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This book is an eye-opener. Wexler, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist, begins by reaffirming the powerful affect that parents, siblings, and peers have on stimulating and shaping the synaptic structures and neuropsychological development of a child’s brain in the first years of life, then expands the notion of the “environment” to include the broader influences of the human-created environments we call culture. The weight of scientific evidence presented by Wexler supports his claim that “culture” (physical structures, laws, codes of behavior, food, clothes, spoken and written language, and the media) actually shapes the human brain to a degree that is unprecedented among other animals. Wexler states that, “It is this ability to shape the environment that in turn shapes our brains that has allowed human adaptability and capability to develop at a much faster rate than is possible through alteration of the genetic code itself. This transgenerational shaping of brain function through culture also means that processes that govern the evolution of societies and cultures have a great influence on how our individual brains and minds work.” Wexler’s work has serious implications for the neuropsychological effect that organizational culture can have on leaders, managers, and staff members, especially in cultures that are riddled by destructive conflict.

During the first part of life, the brain and mind have a high degree of plasticity, but by early adulthood we develop an elaborate system of synaptic, neuropsychological structures that define how we “see” ourselves, other people, and the world around us. People and situations that “map” to our inner structures create a sense of comfort and psychological safety and those that are substantially different create cognitive dissonance that threatens our sense of “reality.” As adults in the workplace, leaders, managers, and staff members who see the world differently have access to resources that allows them to shape the day-to-day realities of organizational life to conform to the synaptic structures in their heads. When our synaptic structures are significantly different than our boss’, for example, destructive conflict often emerges because the two of us live in “different worlds” that are formed by different neuropsychological structures. In the end, Wexler’s research is more evidence for the fact that the nature-nurture debate is over. Whether cognitive structures are hard wired into our brains genetically or produced by the influences of family, workplace, or national cultures really doesn’t matter because they are simply different conduits into the same synaptic registers.