Chapter 7

Business and the Body

IN THEIR BESTSELLING BOOKS, Ben Horowitz, Peter Thiel, Eric
Schmidt, Salim Ismaiel, and others argue that extraordinary business
success requires scaling at low cost, achieved by leveraging cloud
computing, virtualization, and network effects to achieve a 10x

productivity improvement over the competition.^1 But that explanation
ignores a deeper dimension that has nothing to do with technology.
From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, all successful
businesses appeal to one of three areas of the body—the brain, the
heart, or the genitals. Each is tasked with a different aspect of
survival. For anyone leading a company, knowing which realm you
play in—that is, which organ you inspire—dictates business strategy
and outcomes.

Gray Matter

The brain is a calculating, rational thing. To do its job, the brain
weighs costs and benefits, balancing tradeoffs by the millisecond. In
the marketplace, the brain compares prices and applies the brakes
with blistering speed. If it learns that Huggies diapers are 50 cents
cheaper than Pampers, it enacts a complex cost-benefit analysis,
including past experience with the two types of diapers—which one
absorbs better?—and calculates the better choice. This translates, in