Case for the Body

8/2/2019 Case for the Body

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a case for the body

www.exuberantanimal.com

why physical vitality is essentialfor organizational performance

supporting concepts, research and

references compiled by

exuberantanimal


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exuberant animal contact

it all begins with the body

In conventional business circles, the prevailing conversation is all about eective manage-

ment and execution. Its a game o strategy and tactics, most o which are conceived andanalyzed in the abstract world o the mind. In this world, the body rarely enters into thepicture.

In act, in most organizational settings, health is a matter o interest only in its absence.Skyrocketing medical costs and absenteeism are cause or concern, but the body is rarelygranted a voice in the organizational operation or culture.

Tis perspective is about to change dramatically. A new era o biological sophistication isbeginning to unold, with a ood o new discoveries demonstrating the powerul intercon-nections between our physical states and our work-lie perormance. Increasingly, business

leaders are coming to realize that high-unctioning bodies are not merely desirable, butabsolutely crucial to business and organizational success.

Te body, aer all, is the primary source o human action, creativity and perormance. Butthe individual body does not stand alone. What happens in the individual body and brainripple throughout social organizations, oen with proound consequences, or better or orworse.

Tis leads us to the understanding that health is not just a luxury item in the modernorganization; its a business necessity. Tis is especially the case in todays high-intensityknowledge industries where demands on the human nervous system are extreme and stress

is epidemic. In this kind o environment, small changes in individual health can have im-mense downstream consequences.

As youll see, this document makes a case or the body and the Exuberant Animal rainingMethod. By investing in the bodies and brains o the people in your organization, youllenjoy substantial returns and benets. As youll see, the body is our uture.

Frank ForencichChie creative ofcerExuberant Animal
http://exuberantanimal.com/http://exuberantanimal.com/mailto:case%40exuberantanimal.com?subject=Exuberant%20Animal%3A%20The%20case%20for%20the%20bodymailto:case%40exuberantanimal.com?subject=Exuberant%20Animal%3A%20The%20case%20for%20the%20bodyhttp://exuberantanimal.com/


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the toll: us

Degenerative and liestyle diseases sap the US economy:

Obesity indirectly costs the United States at least $450 billion annuallyalmost three times the direct medical cost.McKinsey Quarterly January 2011

Te average obese person costs society more than $7,000 a year in lostproductivity and added medical treatment. Scaling Back Obesity ScienticAmerican, February 2011

Te cost o cardiovascular diseases, including health care expenditures andlost productivity rom deaths and disability, is estimated to be more than $503billion in 2010. Source: Centers or Disease Control

Diabetes estimated to cost $174 billion annually. Tis estimate includes $116billion in excess medical expenditures, as well as $58 billion in reduced nationalproductivity. American Diabetes Association: Economic Costs o Diabetes inthe U.S. in 2007

Te direct and indirect costs associated with depression in the United States in1990 totaled more than $43.7 billion. Each depressed worker costs his employerabout $3,000 per year. MI Sloan School o Management and Analysis Group,Inc.

otal cost o back pain estimated at greater than $100 billion annually, withtwo-thirds o that due to decreased wages and productivity.Archives o InternalMedicine: February 2009 Carey and Freburger

In 2009, the National Institutes o Health estimated the 2008 overall annualcosts o cancer were $228 billion.

Te American Institute o Stress (AIS), reports that stress costs total some $300billion annually. Tis includes: accidents, absenteeism, employee turnover,diminished productivity, direct medical, legal, and insurance costs, workers

compensation awards as well as tort and liability judgments.

Total cost of chronic and lifestyle disease to US economy: $1.8 trillion annually


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the cost of disengagement and

presenteeism

In 2011, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index estimated the cost o Americasdisengagement crisis at a staggering $300 billion in lost productivityannually.

Fewer than 1 in 3 employees worldwide are engaged...Nearly 1 in 5 are actuallydisengaged. Employee Engagement Report 2011: Beyond the numbers: A practicalapproach or individuals, managers, and executives. Blessing White Intelligence,Princeton, New Jersey, Global Engagement Report

Te cost o an actively disengaged employee is $16,000 per year. Gallup andHR.com

As companies struggle to rein in health care costs, most overlook what maybe a $150 billion problem: the nearly invisible drain on worker productivity...Researchers say presenteeismthe problem o workers being on the job but,because o illness or other medical conditions, not ully unctioningcancut individual productivity by one-third or more...Most studies conrm thatpresenteeism is ar more costly than illness-related absenteeism or disability.

Presenteeism: At Work-But Out o Itby Paul Hemp Harvard Business Review,October 2004

Presenteeism costs employers an estimated $2000/yr/employee. Cigna BehavioralHealth, April 26, 2004

Research consistently shows that the costs to employers rom health-related lostproductivity dwars those o health insurance... A 2009 study by Dr. RonaldLoeppke and colleagues o absenteeism and presenteeism among 50,000 workersat 10 employers showed that lost productivity costs are 2.3 times higher than

medical and pharmacy costs. Whats the hard return on employee wellnessprograms?by Leonard L. Berry, Ann M. Mirabito, and William B. Baun HarvardBusiness Review: December 2010
http://exuberantanimal.com/http://exuberantanimal.com/mailto:case%40exuberantanimal.com?subject=Exuberant%20Animal%3A%20The%20case%20for%20the%20bodyhttp://www.well-beingindex.com/http://www.well-beingindex.com/mailto:case%40exuberantanimal.com?subject=Exuberant%20Animal%3A%20The%20case%20for%20the%20bodyhttp://exuberantanimal.com/


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neuroplasticity and neuro-optimism

In todays ast-paced, knowledge-intensive industries, the human nervous system is an essential

part o the organizations neurological assets. Discoveries in modern neuroscience over the last20 years have generated exciting new ideas or preserving and extending this precious resource.

Troughout most o the 20th century, scientists believed that the human nervous system wasundamentally static. No new nerve cells could be generated and in turn, learning and potentialwere limited. Tis belie led many to ocus on inborn and innate talent, while ignoring the vastpotential or training and education.

oday we now know that the human nervous system is incredibly dynamic and is constantlyre-sculpting itsel in response to lived experience. Not only do we generate new brain cellsaprocess called neurogenesis we also modiy connections between cells and the insulationaround nerve bers. Collectively, these changes are reerred to as neuroplasticity.

Te discovery o neuroplasticity has proound implications or organizational development andsuccess. It tells us that individuals are capable o outrageous growth in almost any skill or capa-bility. By setting up proper environments and conditions, we can acilitate progressive learningthroughout career and liespan.


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the case for vigorous movement

Te case or vigorous physical movement (exercise) has been made and the weight o evidence

is overwhelming: Tousands o studies have shown conclusively a direct connection betweenregular physical movement and across-the-board improvements in both physical health andcognitive perormance.

Te basic value o exercise is widely understood, but the eect is both broader and deeper thanpreviously realized. Frequent vigorous movement is associated with:

Increased neurogenesis, the production o brain cells, especially in regionsdevoted to learning and memory.

Increased production o neurotrophic actors such as brain-derived

neurotrophic hormone

Decreased levels o circulating stress hormones. In turn, this promotes learning,memory and sel-regulation, while it decreases ear and impulsivity.

Increased sense o psychological control, which leads to better stressmanagement, impulse control and sense o security.

Tese benets come with almost any orm o vigorous movement. Aerobic exercise is con-sidered highly benecial or brain and nervous system unction, but health and perormanceimprovements occur with virtually any orm o vigorous physical movement. Te most signi-cant improvements occur in the early stages, when individuals transition rom sedentary tomoderately active.

Tere is a direct biological connection between movement and cognitive unctionexercise is the single most powerul tool you have to optimize your brain unction.

Dr. John RateySpark: Te Revolutionary New Science o Exercise and the Brain


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the case for rapport, team cohesion

and social intelligence

Modern work demands ever-increasing levels o collaboration, cooperation and cross-boundarycommunication. Unortunately, teams are oen thrown together with no basis or cohesionother than a common objective.

Fortunately, we know how to acilitate team rapport. Social neuroscientists have traced the owo social inormation through a resonance circuit in the brain and body. Te conclusion: oursocial nature is prooundly physical.

By engaging our bodies in a common physical experience, we share meaning and emotion.Tis develops both social and emotional intelligence and in turn, rapport.

Although a job is oen regarded as a purely economic transaction, the brain experiencesthe workplace rst and oremost as a social system...Te ability to intentionally addressthe social brain in the service o optimal perormance will be a distinguishing leadershipcapability in the years ahead.

David RockManaging with the Brain in Mindstrategy + business.com

Te brain is a social organ.

Daniel Siegel M.D.Te Neurobiology o We: How Relationships, theMind, and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are

A study o about 20,000 employees working in a wide range o jobs in Sweden, Finland,Germany, Poland, and Italy ound that people who elt disconnected rom their managers

were more likely to get sick, miss work, or even suer a heart attack. By contrast, datareleased by Gallup in 2007 show that people who have a best riend at work are seventimes as likely as others to be positively engaged with their jobs.

What Brain Science ells Us About How to Excel: A doctors prescription or achievingpeak perormance by Edward M. HallowellHarvard Business Review, Reprint R1012L


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the case for stress education

Over the last several decades, stress has emerged as an increasingly urgent health and work-

place issue. Researchers now understand the physiological mechanism o the stress responseand the psychological actors that inuence it. We now know that stress hormones have aparadoxical eect: in small doses they enhance perormance, cognition, learning and memory,but in large, chronic doses, they contribute to degenerative conditions and lead to a host ohealth-destructive consequences that also wreak havoc in the workplace.

In simple terms, stress makes everything worse. Both health and workplace perormance suerin tandem: chronic stress degrades judgment, impulse control, social and emotional intel-ligence, curiosity, creativity, innovation

Te conventional approach is to seek a stress antidote: many programs seek to eliminate

stress. Te more sophisticated approach is practical stress education: not only should we seekto moderate the negative eects o stress, we should also learn how to maximize its potentialor learning and perormance. When ully understood by managers and employees, stress canhave immense potential or powering creativity, innovation, productivity and growth.

Humans cannot think creatively, work well with others, or make inormeddecisions when their threat responses are on high alert. Skilled leadersunderstand this and act accordingly.

David RockManaging with the Brain in Mindstrategy + business.com


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the case for positive emotions

Positive emotions are ar more than mere eel-good states. Rather, they are crucial or devel-

oping the cognitive exibility and creativity that is so essential in the modern workplace. In thissense, happiness is vital to organizational perormance.

Our research shows that inner work lie has a proound impact on workers creativity,productivity, commitment and collegiality. Employees are ar more likely to havenew ideas on days when they eel happier. Conventional wisdom suggests that pressureenhances perormance; our real-time data, however, shows that workers perormbetter when they are happily engaged in what they do.

Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

Findings rom What Good are Positive Emotions?:

Positive emotions serve to broaden an individuals thought-action repertoire,which in turn has the eect o building that individuals physical, intellectualand social resources.

...positive emotions prompt individuals to discard time-tested or automaticbehavioral scripts and to pursue novel, creative, and oen unscripted paths o

thought and action.

...people experiencing positive aect were more exible categorizers.

...positive aect leads people to see relatedness and interconnections amongthoughts and ideas and to process material in a more integrated and exibleashion.

...positive aect promotes improved understanding o complex situations.

...increases the likelihood that an individual will help others who are in need.

Source: What Good are Positive Emotions?Barbara Fredrickson, Review o GeneralPsychology 1998, Vol. 2, No. 3. 300-319


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the case for play and creativity

Serious play is not an oxymoron; it is the essence o innovation.

Michael SchrageSerious Play: How the Worlds Best Companies Simulate to Innovate

What kind o leadership do we need now? Ive been asking this question o thousandso business proessionals over the last year or so around the country. By ar, the mostcommon responses? Adaptive, exible, and innovative. Because o the ubiquitous senseo turbulence in most o our lives these days, the leadership attribute that comes tomind most oen is the means or dealing with chaos. It boils down to this: playulcreativity.

Stewart D. FriedmanPractice Proessor o Management at the Wharton Schoolauthor ootal Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Lie

Te necessity o human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll o 1,500 CEOsidentied creativity as the No. 1 leadership competency o the uture...Whatscommon about successul programs is they alternate maximum divergent thinking

with bouts o intense convergent thinking, through several stages.

Creativity in America: Te Science o Innovation and How to Reignite ourImaginations by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman Newsweek July 19, 2010

We know rom neuroscience that play builds your brain. It stimulates the secretiono brain derived neurotrophic actor, or BDNF, a recently discovered molecule thatpromotes nerve growth. In addition, play has a benecial eect on the prerontalcortex, which regulates executive unctions such as planning, organizing, prioritizing,deciding, scheduling, anticipating, delegating, analyzingin short, most othe skillsyou need to excel in business.

What Brain Science ells Us About How to Excelby Edward M. Hallowell A doctorsprescription or achieving peak perormance. Harvard Business Review ReprintR1012L


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returns on investment

Better management o employee health can lead to improved productivity, which can

create a competitive business advantage...Investments to reduce presenteeism, becausethey are so rare, oer greater opportunities or getting ahead o the competition...

Sean SullivanInstitute or Health and Productivity Management

Te single greatest competitive advantage in the modern economy is a positive andengaged workorce. Tat is not conjecture. Tat is now a conrmed scientic act...Te happiness advantage is the discovery that nearly every single business outcomeimproves when a brain is positive as opposed to negative, neutral, or stressed.

Shawn AchorTe Happiness Work Ethic

A Midwest utility company learned rsthand that it pays to keep healthy employees t,reaping a net savings o $4.8 million in employee health and lost work time costs overnine years.

University o Michigan, School o Kinesiologys Health Management ResearchCenter, 2010 study report.

Excerpts rom Whats the Hard Return on Employee Wellness Programs HarvardBusiness Review, December 2010:

Johnson and Johnsons leaders estimate that wellness programs havecumulatively saved the company$250 million on health care costs over the pastdecade; rom 2002 to 2008, the return was $2.71 or every dollar spent.

A study by physicians Richard Milani and Carl Lavie ound that every dollarinvested in the intervention yielded $6 in health care savings.

Healthy employees stay with your company. A study by owers Watson andthe National Business Group on Health shows that organizations with highlyeective wellness programs report signifcantly lower voluntary attrition...

...healthy workers are saer workers.


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reading and references

books

Stress and the Body by Robert Sapolsky: Audio and DVD by Te eaching Company

Why Zebras Dont Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky

Mindset: Te New Psychology o Success by Carol Dweck

Te Power o Full Engagementby Jim Loehr and ony Schwartz

Te Power o Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny in Business and in Lie by JimLoehr

Te Way Were Working Isnt Working: Te Four Forgotten Needs that Energize Great Per-ormance by ony Schwartz

Spark: Te Revolutionary New Science o Exercise and the Brain by John Ratey M.D.

Te alent Code: Greatness Isnt Born. Its Grown. Heres How by Daniel Coyle

alent is Over-Rated: What Really Separates World-class Perormers rom Everybody Else byGeo Colvin

Free Play: Improvisation in Lie and Artby Stephen Nachmanovitch

Play by Stuart Brown M.D.

Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Tink Dierently by Gregory Burns

Te Brain Tat Changes Itselby Norman Doidge M.D.

Brain Rules by John Medina

A General Teory o Love by Tomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon

Te Joy o Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science o Happiness by Yongey MingyurRinpoche

Te Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson, M.D.

Relaxation Revolution by Herbert Benson, M.D.


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Te wenty-Four Hour Society by Martin Moore-Ede

Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ by Daniel Goleman

Social Intelligence: Te New Science o Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman

Mirroring People: Te Science o Empathy and How We Connect With Others by MarcoIacoboni

Te Age o Empathy: Natures Lessons or a Kinder Society by Frans de Waal

No Contest: Te Case Against Competition by Ale Kohn

Punished by Rewards: Te rouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, As, Praise and OtherBribes by Ale Kohn

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Lie: by Martin Seligman Ph.D.

Te Neuroscience o Psychotherapy: Building and Rebuilding the Human Brain: by LouisCozolino

Descartes Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio

Te Neurobiology o We: How Relationships, the Mind, and the Brain Interact to Shape WhoWe Are by Daniel Siegel, M.D. Sounds rue Audio Learning Course

Narrative Medicine: Te Use o History and Story in the Healing Process: by Lewis Mehl-

Madrona, M.D.

Te Aims o Education Te Rhythmic Claims o Freedom and Disciplineby Alred NorthWhitehead

Flow: Te Psychology o Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Te Art o Happiness by Te Dali Lama

rain Your Mind, Change Your Brain by Sharon Begley


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research papers and reports

What Good are Positive Emotions?Barbara Fredrickson, Review o General Psychology

1998, Vol. 2, No. 3. 300-319

Positive Social Interactions and the Human Body at Work: Linking Organizations andPhysiology: Emily D. Heaphy and Jane E. Dutton Academy o Management Review 2008,Vol. 33, No. 1, 137162.

Creating a Culture o Happiness: Te Link Between Happy Employees and a TrivingOrganization. Health Enhancement Systems, Midland MI 48640

Scaling Back Obesity: Scientic American, February 2011

Employee Engagement Report 2011: Beyond the numbers: A practical approach or

individuals, managers, and executives. Blessing White Intelligence, Princeton, NewJersey, Global Engagement Report

What Brain Science ells Us About How to Excelby Edward M. Hallowell A doctorsprescription or achieving peak perormance. Harvard Business Review Reprint R1012L

Manage Your Energy, Not Your ime by ony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy,Harvard Business Review, October 2007 Reprint R0710B

Engagement is the Keystone o Employee Productivity June 2010 White Paper by theHuman Perormance Institute

Get in Shape to LeadNovember 1, 2007 Harvard Business ReviewWhats the Hard Return on Employee Wellness Programs?Harvard Business Review,Reprint R1012J

Te Making o a Corporate Athlete by Jim Loehr and ony Schwartz: Harvard BusinessReview reprint R0101H

Workplace Wellness Plan Saves Money Over the Long-erm by Dee Edington, director othe University o Michigan Health Management Research Center

Te Happiness Work Ethic By Shawn Achor

Recovering rom Inormation Overloadby Derek Dean and Caroline Webb: McKinseyQuarterly, January 2011

Conitive Fitness: New research in neuroscience shows how to stay sharp by exercising yourbrain: Harvard Business Review Reprint R0711B


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Exuberant Animal is a multi-disciplinary approach to perormance that combines thestudy o practical neuroscience with vigorous movement and health education. We oera uniquely integrated experience that will open your mind, body and organization to newdimensions o perormance and potential.

Ideal or team leaders, visionaries, educators and trainers, this program will leave youlaughing, sweating and inspired!

revitalize your body, your people

and your organization

206-406-5670 [email protected] www.exuberantanimal.com

Learn the neurological basis o perormance

Increase team cohesion and good will

Improve your understanding o stress

Increase ocus and concentration

Increase creativity and innovation

Preserve your neurological assets

Half, full and multi-day training events

are available. Contact us for details.


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Frank Forencich is an internationally-recognized leader in health education and perormancetraining. He earned his B.A. at Stanord University in human biology and neuroscience and hasover 30 years teaching experience in martial art, unctional movement and health promotion. Heholds black belt rankings in both karate and aikido and has consulted to major corporations, human

resource groups and tness proessionals.Frank has climbed mountains across North America and has traveled to Arica on several occasionsto study human origins. He is the author oPlay as i Your Lie Depends on It, Exuberant Animal, andChange Your Body, Change the World: Refections on Health and the Human Predicament.

Partner at Te National Institute or Play

Expert consultant to WildFitness

Featured presenter: Ancestral Health Symposium, UCLA, 2011

Member, Ancestral Health Society

Presenter: Serious Play Conerence, 2011

Presenter: First Annual Conerence on Te State o Play Science, 2008, Stanord University.

Guest lecturer: Stanord University Institute o Design, April 2009, 2010, 2011

Featured presenter: National Applied Functional Physical Education Conerence, October 2009

Workshop leader: Baker and McKenzie Hong Kong, December 2010

Guest speaker: EDx Pearl River, Hong Kong

Case for the Body

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