Escaping Enemy Mode: How Our Brains Unite or Divide Us - Paperback

by Jim Wilder (Author), Ray Woolridge (Author), Michael J. Meese (Foreword by)

Who's your biggest enemy? Possibly you?

Enemy Mode is an immensely damaging brain state that occurs in everyday life. In enemy mode, a person sees and experiences others as adversaries. Living in this mode poisons family and community bonds. It contributes to social stress, business failure, divorce, alienation, domestic violence, crime, racism, and international violence. Social media magnifies the impact of enemy mode toward almost all topics or persons imaginable.

Longtime author and neuropsychologist Dr. Jim Wilder explains how the brain develops enemy mode and searches for ways to get the brain to "refriend." Since a brain in enemy mode cannot tell when someone is trying to help, it rejects or attacks its allies, including refrienders. Wilder puts his years of research to the test in assessing the impossible task put forth by the Christian faith: to love one's enemies.

After being trained in enemy mode through the military, business, and even friendships, retired Brigadier General Ray Woolridge comes alongside Wilder, bringing the reader on his journey of learning to refriend. He interviews leaders in sports, business, the military, law enforcement, politics, health care, and education, assessing the enemy mode impact on lives and culture.

Can Wilder and Woolridge figure out how enemy mode works and craft a solution? And can they get people and institutions to implement those solutions? This book is for all who desire to be better equipped to face the barrage of daily relational stressors that come at them. It's for all who long for more harmonious relationships at home, in the workplace, and in their communities.

Author Biography

JIM WILDER brings his extensive life experience growing up in the Andes Mountains, his PhD in psychology, and his 30+ years of training leaders on five continents for the realities of business today. Wilder is the thinker behind the Life Model, a lifespan guide to being fully human. He is the author of over ten books with a strong focus on applied neuroscience, maturity, relational skills, and resilient leaders.

RAY WOOLRIDGE is the Executive Director of Life Model Works. With master's degrees in Strategic Studies and Theology, Ray is a skilled public communicator and a leadership coach who enjoys helping leaders discover their uniqueness and unleash their potential. He is a retired US Army Brigadier General with forty-three years of military and civilian service with the Department of Defense.