06/03/2024

Primates Wearing People Masks

Human beings are really just a special type of primate

If you're a leader navigating the challenges of organizational life, it's useful to bear in mind that human beings are really just a special type of primate; this has significant implications for how people behave in groups. Sometimes, we focus on our special qualities as a species--our capacity for logical reasoning, our facility with tools, our extensive use of symbols--and imagine that we have little in common with our evolutionary cousins. But then we encounter some curious behavior in a group setting, or we find ourselves perplexed by our own behavior in a group, and we may question just how evolved we really are.

This is where it's important to remember that humans are "primates wearing people masks." We put on clothing, adorn ourselves and employ any number of symbolic artifacts, from wedding rings and Swiss watches to job titles and even our very names. But these accoutrements do not extinguish our underlying identity as primates. So, what are the implications of all this for organizational life?

We're Social Animals

Most people are aware that our success as a species is in some way related to the size and complexity of the human brain, but we often mistakenly assume that our evolutionary advantage was derived from our enhanced cognitive abilities as individual problem-solvers. Instead, research suggests that the greatest benefit of a larger brain was our social intelligence – the ability to conceive of and operate within a vast network of interpersonal relationships.

Please select this link to read the complete blog post from Ed Batista.