Leadership, Complexity and Seven Deadly Sins

I recently had a really interesting and wide ranging discussion with an app developer on psychometrics where I found out about the effect of anxiety reducing working memory.  Working memory is a key component to fluid intelligence, and fluid intelligence is key to being able to process complex novel problems.  Leadership, relying on fluid intelligence, is largely concerned with the navigation of complex and novel problems, especially at higher levels.  The morning after the discussion I woke up with a new perspective on the seven deadly sins, their maladaptive nature and impact on leadership that I thought might be interesting to you. 

Let’s look at each Sin a little:

Pride: A boastful or ego driven state which is in some ways a gateway sin to wrath envy and greed.  Pride in an of itself creates blind spots, self perceived invulnerabilities.  Like narcissus looking in the mirror consuming thinking capacity about how wonderful he is instead of productive thought or reflection.  Constantly being concerned about other people’s perception of you, anxiety is increased in the need to constantly be seen to be great.

Sloth: procrastinating and not doing what needs to get done leads to a pile of unfinished business that then seems insurmountable.  Looking at this pile will be anxiety inducing.  The messy pile just keeps getting bigger adding more complexity.

Gluttony: will inevitably lead to ill health and then preoccupation with ill health.  This goes hand in glove with Sloth.  Also, a glutinous mind will obsess over the next meal and how to get it, possibly how to hide the gluttony, consuming mental bandwidth.  There may be shame (an anxiety related emotion) as a result of having engaged in gluttony.

Wrath: In an anger state cognition becomes biased to seeing threats.  Opportunities to create mutually profitable resolutions become impossible and they can not even be seen by the angry individual(s).  No one wants to be around the constantly angry person.  Tightly related to a grievance mind-set.  Feeling constantly aggrieved will make someone quick to anger.  A feedback loop can begin of more grievance and more isolation and more anger.

Lust: The consuming lust of desiring sex is also has a direct effect of reducing working memory.  Possibly there is an increase in anxiety of someone else beating you to it.  There is a reason hunting season for deer is in the fall mating season; it is the rut when male deer are consumed with lust and they become active in daytime, making them easy prey.  The consciousness and working memory is consumed with lust to the point of distraction.  For someone who is married, infidelity leads to divorce and a radical increase in complexity of personal life.

Envy: Always comparing yourself and what you have to others and being in a depressed and anxious state because you don’t have as much as they do.  Clearly a direct line to anxiety and the reduction in working memory.  Rather than being happy for your friend that is more successful you are envious and resentful, poisoning the relationship.

Greed: This is the lust not for sex, but for material possessions.  It also will cause anxiety if this desire for more is unfulfilled and create a feedback loop with envy.  The avaricious will have few friends.  The constant desire for more is anxiety inducing, and combined with an ever decreasing social circle an increasing anxiety feedback loop is created.

I’ll add an eighth sin: Fear.  Fear is the ultimate anxiety inducing emotional state.  All the major religions have injunctions not to be fearful.  Fear is an underlying component in a lot of the sins above as well.

In short most of these sins do a couple of things.  They increase the complexity of your life, and they are virtually synonymous with increasing anxiety. 

If someone is in a leadership position maximizing fluid intelligence and reducing non value added complexity become imperatives.

From a strictly secular point of view these seven deadly sins are highly maladaptive.  For the leader they are disastrous to good decision making.

We have a lot of agency and control over how much complexity we bring into our lives.  Avoidance of the seven deadly sins is a good place to start.  The antidote to the sins are the virtuous and secular practices of:

Gratitude

Temperance

Wisdom

Courage

So let’s start with giving thanks for the blessings in our lives.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and thank you,

Nik