BLOGPOST
Why Your Brain Always Prefers the Wrong
Successor
The words “succession planning” and “neuroscience” don’t usually come up in the same sentence.
But what if I told you that your brain will always prefer the wrong successor? Our brains affect
every decision we make – including succession decisions. Unfortunately, when it comes to
selecting the next executive, our brains always lead us astray.
Over the past decades, neuroscientists have identified two brain parts that impact our decisionmaking. The amygdala is a nut-shaped structure smack in the middle of your brain. It’s
instrumental in quick, emotional decisions that often save our lives. It’s the part of the brain that
screams “Jump!” when you’re about to step on a stick resembling a rattle snake. There’s no time
for conscious thought – it really could be a poisonous snake. Similarly, when the stakes are high
and you feel the pressure to select the right CEO, the amygdala goes haywire. It blocks your
conscious thought, creates tunnel vision, and forces you to make a decision based on emotion
rather than logic (Roozendaal et al., 2009). To stick with my metaphor, the person least
resembling a poisonous snake gets the job.
Even if you manage to stay away from an emotional decisions, there’s still the hippocampus an oval shaped structure also in the middle of your brain. It’s the brain’s “save button” (Squire &
Wixted, 2011). When you’re trying to connect a face to name, remembering candidate interviews,
or recalling employees’ achievements, your hippocampus is active. But it’s never perfect! For
instance, neuroscientists have demonstrated in numerous studies that many of our memories are
simply false (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995). That’s because our memory doesn’t work as a video recorder
– it only stores generalities like, “Tom interviewed well, he should get the job.” Since your
hippocampus is only saving these general impressions, you are basing succession decisions on
the same general impressions even though many of them might just be false memories.
So, what’s the big deal? Whelp, unfortunately, this all goes to show that we humans really aren’t
perfect when it comes to processing information, remembering, and making decisions. Say you’re
deciding who should be your next CEO and you feel really anxious about making the right call –
oop! There goes the amygdala forcing you to avoid the poisonous snake. Or if you’re trying to
remember some examples of why Tiana has the potential for a mid-level leadership role – better
hope that hippocampus is on track today!
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All in all, our brains completely bias our decisions to a point that we can’t trust them. So if you
are adamant to make the right succession decision, turn to live virtual simulation (aka virtual
assessment centers). They provide unbiased data on employees’ skills, potential, and readiness.
These day-in-the-life assessments let employees try the job and demonstrate whether they have
what it takes to succeed.
Employee assessments don’t have amygdalae nor are their sophisticated algorithms constrained
by the hippocampus. They don’t make emotional decisions in high-stakes settings or just fail to
retrieve details from their memory. So, the next time you’re faced with those nagging succession
decisions, remember that your hippocampus doesn’t always remember correctly and eliminate the
amygdala-induced tunnel vision. Let employee assessments do the heavy lifting for you and
determine who really is the best successor.
Interested in this topic?
Register for a complimentary 45-minute webinar (+15 min for Q&A) on how to make better talent
decisions. Date: September 29 @ 9.00 Los Angeles/12.00 New York/17.00 London
The HR Certification Institute has pre-approved this activity for 1.0 general
recertification credit towards PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification.
The use of this seal confirms that this activity has met HR Certification Institute’s® (HRCI®) criteria for
recertification credit pre-approval. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by the HR Certification Institute
of the quality of the activity. It means that this activity has met the HR Certification Institute’s criteria to be
pre-approved for recertification credit.
Martin Lanik is the CEO at Pinsight and holds a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. He
specializes in live virtual simulations (aka virtual assessment centers). With Pinsight’s costeffective simulation technology, Martin helps companies make more accurate succession decisions
and develop stronger leaders faster. Learn more at www.pinsight.biz.
References

Loftus, E. F., & Pickrell, J. E. (1995). The formation of false memories. Psychiatric Annals, 25,
720-725.

Roozendaal, B., McEwen, B. S., & Chattarji, S. (2009). Stress, memory and the
amygdala. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 423-433.

Squire, L. R., & Wixted, J. T. (2011). The cognitive neuroscience of human memory since
HM. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 34, 259.