Game-Time Leaders: The Automated vs. Cognitive Brain
Satya Addagarla
Chief Information Officer | Chief Technology Officer | Capital One Alum | Digital Transformation Leader | Cloud | AI |Banking & Financial Services
I’m a huge fan of both the excitement and pace of play generated by the NBA playoffs.?
With the Finals now in full-swing, I wanted to draw some timely, basketball-centric comparisons between being a game-time leader and what it means to be an effective, cognitive manager in a forward-leaning tech environment.?
Playoff games often come down to a few meaningful seconds, shots, and plays – that’s part of the magic for players and fans alike.?When Jamal Murray, point guard for the Denver Nuggets, shoots a three-point shot with two seconds left, it’s the result of countless hours of practice spent to prepare him for that one moment.?Jamal Murray is optimized for speed – in fact, he’s practiced so much, that this shot is second nature – I call this the automated brain.?
So how does a coach effectively set a player up for that One Shining Moment?
A coach’s role is to observe, identify, and give feedback.?Just as Jamal Murray is optimized for speed through execution (utilizing the automated brain), a coach needs to set the play, understand the bigger picture, and ultimately identify who will take the shot – this means leaning into the cognitive side of the brain.??
This is a thought-provoking idea – rather than defining managers and developers by their title or role, what’s most important is the type of activity (and type of thinking) they need to be engaged in:???
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When lines blur between these two sides of the brain, mistakes and “missed shots” can happen.?Here are two common pitfalls that managers should recognize and understand:
Executives in any model should be adept in shifting their thinking effectively based on the situation at hand – this is a topic I’ll plan to explore more in depth in a future blog.?
In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your own “game-time” experiences related to automated and cognitive thinking in the comments below.?Sharing both our successes, and failures, is a great way to learn from each other, and this is a critical part of continuous improvement.?I’m looking forward to where we can steer this conversation!??
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1 年Great read Satya! Thought provoking and refreshing perspective on leadership.
Financial Services Strategy, Product, Data & Platform Leader | Digital & Data Transformation
1 年Great read Satya and truly awesome of how you have drawn out the connect on how manager as a true coach can provide the insight and feedback in making a game changing moment out of nowhere. However was curious to hear your thoughts on how do we build a team that is not just flawless in execution but is also invested in cognitive thinking, so that not just as individuals but as a team they can be trained to see the bigger picture without someone else having to do that for them.
Hey Satya, great read. This is what psychologists call “unconscious competence” or when runners experience the runners high. It all comes down to hard work and preparation.
Satya- I would like to know your thoughts on spot motivations and long run inspirations in the example you gave. ( or May be that is part of your next series ) As manager and leaders, how do you build Jamal in the practice is the important task as a coach. How do you drive a developer that always comes to rescue, with a lot of trust and can quickly ( or in reasonable time with amazing confidence) fix a code and become teams Jamal all the time.