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	Complex Exercise By Susan A. Smirnoff

So why do you exercise? Maybe for some of the same reasons I do it -- to lose weight maintain cardiovascular health, tone muscles, have fun, and gain a sense of accomplishment.

While I would always feel more energized following an early morning workout, I hadn’t considered that my exercise routine could have a connection to my job performance as a professional communicator. But one morning, as I powered away on the treadmill, I started to think that there was likely some correlation. Why was it always so much easier to think through a problem and come up with a viable and often creative solution when I was pushing my heart rate higher and higher?

Off the treadmill and at my computer, I searched for information. In spite of the many millions or hundreds of thousands of links I found, I did not fi nd a single, specifi c reference linking exercise to more eff ective communication.

Instead I turned up the same thing we’ve all been bombarded with in recent years: endless reports about how regular exercise reduces the risk of disease and enhances mental health. After numerous search engine attempts, I stumbled on a reference to a path to the connection I was seeking. The book by John Ratey, MD, SPARK: Th e Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Little, Brown and Company, 2008), had what I was seeking and a great deal more.

Child’s Play Shows the Connection

In one of the first chapters of SPARK we learn how the school kids in Naperville, Illinois, created a living, breathing petri dish of how exercise positively impacts brain performance. Naperville has evolved traditional physical education to a daily, fi tness-based model for all students that has “turned the nineteen thousand students in District 203 into the fittest in the nation—and also some of the smartest.”

Even math- and reading-delayed kids have benefi ted from this approach. A group of these high school students, as part of a controlled study, met from 7:15 to 8:15 A.M.—the hour before school began—to run laps. Th ey were challenged to reach 80-90 percent of their maximum heart rate to best prepare themselves for the long academic day ahead. Th ose in Zero Hour PE showed a signifi cant improvement in reading and comprehension compared to a peer group who took the traditional PE offering later in the school day (17% versus 10.7%). By competing and being graded only on maintaining a percentage of maximum heart rate, regardless of skill, everyone in Zero Hour PE had a chance for an A in gym.

Mark Dollins, a senior vice president at PepsiCo Americas, doesn’t need to go back to school to appreciate the benefi ts of exercise. He swears by a daily dose of early morning elliptical aerobics to fuel his body and give his mind the time and focus for thinking through issues at work. “My job requires that I work with colleagues across the globe whose native tongue is one of 36 diff erent languages,” Mr. Dollins describes. “In order to arrive at a solution for the business, I need to communicate so they can understand and act.”

Without exercise he knows his ability to communicate would suff er. “You lose your impact, become fatigued, and struggle to hone in on a core message,” he says. “Th at signifi - cantly impacts others you work with who don’t know how best to then get the work done.”

Dr. Ratey also points out that the educators in Naperville didn’t have every kid running to boost heart rate; they are much more creative about the activity choices that are off ered, some of which come with extra needed socialization benefi ts. For example, an academically gifted student who suff ers extreme social anxiety and doesn’t engage with her peer group learns through kayaking to become less fearful and get noticed by her classmates as succeeding in a whole diff erent way. Square dancing also proves to be a great equalizer in both fi tness and social interaction; while some kids master the steps, the group eff ort in trying works to level the playing field on performance and opens up lots of opportunity for communication.

From Child’s Play to the Professional Playing Fields

So how does all of this child’s play connect to exercise and critical communication skills in the competitive business space? Th e key question is, “Will making time in the day for physical exercise payoff in professional communications performance?”

• Does being a better communicator connect directly to leadership skills and, if so, how?

• With so much of communication being “virtual” does this really matter? 

• What’s happening in the world that makes this important or even a top priority?

These are precisely the types of questions Dr. Ratey and his colleagues want to answer. In 1995, exercise began to be studied with “real neuroscience backup” as part of research on cognitive decline among the elderly. Since then an avalanche of material on brain, mood, stress, anxiety and cognitive abilities has emerged. Using psychological scales to show the impact on social ability, motivation and confi dence researchers have observed that exercise makes it easier to express views, decrease social anxiety, and improves communication.

According to Dr. Ratey, measuring improvements in communication directly with an exercise regimen is hard to do in the laboratory with rats and mice, or traditional bench tools, but is observable among people. Th ere is “much evidence now,” he notes, to support the “impact on communication and leadership abilities through exercise.”A critical part of our development as human beings starts in our childhood through play and sports, which improves our cognitive and emotional status and socialibility. Later in life, in both social and business situations, sports, as an extension of early childhood play, enables the brain to be more fl exible and able to shift and change with new information. Experts in play, notes Dr. Ratey, see that extending throughout a person’s lifetime.

Don Garber, a former Ruder Finn colleague and the Commissioner of Major League Soccer (MLS), told me he is always very impressed by young elite athletes who are verbally nimble and articulate off the fi eld in non-rehearsed situations. He commented about a recent University of Maryland graduate who, in receiving an award from ESPN, “spoke like he was ready to run for national office.” That situation and others he has seen first-hand “proved to me that (soccer) training and focused problem-solving on the fi eld will translate off the fi eld as well.”

“I know this does not hold true for all athletes,” Mr. Garber continued, “but most are very, very articulate.” He believes that being coached from the time they are young and continually being part of group settings has a hand in building “incredible communicators.” And he adds, “They blow me away, talking about fulfi lling their dreams.”

Soccer players clearly exercise both their brains and bodies in competitive matches. Dr. Ratey writes that, while aerobic exercise will help an individual stay sharp, it is critical to incorporate activity that demands more complex thinking—the kind that enables you to not only scrimmage but do yoga poses, gymnastics, and fi gure skating. Scientifi c literature refers to this as “complex exercise.”

Strong Communication = Leadership

Walter Lehneis, Director, Digestive Health at Novartis Consumer Health, sees the value in how complex exercise can directly impact executive function. In his position he serves as the chief business leader, selling ideas to management in order to get the resources needed to put them into action. His exercise regimen refl ects both his intensity as a businessman and a spouse and father. He makes time to fi t in a cardio workout daily, either at lunch or directly after work to recharge for an evening with his wife and two young children.

His workout of choice: mountain biking. “Put me in the woods and my mind has to work all the time on skill and gearing and foot placement,” describes Mr. Lehneis. “It is all very subconscious and frees your mind from clutter and gets into a state when your mind works more expansively.”

He recognizes the payoff from his regime as “being able to prioritize and solve problems and focus on communications in terms of how to see someone’s perspective and connect with them.” When he is facing some diffi culty with a business relationship, he forces himself to think about the confl ict during the course of exercise in order to “have that breakthrough moment” when he fi nds a solution to the problem.

Dr. Ratey acknowledges that, while hard to quantify, the eff ectiveness of a complex exercise program in business communications has been demonstrated “over and over again.” He asserts that studies show a direct impact on the brain when it comes to switching sets. “In communication lingo, this might be seen as taking a new tact according to the flow of the conversation,” notes Dr. Ratey. Other benefits include staying alert and focused, increased stamina, being better able to sequence and not act impulsively. As a consultant to a number of industries, Dr. Ratey assesses exercise with an eye toward cost savings “but beyond the usual health insurance–related costs.” He notes that while the “impact on worker productivity is challenging to measure…based on scientifi c research it clearly is impacted.”

The Virtual Communication Conundrum

“In our present day world, where so much of our communication is done via Web or telephone, it matters all the more for business communicators to operate with high executive function,” says Dr. Ratey. “In the rapid pace of online business communications it is critical not to be impulsive or to ‘fl ame’ in emails. At the same time, you need to be able to react quicker, and an optimal executive function level allows for quicker reactions in all situations.”

President Barack Obama certainly recognizes and values the importance of physical exercise on critical thinking and communications. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, he commented that for the two debates in which he was not the clear victor, he had forgo his 45 minutes of competitive basketball earlier in the day. And in a post-election article in the Wall Street Journal, Obama was quoted as saying, “I think we are putting together the best basketball-playing cabinet in American history.”

Jim Cameron, a New York City–based media trainer, believes President Obama has raised the bar for what makes a great communicator. But Mr. Cameron thinks that ability is based on much more than his skills as an aggressive and strategic basketball player. Mr. Cameron sites President Obama’s ability to connect with his audience “even in a big crowd, cementing the emotional bond.” He is mentally agile enough to read a teleprompter and, at the same time, make the emotional connection that signals to the listener that he is genuine in his words. And, as all of us know from the very long campaign, endurance helped President Obama convey his key ideas consistently.

Dr. Ratey generally agrees with Mr. Cameron’s perspective but notes that President Obama’s “high degree of general cardiac fitness and his ‘playing’ help him adapt to the demands of the moment in his calm and considerate manner.”

A Critical Link in Today’s World

The economic downturn that began in earnest in 2008 and continues into 2009, combined with the pressures of the current healthcare system in the U.S., are both painful reminders of the natural order and survival of the fi ttest. “Th is is the time, more than ever before, to optimize brain function, including the social and emotional aspects,” Dr. Ratey notes. “We have a documented obesity epidemic and an aging population. All the more reason to seek leadership which has a full complement of fi tness—in body and brain—to have energy at the highest levels.”

Don Spetner, another former colleague at Ruder Finn and Executive Vice President at Korn-Ferry, has a slightly diff erent take on the linking of exercise, communications, and leadership. He contends that strong communications skills are intellectually inherent in an individual and not developed through an exercise regimen. He does think “that exercise and fi tness helps tremendously in a communications career.” Activities outside the gym especially, like “biking, sports, and running provide a very healthy diversion which gives you balance and perspective. A lot of people derail in their career because they become workaholics and lose perspective.”

Mr. Spetner knows the reality of how hiring decisions are made, especially in these economically challenging times. “You don’t need to be in great physical shape to get a job…but it is a leg up on the competition.” He points out how most employers are worried about the rising cost of employee health and why a healthy worker provides greater value to the organization.

Mr. Cameron predicts that the Obama Presidency will set the tone to make us all demand more from those we listen to, whether in the public or private sector. For those of us in the communications fi eld, maybe 2009 is the year to rethink our personal exercise routine as anything but routine. Perhaps a three on three basketball game before an important meeting can provide team-building and build critical neurons. Challenging times call for complex thinking. Complex exercise may be just what this country needs.