Stress, Pressure, and Innovation

Question: Can stress destroy innovation?  How does this occur and how can it be avoided?

I have a vastly different take on stress, pressure, and innovation than most people.  Having worked in the proposal arena for over 30 years, the normal proposal environment comprise (1) short deadlines, (2) more work to be done than can be handled, and (3) high pressure.  I have found that because of the high-stress environment, designers are pressed to develop a winning solution to a very difficult problem in a very short time.  We usually must accomplish a complete, major system design within 30 days.  It is not surprising that tempers periodically flare among proposal workers.

Having worked in proposals for over three decades, we continuously work under short deadlines, high stress, extreme activity, and unforgiving due dates.  Under these conditions, I have seen (and have done so myself) people develop some of the most creative, innovative designs, concepts, ideas, and formulations.  I totally believe that we can do our best in the last 24 to 48 hours of an important assignment or project such as a proposal.

I have found that we usually operate under fear motivation.  Upper management places no fear upon us.  Fear motivation is inherent in the process because we must meet the fixed proposal delivery date, or we miss delivery and lose our jobs.  When we are worried about meeting the proposal delivery deadline, which is very unforgiving, the mind gets going and miraculously becomes creative and innovative.  I have seen extremely creative, innovative designs developed in a matter of hours and days because that is all the time we had left to create a winning solution.

Therefore, in the proposal development game, I have seen stress motivate the creation of the best designs instead of destroying innovation.  I do not believe that this stress can be avoided.  I have worked on or been responsible for the development of over 400 proposals in 30 years, and it has been stressful on every proposal effort.  Stress just comes with the territory.  It is inherent in the process.  Therefore, like it or not, we had to be creative and innovative under stressful conditions.

I agree with the conclusion that the results of stress (good or bad results) are a function of how the individual deals with stress.  Some people welcome stress and thrive in a stressful environment.  Other people are stress averse and lose control of themselves under extremely stressful situations.  For example, if a fire breaks out in an enclosed building (such as a theater, for example), most people will panic and run to-and-fro, helter-skelter, not knowing what to do.  People get trampled and crushed while panicky exiting a burning theater.  However, there is usually one or two people in the group who remains calm, thinks straight, and directs the panicked others as to what to do.  Some people thrive under this kind of stress, whereas, most other people panic under the same stress.

Some people hate stressful or high-pressure situations.  They fear stressful situations so much that they avoid these stressful situations.  People who are that way should work in easy-going work environments.  These people prefer working in research, performing non-stressful office work, and working in jobs without short deadlines.  On the other hand, policemen, firemen, pilots, paratroopers, infantry soldiers, FBI agents, and trapeze artists all love somewhat stressful situations.  It gets their adrenalin flowing, which gives them the adrenalin high that they seek in their work!

I believe that one can learn to deal with and effectively handle stress.  Many years ago, I succumbed to stress and ended in the hospital emergency room with bleeding peptic and duodenal ulcers.  A year later, it happened all over again.  The doctor said that he would need to perform surgery the next time I came in with bleeding ulcers.  Obviously, I needed to make a paradigm shift and not allow everything to bother me so much.  When I changed my mindset and attitude about that, I was able to deal with stressful situations in a calmer manner, which helped alleviate my ulcerous condition.

Years later, after eating all of that bland diet and taking Mylanta, Tagamet, and Zantac medications, research doctors discovered that ulcers is caused by a stomach disease called bacterium Helicobacter pylori.  They showed that stress did not cause peptic/duodenal ulcers at all!  For over 20 years, I took those wasteful medications and periodically lived on bland diets all for nothing.  Oh, well!

In 2004, I was working on a major proposal effort on average of 70-90-hour workweeks.  That was the first time that I had experienced burnout.  I guess, because of my age (62 at the time), I could not handle the long, stressful hours anymore.  Prior to that, in my younger days, I could work 80-100-hour weeks for weeks and months on end without crashing like I did in February 2004.  My longest week ever was 112 hours.  Thus, I now have a deep appreciation for and understanding of burnout.

Stressor pressure as discussed in management and organizational behavior (OB) has its analogous counterpart in physics and engineering.  To wit, stress (s) in physics and engineering is defined as force (F) per unit area (A) or, in equation form, s= F/A, which is usually expressed in pounds per square inch or lb/in²or psi.  Stress usually measures solids that are under a force.  Hence, a steel bar placed under either tension or compression with force F at both ends experiences tensile or compressive stress, respectively.

Now, stress is also synonymous to pressure.  In physics and engineering, we define pressure (P) as force (F) per unit area (A).  However, pressure usually measures a gas or liquid/fluid under a force.  For example, the pressure of a gas in a hollow steel spherical container is the force of the gas pushing on the internal walls of the spherical container.  Hence, the equation for pressure is P = F/A, which is also expressed in pounds per square inch or lb/in2 or psi.  The internal wall surface of the sphere is under pressure (P).  The solid steel material of the sphere itself experiences what is called hoop stress (s).  We make a similar discussion for liquids or fluids flowing, say, in a pipe.  The flowing liquid/fluid exerts a pressure on the pipe walls as well as a ram pressure at the end of the pipe flow.

Now, the stress and/or pressure that a human body feels are usually psychologically and/or emotionally induced through fear, anger, hatred, loud boisterous laughter, frustration, extreme competitiveness, and excessive will and drive, which then manifests itself in stiff muscles (solid), high blood pressure (liquid/fluid), or gas pains (gas).  All of these stressful or high-pressure conditions are bad for the health.  Solid stress in the body also includes muscle cramps, hardening of the arteries, cardiac arrest (heart attack), stiff-neck, overeating, and being obese.  Liquid/fluid stress in the body also includes clogged arteries and veins due to bad cholesterol, unsaturated fat, and other bad contaminants in the blood flow.  Low blood pressure is also not good for the health.

Stress and pressure in the body can be alleviated or reduced through proper dieting, exercise, deep breathing techniques, relaxation techniques, meditation, prayer, rest, sleep, vacationing, laughter, soothing music, attitude adjustments, paradigm shifts, and other such methods to reduce the causes of stress/pressure.  Sometimes changing jobs or changing your environment reduces stress/pressure.  Some people need anger management to reduce their stress level.  Others need not be so meticulous and nitpicky about everything, not continually operating at 100 mph, not always needing to over-excel or overachieve, not always being over-excessive in everything we do, and not obsessing and being fanatical on everything.

Much of the stress/pressure we experience is self-imposed.  We sometimes need to stop and smell the roses.  We just need to relax and be a couch potato sometimes and not feel guilty about it.  We need to stop always striving for perfection and to know when something you are doing is good enough.  We need to reduce or eliminate worrying, which induces stress in the body.  We need to be like Alfred E. Newman who always said, “What, me worry?”  That’s my take on stress and pressure.

Now, velocity is the same in magnitude as speed.  However, velocity is a vector.  Hence, velocity has a direction as well as a magnitude.  Velocity is the first derivative of displacement with respect to time or v = ds/dt.  The first derivative of velocity with respect to time is the same as the second derivative of displacement with respect to time, which is acceleration or a = dv/dt or d²s/dt².

As a side interest, the first derivative of acceleration with respect to time is the same as the second derivative of velocity with respect to time or the third derivative of displacement with respect to time, which is called jerk.  In other words, jerk or j = da/dt = d²v/dt²= d³s/dt³.  When you jerk your car, you are experiencing this equation, i.e., jerk, jerk, jerk.  This is no joke.  This is true mathematics in action.

Now, since pressure is force per unit area or p = F/A, and force is the product of mass and acceleration, F = ma, then F = m dv/dt = m d²s/dt².  We also know that stress equals pressure or s= F/A and p = F/A, both in psi or lb/in².  Hence, s= p.  Therefore, s= F/A = (ma)/A.  And, consequently, s= (m/A)a.  Note that m/A is a constant.  So, stress (s) is directly proportional to acceleration (a).  As acceleration increases, stress increases proportionately to acceleration.  When acceleration goes up, stress goes up.  When acceleration goes down (or decelerates), stress goes down.  That is the degree to which acceleration affects stress.  When the Space Shuttle vehicle is launched, it is under high acceleration, a.  That is why the astronauts experience high stress (s) on their bodies during launch.

Now, since F = ma = m dv/dt = m d²s/dt², force is a function of the product of mass (m), displacement (s), and time (t).  In other words, impulse I = òFdt = òmdv = momentum.  So, we see that Impulse in lb-sec is equal to momentum in lb-sec.

Now, weight is pounds of force or W = F = ma.  In the case of weight, acceleration (a) is the acceleration or gravity (g).  Hence, W = mg or weight is the product of mass and gravitational acceleration.  So, since stress or s= F/A = (ma)/A = W/A = (mg)/A.  Hence, stress is directly proportional to weight or s= W/A.  As weight increases, stress increases.  As weight decreases, stress decreases.  That is why when a person eats too much and becomes obese, his/her weight increases and, therefore, his/her stress increases.  Simple!

Now, since W = F = ma = m dv/dt, as velocity increases, weight increases.  So, if one eats fast and a lot (or increase the velocity of our weight gain), weight increases faster.  Hence, since stress (s) equals W/A, the faster we put on weight, the faster or greater our stress on our body.

From a physics standpoint, if we were to quantify stress and the point at which it would destroy innovation, this would be akin to a physical landslide.  Stress in our lives that destroy innovation would be akin to a physical landslide.  Stress is good up to a point, which increases innovation.  However, too much stress decreases or eliminates innovation.  We can use the stress equation to analyze a mudslide in California to a landslide on our physical health.

The force of the friction of the earth or mud on the side of mountains is depicted by the equation F = mN, where F = Force, m= coefficient of friction, and N = Normal force to the friction surface.  Now, the potential energy of the mass of earth or mud on the side of the mountain is PE = Wh, where PE = Potential Energy, W = Weight of the mass of earth or mud, and h = the height of this mass above sea level.  We also know that W = mg, so PE = mgh.  Hence, the potential energy of the mass of earth or mud on the side of the mountain is this stored-up energy called potential energy.  When the weight of the mass of earth or mud exceeds the frictional force (W >F), the mass of earth or mud shears loose and rumbles down the side of the mountain in an avalanche of earth or mud.

As the landslide or mudslide rolls down the side of the mountain, the potential energy (PE) changes to kinetic energy (KE) because the mass of earth or mud increases velocity.  Now, KE = ½ mv².  So, when the earth or mud reaches the bottom of the mountain, then PE = KE or mgh = ½ mv².  We can calculate the velocity of the slide at the foot of the mountain by solving this equation for v, which is equal to v = sqrt (2gh), where v = velocity, g = gravitational acceleration = 32.174 ft/sec² at sea level, and h = height of the mass of earth or mud on the mountainside above sea level.  The “sqrt” stands for square root.

When the coefficient of friction (m) is increased considerably, the earth or mud clings to the mountainside.  We must exceed the coefficient of friction before the earth or mud will come sliding down the mountainside.  As stress or pressure builds up, we eventually exceed the frictional force, and the landslide or mudslide commences.  A snow avalanche operates in much the same manner.  Hence, we must guard against causing these landslides, mudslides, snow slides, or avalanches in our bodies and lives.

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