of behavioral intelligence training across all fields of academics. And career coaches and businesses would continue driving better appreciation and understanding of productive behavior, behavior where excellent criticism is immediately followed with excellent suggestions that help move things ahead.

If we really can mature civility with each generation, this is the time to pump up the importance of behavior in our information era.

At some point in our lives, we all say, “I’m going to keep learning forever!” Books are essential for learning. Yet there are are other powerful sources for learning behaviors that help us improve through times of change.  At any decision making point the people you involve become ingredients for moving beyond goals.  These ingredients build trusting relationships strengthen by informed behaviors that help us accomplish things better, more quickly.

If you regularly sharpen my behavioral skills, would you be more valuable, more helpful to your team, company and your own career.