Economy is led by the primitive lizard brain
War in Ukraine and the Russian invasion has changed the decision-making patterns. The primitive lizard brain and the fight or flight response now determines the direction of our decision-making.
The capital investments have risen sharply over the past year, especially in start-ups and growth companies. Due to the current circumstances, there is a risk of foreign investors shunning Finland and the deals with Finnish companies will be frozen.
The tourism industry has also been put to the test due to the pandemic. In the early spring there was finally light at the end of the tunnel, but now the tourists are canceling their trips again. In recent years good initiatives have been taken to attract international experts to work in Finland. Now it seems that both attracting experts and retaining the know-how here has received more challenging factors.
War in Ukraine and Russian sanctions have become dominant factors in our decision-making patterns. The price tag of these decisions are irrelevant.
The emotional and rational factors that previously guided consumer decisions, such as ease of purchase, price, and ecology, now remain a secondary issue. The war in Ukraine and sanctions imposed onto Russia, such as the withdrawal of business or the boycotting products with a Russian background, have become dominant factors in our decision-making patterns. The price tag of these decisions are irrelevant. Some companies were considering staying in Russia and continue their business, but as the preasure and the reactions from the consumers and economic decision makers crew the companies decided to close all business.
When watching the news and following the social media, people may draw sharp and sometimes false conclusions as the internal alarm bells start to ring. People may have boycott procust or services that in reality affected a Finnish operator, not a Russian one. The strong need to help Ukrainian civilians has guided our focus and has led us to perform in an intrinsic manner. We may not have analyzed or considered what is the most sensible or effective way to help.
We as individuals cannot solve the sense of basic security as it is a more societal challenge
According to researchers our brain has three layers: the lizard brain, the emotional brain, and the rational brain. In the state of emergency of the mind, the lizard brain takes the control. In this case, creative thinking is impaired and there is no analyticity for information. To move towards rational thinking, we need the sense of basic security to return. And this is no easy task.
The war and the Russian invasion affect our sense of security at a very deep level. We as individuals cannot solve the sense of basic security as it is a more societal challenge. But we can all contribute positively by continuing to operate as a reliable and responsible partners.