Martin Johnson explores why leadership development fails when it ignores the biology driving behaviour. He examines survival, pleasure and purpose, revealing how stress, disengagement and underperformance persist. The article offers L&D professionals practical diagnostic frameworks to identify psychological states and develop leaders who work with, not against, human evolution workplaces.
Leadership development programmes often fail organisations because they ignore a fundamental truth. Before you can effectively lead others, you must understand what drives human behaviour. Without this foundation, even the most sophisticated training initiatives become exercises in applying surface-level techniques that don’t address the real issues affecting performance.
The missing element isn’t what leaders are learning, but what they’re not learning
Walk into any organisation and you’ll find leaders who’ve completed countless development programmes, absorbed multiple leadership models, and can articulate principles of effective management. Yet performance issues persist, engagement remains stubbornly low, and transformation efforts stall.
The missing element isn’t what leaders are learning, but what they’re not learning: the evolutionary science behind why people behave the way they do.
The three core functions driving all behaviour
All human behaviour stems from three hardwired functions that evolved over 70,000 years as our brains developed: survival, reproduction, and purpose. These aren’t abstract concepts but active biological drives shaping every decision, reaction, and performance issue in your organisation.
The survival function is the brain’s primary mechanism. Through evolution, humans developed highly sensitive threat-detection systems that release cortisol and adrenaline when danger is perceived. This worked perfectly when we needed to spot predators or avoid physical harm. The challenge today is that our brains can’t distinguish between a sabre-toothed tiger and an organisational restructure. Both trigger the same neurological response.
The reproduction function drives us towards pleasure and reward. Beyond the obvious biological imperative, this pleasure system motivates us to seek positive experiences and connections. Interestingly, once we have children or take on caring responsibilities, our survival mechanism heightens dramatically, explaining why leaders often become more risk-averse after becoming parents.
Lastly, the purpose function evolved as human tribes organised themselves into roles. Each member needed to understand their contribution to collective survival. Whether the hunter, the forager, or the caregiver, everyone had a clear purpose that gave meaning to their existence. This drive remains fundamental today, though modern life has made finding purpose considerably more complex.
The two types of survival mode
Here’s where leadership training typically fails: it doesn’t account for how the survival mechanism manifests in workplace behaviour. The brain triggers survival mode in two distinct ways, and leaders need to recognise both.
Physical survival mode occurs when someone faces immediate, present danger. In organisations, this might be job loss, public humiliation, or acute conflict. The threat is real and happening now.
Perceived survival mode is far more common and far more damaging to performance. This is when the brain predicts future threats and triggers the same neurological response as if they were happening now. An employee worrying about redundancy rumours, fearing an upcoming performance review, or anxious about a presentation next week experiences the same cortisol and adrenaline flood as someone facing immediate danger.
This distinction is critical because perceived survival mode creates most of the anxiety, stress, and underperformance we see in organisations. Leaders who don’t understand this difference will keep treating symptoms rather than causes. They’ll offer reassurance to someone whose brain chemistry has already decided there’s a threat. They’ll present opportunities for growth to someone whose cognitive resources are entirely focused on scanning for danger.
Pain, pleasure, and the balance problem
All human motivation reduces to a simple equation: we’re either moving away from pain or towards pleasure. Every behaviour your team exhibits reflects one of these two fundamental drives.
Some people are naturally wired to be more motivated away from pain, mobilising into action when they recognise threats or consequences. Others are predominantly motivated towards pleasure and reward, subsequently needing a compelling goal or vision to drive performance.
The critical insight for leadership development is understanding that balance is essential. When people spend too much time in survival mode, the constant release of cortisol and adrenaline damages their system, creating perpetual stress and anxiety. When they over-index on seeking pleasure and comfort without ever experiencing challenge or discomfort, they develop entitlement mindsets and diminished capacity to receive reward from activities that once motivated them.
This is where modern workplace culture has created significant problems. We’ve built environments that try to eliminate all discomfort while simultaneously demanding high performance. But human beings evolved to balance pain and pleasure, to endure challenge and adversity while also experiencing fulfilment and purpose.
Diagnosing what’s really happening
When performance drops, engagement wanes, or behaviour changes, leaders need diagnostic frameworks that address psychological reality rather than surface symptoms. The question isn’t “what’s wrong with this person” but “which core function is out of balance?”
If someone is in survival mode, their vision tunnels, their muscles are primed for fight or flight, and their cognitive capacity is directed entirely towards threat management. In this state, they literally cannot process inspiring vision statements or engage in creative problem-solving. The neurotransmitters won’t allow it.
If someone lacks purpose, the issue is entirely different. They may feel perfectly safe but disconnected from meaningful contribution. They show up, complete tasks, but experience no sense of fulfilment or reward. The dopamine system that should provide pleasure from achievement isn’t activating because the work lacks perceived meaning.
Leaders in survival mode need clarity, stability, and reduced uncertainty. Communicate more frequently, provide specific short-term goals, and create predictable patterns. Those lacking purpose need to understand how their work contributes to something larger, to see the impact of their efforts, and to reconnect their role to outcomes they value.
Practical application for L&D professionals
Incorporating this psychological foundation into leadership training requires more than adding a module on behavioural science. It demands restructuring how we develop leaders from the ground up.
Start by teaching the evolutionary science. Help leaders understand the three core functions and how survival, reproduction, and purpose have shaped human motivation over 70,000 years. This practical knowledge will help to explain the behaviour they see every day.
Build diagnostic capability. Train leaders to observe indicators of survival mode versus purpose deficiency in their teams. When someone becomes risk-averse, when decision-making slows, when previously engaged employees withdraw, these patterns signal underlying psychological states that require specific responses.
Create scenario-based learning where leaders practice identifying whether behaviour stems from survival mode or lack of purpose, then adjust their leadership approach accordingly. Present the same performance issue twice with different root causes and have leaders work through how their response must differ.
Develop frameworks for understanding individual wiring. Some team members are naturally more motivated away from pain; others towards pleasure and reward. Leaders need tools to identify these patterns and adapt their motivational approaches. What mobilises one person into action may completely demotivate another.
Address the balance imperative directly. Help leaders understand that high-performing teams need appropriate challenge alongside support, that pushing people outside comfort zones isn’t cruelty but necessary for development, and that attempting to eliminate all discomfort actually damages long-term performance and resilience.
Moving beyond generic training
The organisations developing truly effective leaders are those that start from biological and psychological foundations rather than leadership theory. They recognise that you cannot successfully lead human beings without understanding what makes humans behave the way they do.
Audit your current leadership programmes against these questions: Do we teach leaders why humans are motivated by pain and pleasure? Can our managers identify survival mode versus purpose deficiency? Do we equip leaders to adjust their approach based on psychological state rather than applying blanket techniques?
The answers will reveal where development efforts are missing the foundational understanding that makes everything else work. Without this evolutionary and neurochemical foundation, leadership training remains superficial, teaching what to do without explaining why it works or, more importantly, why it sometimes doesn’t.
This isn’t about making leadership more complicated but about making it more effective by starting from the truth that humans are biological beings whose brains evolved specific mechanisms to ensure survival, reproduction, and purpose. Leadership that works with these realities, rather than ignoring them, will always outperform training that treats people as blank slates waiting for the right motivational technique.
Martin Johnson is founder and CEO of T2
