Nate’s Notes 276: Caroline Webb, Former McKinsey Partner & World-Renowned Executive Coach | Why Shouting Makes People Perform Worse

One of my favorite ideas from Caroline is simple: if you want to get the best out of people, it helps to understand how their brains work. When Caroline was working with the military general, it was only when she explained what was happening in the brain that she finally got through to him.

Shouting might make someone more vigilant, but it’s not going to improve their problem-solving ability. When people feel threatened, their ability to reason, solve problems, and be creative can actually decline.

Importantly, leadership isn’t so much about our personality traits as it is about our behaviors. And when people know we have their best interests at heart, they’re more likely to reach their potential.

Finally, I love Caroline’s point that when someone responds to us in an unpleasant way, our instinct is to focus on what they need to change. But sometimes the best way to change how someone behaves toward us is to change how we behave toward them first.

In summary, better leadership starts with understanding people—and often, changing ourselves first.

It’s a simple idea. Please take it seriously.

Caroline Webb Bio:

Caroline Webb is an economist, executive coach, and bestselling author of How to Have a Good Day, which has been published in more than 60 countries. Her new book is Leadership Intelligence: Science-Based Strategies for Mastering Twenty-One Everyday Management Challenges. Caroline has been named one of the top 50 executive coaches in the world by Thinkers50 and one of the top 50 leadership and management thinkers by Inc. magazine. She is a Senior Advisor on leadership to McKinsey & Company, where she previously served as a Partner. For more than two decades, Caroline has worked with leaders across business, government, startups, and the social sector, drawing on behavioral science, economics, and neuroscience to help people perform at their best. Her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, Financial Times, Fortune, Fast Company, TIME, and WIRED.
Templeton Foundation. He’s the author of the book Mindwise, and was named one of the world’s best 40 under 40 business school professors by Poets and Quants. I hope you enjoyed learning from Nick Epley, because I always do.