In his latest book, The Social Animal, political columnist and author
David Brooks shines a spotlight on the workings of our unconscious. “If the outermind highlights the power
of the individual,” he writes, “the inner mind highlights the power of relation- ships, and the invisible bonds between people.”
David Brooks
In bestsellers like Bobos in Paradise and in twice-weekly op-ed political columns in TheNew York Times, author and commentator David Brooks has long trained his sharp-eyed intel- lect on American culture and behavior. In his new book, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love,Character,andAchievement, he digs intonewterrain —our unconscious.
“We are living in the middle of a revolution of conscious-
ness,” Brooks writes in The Social Animal. “Over the past few years, geneticists, neuroscientists, psychologists, sociologists, economists, anthropologists, and others have made great strides in understanding the building blocks of human flourishing. A core finding of their work is that we are not primarily the prod- ucts of our conscious thinking.We are primarily the products
124 pcma convene December 2011
of thinking that happens below the level of awareness.” Brooks,who spoke at Convening Leaders in 2009,will pres-
ent a general session on “The Social Animal: The Role of Our Unconscious Mind inHowWe Meet and Succeed” at Conven- ing Leaders 2012 next month. In an interview with Convene, he discussed embracing mindfulness, realizing how smart we are —and how much time is wasted at meetings and conferences.