"Recent neuroscience studies contain useful lessons for managers:

Don't make your employees feel dumb or incompetent--this will make them worse at their jobs.

The "fight-or-flight" response to threats has been studied by psychologists for decades. When animals - including humans - are in pain or physical danger, their neural activity changes radically in ways that help them focus on the threat and confront or escape it effectively. But this focus comes at a cost to other brain functions. A person in danger is better at fighting, but worse at thinking."