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No organization can survive without iconoclasts -- innovators who single-handedly upturn conventional wisdom and manage to achieve what so many others deem impossible.
Though indispensable, true iconoclasts are few and far between. In Iconoclast, neuroscientist Gregory Berns explains why. He explores the constraints the human brain places on innovative thinking, including fear of failure, the urge to conform, and the tendency to interpret sensory information in familiar ways.
Through vivid accounts of successful innovators ranging from glass artist Dale Chihuly to physicist Richard Feynman to country/rock trio the Dixie Chicks, Berns reveals the inner workings of the iconoclast's mind with remarkable clarity. Each engaging chapter goes on to describe practical actions we can each take to understand and unleash our own potential to think differently -- such as seeking out new environments, novel experiences, and first-time acquaintances.
Packed with engaging stories, science-based insights, potent practices, and examples from a startling array of disciplines, this engaging book will help you understand how iconoclasts think and equip you to begin thinking more like an iconoclast yourself.
- Sales Rank: #286354 in Books
- Published on: 2010-03-17
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.18" h x .72" w x 5.60" l, .63 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 272 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Psychiatry professor Berns (Satisfaction: The Science of Finding True Fulfillment) describes an iconoclast as "a person who does something that others say can't be done." Though keeping his promise to reveal the "biological basis" for the ability to think outside the box, Berns keeps technical explanation to a minimum, instead using themes like perception, fear and networking to profile a number of famous free-thinkers. While the ordinary person perceives the world based on his past experience and "what other people say," the iconoclast is both willing and able to risk seeing things differently; in the case of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, his creative breakthrough (departing from symmetry in his ice-sculptures) came after a car crash blinded him in one eye, literally changing his view of the world. The will to take risks is also paramount; Cardinals baseball coach Branch Rickey and his controversial hire Jackie Robinson, the first black man in the Majors, provide models of imagination and fearlessness. Berns also looks at iconoclasts like Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Ford, the Dixie Chicks, Warren Buffett and Picasso, relating in lucid terms the mindsets that set them apart.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
This fascinating work lays out where great ideas come from, how our brain often works against us, and what we can do about it to seize the day. --Fast Company, Best Business Books of 2008
About the Author
Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University. He has written for numerous science publications and has been interviewed on National Public Radio, CNN, and ABC's Primetime. He has been profiled frequently in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and other media.
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
If you’re an aspiring iconoclast and/or interested in what makes one tick, I think you’ll enjoy the book.
By Brian Johnson
[[VIDEOID:7ade1cb63612ff4455107ec9d07b962f]] “It is, of course, not easy to be an iconoclast. The iconoclast risks social and professional ostracism, frequently alienates colleagues, and must face a daily reckoning with a high likelihood of failure. He walks a tough road. And although there is a certain romantic notion to the image of the rugged individualist, who, against all odds, triumphs over conformity, the simple fact is that most people don’t want to be an iconoclast. This book won’t make you an iconoclast, but you can learn to think a bit more iconoclastically by understanding how the three key brain circuits work. ...
The overarching theme of this book is that iconoclasts are able to do things others say can’t be done, because iconoclasts perceive things differently than other people. This difference in perception plays out in the initial stages of an idea. It plays out in how they manage their fears, and it manifests in how they pitch their ideas to the masses of noniconoclasts. It is an exceedingly rare individual who possesses all three of these traits. In the following chapters, the stories of iconoclasts provide lessons in how their brains, to varying degrees, implement the three key functions. Each story was chosen to exemplify one of these functions. Roll them all together, and you would have the ultimate iconoclast’s brain.”
~ Gregory Berns Ph.D. from Iconoclast
Wonder what the iconoclast’s brain looks like?
Well, that’s what this book is all about.
Our guide is Gregory Berns, one of the world’s leading pioneers (iconoclasts?) in the field of neuroeconomics. Berns is a professor in the department of Psychiatry and Economics and at the Goizeta Business School at Emory University.
This book is a fascinating look at the three primary facets of the iconoclast’s brain (perception + courage + social skills), brought to life via research studies and biographical sketches of modern iconoclasts.
Here are some of my favorite Big Ideas:
1. Iconoclast Brain - Is different.
2. Step #1 - See the world differently.
3. Your Amygdala - Keep it in check.
4. Stressed? - Swap short-term for chronic.
5. Be a Good Human - = Social intelligence.
Here’s to optimizing our perception, courage and social skills as we use our greatest gifts in greatest service to the world Iconoclast-style!!!
More goodness— including PhilosophersNotes on 300+ books in our *OPTIMIZE* membership program. Find out more at brianjohnson . me.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
WARNING: This Book Will Change Your Brain!!!
By William Dahl
Required reading for the intellectually adventurous. Warning: This book will change you! Here are a few excerpts I adored:
"The definition of an iconoclast as a person who does something that others say can't be done. This definition implies that iconoclasts are different from other people. Indeed, this is true, but more precisely, the, iconoclast's brain is different." P. 6
Berns must have spoken to my wife before he wrote the following:
"the brain runs on about 40 watts of power ( a light bulb!)." p. 7.
"perception is a process that is learned through experience, which is both a curse and an opportunity for change. P. 8
"To see things differently than other people, the most effective solution is to bombard the brain with things it has never encountered before. Novelty releases the perceptual process from the shackles of past experience and forces the brain to make new judgments." P.8.
After having overcome the sheer terror of Berns speaking to my wife before he wrote the above, I am comforted by what he shares thereafter, including these tidbits:
The problem with novelty, however, is that, for most people, novelty triggers the fear system of the brain. P.8.
Fear is the second major impediment to thinking like an iconoclast and stops the average person dead in his tracks. P. 8.
I thought these two (Berns and my wife) got together to conspire to destroy me. Listen to the following from Berns:the word iconoclast, which means literally "destroyer of icons," p. 10.
My wife says she is just trying to move me out of the ruts and routines I seem to fall into. Along with Berns, I guess they have a point, based upon the following:
"The brain must be provided with something that it has never before processed to force it out of predictable perceptions."p.25
"we can say one thing about the iconoclast's brain, it would be this: it sees differently than other people's brains." P.32
Iconoclasm begins with perception. More specifically, it begins with visual perception, and so the first step to thinking like an iconoclast is to see like one. p. 32
"But epiphanies rarely occur in familiar surroundings. The key to seeing like an iconoclast is to look at things that you have never seen before. It seems almost obvious that breakthroughs in perception do not come I from simply staring at an object and thinking harder about it. Break- throughs come from a perceptual system that is confronted with something that it doesn't know how to interpret. Unfamiliarity forces the rain to discard its usual categories of perception and create new one." P. 33
"Imagination comes from the visual system. Iconoclasm goes hand in hand with imagination. Before one can muster the strength to tear down conventional thinking, one must first imagine the possibility that conventional thinking is wrong. But even this is not enough. The iconoclast goes further and imagines alternative possibilities. P.37
"but creativity seems to become more difficult for many people as they get older." P. 37
"we cannot see that which we don't know to look for. Second, the ability to see these subtle differences depends on experience. And this means that perception can be changed through experience." P. 42
"In order to think creatively, and imagine possibilities that only iconoclasts do, one must break out of the cycle of experience-dependent categorization-or what Mark Twain called "education." For most people, this does not come naturally. Often the harder one tries to think differently, the more rigid the categories become. There is a better way, a path that jolts the brain out of preconceived notions of what it is seeing: bombard the brain with new experiences. Only then will it be forced out of efficiency mode and reconfigure its neural networks." P. 54
"It typically takes a novel stimulus - either a new piece of information or getting out of the environment in which an individual has become comfortable-to jolt attentional systems awake and reconfigure both perception and imagination. The more radical and novel the change, the greater the likelihood of new insights being generated. To think like an iconoclast, you need novel experiences." P. 57-58.
OK...OK...I need to change --- I get that. My wife is HUGE on getting me involved in new experiences (painting the house, taking the garbage out, changing up what I read, and inviting me to new and fascinating social engagements(???). CLEARLY, she has conspired with Berns about this as well. Listen to what he writes:
"Categories are death to imagination. So the solution is to seek out environments in which you have no experience." P. 58
"The critical fears that inhibit people from sharing their ideas: the fear of being rejected. At its core, this fear has its origin in social pressure, which is one of the most common of human phobias." Pp.77-78
Individuals who tended toward social reticence felt comfortable pitching half -baked ideas." P. 78.
The soft-minded man always fears change. He feels security in the status quo, and he has an almost morbid fear of the new. For him, the greatest pain is the pain of a new idea. - Martin Luther King Jr. p.83.
"We know what we see, and we know right from wrong, but with enough social pressure, we cave in to the fear of standing alone. --- If we grant that we are all a bit reticent at times to stand up for our personal opinions, this leaves the door open to act as individuals when we choose. It is a noble grasp for free will. But-and this is the kicker-we must be brave enough. This was Asch's point. Even in a neutral laboratory setting, most people are not that brave." P. 92
"Groups are, indeed, superior to individuals, but only when they are diverse and individuals act as individuals. Statistically, most people in a group will lie along a spectrum of opinions, but because of the social pressure to belong, these opinions contract to the social norm. The availability of a minority position breaks the stranglehold of conformity, and groups that allow for minority opinions are statistically more likely to make better decisions than groups that require unanimity." P.103.
It an institutional level, the implications are clear: committees should not be required to arrive at a unanimous decision. Dissension must be encouraged." Pp.104-104
"The most effective way for a group to make a decision is by aggregating the opinions of independent individuals. Lt also follows that a group with a lot of diversity among its members is more likely to arrive at a good decision than a group that is composed of members who are alike." P.104.
"The human brain comes to like that with which it is familiar. And it is this sort of familiarity that the successful iconoclast must strive for. Rightly or wrongly, people put their money into things that they are familiar with." P. 141.
Yes, I have been referred to as "soft-minded and lazy" by family members.They have been attempting to rewire me since birth. Oncegain, Berns and my wife have been conspiring here. Listen to Berns:
"The brain is lazy. It changes only when it has to. And the conditions that consistently force the brain to rewire itself are when it confronts something novel. Novelty equals learning, and learning means physical rewiring of the brain." P. 199.
Berns is a boundary buster...he is on the frontier of breakthroughs in how we think and ways in which we might become more (much more) than we believe we are capable of becoming.
REQUIRED READING!!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Lesson in neuroscience and history, not in thinking differently
By Elyse Watkins
Overview
This book is great at describing the neural basis of what makes an iconoclast, someone who does something that apparently can't be done, and why the general population will likely never be iconoclasts. It gives relevant examples of iconoclasts across a variety of disciplines, and how they have differed from the majority. It does not, however, give the majority insight into how to become iconoclasts. This could be because Berns argues that, in general, an iconoclast is either born an iconoclast or made an iconoclast because of a life-changing event. Whatever the reason, I would have liked to see a greater emphasis on how the average person can work to overcome the three barriers to iconoclasm (the only real solution he gives is in the final chapter "The Iconoclast's Pharmacopoeia"). In general, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about the brain, interesting research studies, and some of the most influential people in history. If you are looking for a prescription on how to be innovative and think like an iconoclast, look elsewhere.
"The average iconoclast possesses a perceptual system that can see things differently than other people. He conquers his fear of the unknown, and possesses enough social intelligence to sell his idea to other people."
Perception
According to Berns, an iconoclast differs from the average person not by how he sees, but by how he perceives. When we see something, our brains give us the most likely explanation of what is occurring. It is difficult to innovate in a familiar surrounding, because the brain tries to take shortcuts in order to save energy, and in doing so leads to "perception based on past experiences." Berns suggests that because of the brain's tendency to assume what will be next, this stifles creative thinking. He suggests that in order to think like an iconoclast, we have to constantly "confront the perceptual system with people, places, and things it hasn't seen before." We need new environments and experiences in order to have imagination.
This section was probably the best at presenting ways in which we can overcome the first "barrier" to iconoclasm. However, aside from his suggesting that we put ourselves in environments that our brain has not yet experienced, Berns does not go much further. I appreciated his explanation of the neuroscience behind why our brains have evolved to virtually inhibit innovation. His examples of Walt Disney and the artist Chihuly were interesting in that these iconoclasts were made, not born, through distinct experiences that changed their perception of the world. Additionally, I appreciated Berns's use of optical illusions to demonstrate that the brain sees what it wants to see.
Fear
Berns argues that fear, and its corresponding stress response, is "the second great hurdle to becoming an iconoclast." When the body is presented with a stressor, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in. This is characterized by heightened blood pressure, dilated pupils, fast heart rate, and slowed digestion, to name a few. In prehistoric times, this fear response was activated to be able to prepare the body for "fight or flight", such as when confronted with a predator on the African savannah. Berns cites many studies in psychology that prove that when someone faces the challenge of conforming or not conforming to a group decision, the amygdala, a small structure in the brain known to be involved in the "flight or flight" response, is activated. Furthermore, when an individual participates in a task wherein he or she can fail, this same region is activated. What is different in iconoclasts, says Berns, is that they are not afraid of nonconformity or failure, which allows them to take risks.
This section was the best at explaining the biology behind the fear response, but the worst at describing how we can overcome that response. This section was particularly interesting because it is very relevant to daily life. Everyone has experienced the fear of nonconformance, such as when going against a common decision made by colleagues, the fear of failure, fear of public speaking, fear of taking risks - the list goes on. This section gives a biological reason to why these fears are so common, and how they inhibit us from innovation. Berns does not, unfortunately, provide any advice as to how we can overcome these fears. This section uses fewer examples of iconoclasts throughout history who have overcome fear, possibly because it is hard to quantify. It does, however, give many examples of research studies that support his argument.
Social Intelligence
Social intelligence is based on many factors, but the two most important are familiarity and reputation. "Iconoclasts, by definition, are foreign to most people," which is why this section seem almost contradictory. Berns makes the distinction, however, that social intelligence is not necessary to make an iconoclast, but it is necessary to make a successful one. When iconoclasts come up with ideas, many of them are foreign and completely go against what is accepted and familiar. When something is unfamiliar, it activates the amygdala, which from the previous section we know is responsible for the fear response. Thus, in order for the general public to accept the innovation (or the iconoclast him/herself), it must appear to be familiar. This is where social intelligence comes into play. "The ultimate goal, through familiarity and reputation, is for the world to shrink his world like Picasso. Don' be a Van Gogh."
This was, in my opinion, the most interesting section. It was replete with examples throughout history of iconoclasts who have both succeeded and failed due to their social intelligence. It is useless to have a great idea if the idea is not marketable and accepted by the general population. Although again, Berns does not suggest how to increase social intelligence, he does show pretty decisively the correlation between social intelligence and success. Presumably, the readers of this book are looking to think differently to create something new and exciting, and using the examples of iconoclasts who have done so in the past, and have succeeded, could be useful.
Style
In general, Berns usually starts his chapters with examples, followed by explanations of the neuroscience, studies that provide support for these explanations, and how iconoclasts differ from this. Although at some points Berns writes with technical language, I do not by any means think that should deter someone without knowledge of neuroscience from reading this book. He explains very well the different structures and functions of the brain and makes it simple for the average reader to understand. Berns keeps the reader interested by using relevant examples. The structure of the book, with its three distinct sections, makes it clear to follow his thought process. Admittedly, the last chapter, "The Iconoclast's Pharmacopoeia" seems a bit out of place with the rest of the book; however, it was still quite interesting.
Recommendation
I would recommend this book as a good and interesting read. As stated previously, I believe its value is in the examples it provides of iconoclasts throughout history and its brief explanations about the brain. I do not think this is a valuable tool for learning how to think differently.
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