Manwell - we've got more work to do.

Human Capital

John Scott

To me, human capital is the collective resources of an individual and the degree of capacity to bring them to bear for the highest good of all.

Intention: More great, less grind.

Source: Life so far, a career in financial services, domains of positive psychology, high-performance sport, mindfulness, neuroscience, and compassion.

Insight Twenty-five: Manwell

Summary: We’ve got more work to do.

Last week I had trouble writing. It wasn't that I couldn't find the words but that I found too many and ones I didn't like.

It started with a goofy story of me trying to remember the lovely night cleaning staff supervisor's name at a building where I used to work. I came up with manwell as a memory trigger for Manuel. I felt like it was a creative connection to lots of thoughts and interests I have on how men (and women) can do their lives well.

I went to Go Daddy to see if I could buy the domain for future use of a website on men's health. I tried manwell.com, which would have cost me $7,000 at that time, so I went with manwell.ca for $19.99. Today manwell.com will cost $25,000 to acquire.

Early in my career, a man I worked with and respected died of a heart attack nine months after his retirement party. A heart attack is a form of cardiovascular disease and is 80% preventable. That stuck.

Then I went into the fact that men die before women at every age. In some countries, men die on average as much as ten years before women.

Harvard Health makes a few points: Harvard Health - Why Men Die before Women.

• Bigger risks in life and generally have riskier jobs. More accidental and violent deaths than women.
• Men are more likely to commit suicide than women.
• Men are 50% more likely to die of heart disease than women (more estrogen in women may assist with longevity).
• Generally, larger mammals die earlier.
• Men are less socially connected.
• Men are far less likely to make regular visits to a doctor.

Somehow this is where I took a "wrong" turn into a bad neighborhood. While some of the mortality gaps are about uncontrollable biology, I began getting upset about the controllable, preventable stuff.

Now, with one click, anyone can get a list of what to do to prevent cardiovascular disease and live longer. Take better care and go to the doctor when you know something is off. Assume risk more skillfully to lower the odds of accidental death, so we don't leave loved ones sad and pissed off too. And stop killing each other. Enough.

Something triggered this downward spiral into stuff about which no one wants to think.

After men's health, I drove headlong into thinking about toxic leadership in corporations and the world stage. And then aggression, including sexual abuse.

I once worked with a guy who would talk about some salespeople in the organization as a waste of space and something much worse that I won't print here. The unprinted piece haunts me. Altogether, it was shocking to me the undertone of aggression.

The French Courts, in 2019, convicted seven male Executives of the French telecom company Orange with moral harassment for downsizing methods that resulted in 19 suicides

A few years ago, Jeffrey Pfeffer wrote a book called Dying for a Paycheck. The introduction about the extent of toxic, stressful work environments and consequential human suffering made me well up.

Bob Chapman, CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, once spoke in front of 1,000 other CEOs (mostly men) at a conference and said, "You are the cause of the healthcare crisis."

His basis for that comment is that the enormous burden of health care comes from chronic disease. There is a vast amount of literature revealing chronic stress and other adverse health behaviors from stress. And the most significant source of stress is work.

It's not just that it would be nice to feel less stress; there all kinds of terrible outcomes related to chronic stress, including dementia. Eventually, the body will say no (title of a great book by Gabor Mate). Employers should care about this.

The book, "The Mind of the Leader" is based on extensive research, including assessments of more than 35,000 leaders and interviews with 250 C-level executives,

A note from the author says, "The world is facing a global leadership crisis. 77% of leaders think they do a good job of engaging their people, yet 88% of employees say their leaders do a bad job with engagement. There is also a high level of suffering in the workplace: 65% of employees would forego a pay raise to see their leaders fired." Mostly men.

Then I thought about world leadership: the bullying and lying and corruption and destruction and felt entirely down. Some countries' political systems, wholly run by men, seem fundamentally based on control, deceit, and lack. People just want freedom and help to have a better life for their families. The only positive I can point to is Jacinda Ardern, the PM of New Zealand who recently won a "landslide victory." A media sound bite I saw called her "strong and kind."

And violence and racial injustice, it would take volumes to talk about it. There were protests related to the George Floyd killing in 60 countries outside the US. People want tolerance.

My daughters, who couldn't care less if someone was black, white, mixed, gay, mentally or physically challenged, rich or poor, are dumbfounded by intolerance.

A few years ago, when some high-profile men were exposed and convicted of sexual abuse against women. I brought my daughters together one night and told them how utterly wrong that behavior is in the strongest possible language. They must NEVER EVER allow a man to treat them that way.

Somehow it felt like I was holding an illusion that there are three biological genders, male, female, and nasties: a separate group of bullies, liars, tyrants, violent, racially-biased, and sexually deviant men.

I told one of my daughters, who is quite bold in her views of my challenge and observations about men, and she looked at me with one of those looks, "Are you just realizing all this now. Some men are a big problem, Dad!"

I have started to read a book called, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst. Two early points are that the brain’s newest part, the cortex (behind your forehead), is where self-regulation resides. A study of monkeys showed that the larger the group they were put in, the larger their pre-fontal cortex (PFC). More self-regulation, more measured, pro-social behavior. And secondly, the amygdala is highly responsive to stress and triggers the fight, flight, fear, anxiety, and rage: sometimes, our amygdala is hijacked, and we react in uncontrollable, irrational ways.

For a long time, we have known that the pre-fontal cortex can be optimized through attention training like mindfulness meditation, compassion training, and other methods. The effect of strengthening the PFC is to offset or depower the amygdala: more measured regulation, less emotional, irrational reaction.

I am hopeful because mindfulness is being taught in every facet of life from junior school to business school, first responders, business, government, and sport.

Of course, not all guys are in that third group of nasties. There is an enormous outpouring all over the world of the desire for an even better world.

Bob Chapman mentioned earlier, co-authored the book Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People like Family. Everybody Matters

Additionally, the book "The Mind of the Leader" offers a radical yet practical solution to the leadership crisis, "Organizations need to put people at the center of their strategy. They need to develop managers and executives who lead with three core mental qualities: Mindfulness, Selflessness, and Compassion.

And here is an inspiring example of a man helping to elevate the world. Lanny Cordola, an American musician, met a young Afghan girl whose two sisters had been killed by a suicide bomber. Cordola founded The Miraculous Love Kids/Girl with a Guitar. Here they are playing Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics. Afghan Girls playing Sweet Dreams

Okay, back on humanity's right side and the real and inevitable progression to more tolerance and interconnectedness.

Be kind, it’s better that way.

John