Dr. Frans de Waal, a two-time TED Speaker, twelve-time author, biologist, and ethologist spent the majority of his life studying primate behavior and social interactions. In our oddly fascinating conversation, he debunks commonly held beliefs we hold about our closest relatives and draws interesting parallels in our leadership practices.

Who knew we were so similar in the way we operate and lead? Could that be due to the fact that we share 99% of the same DNA?

Named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most influential people today, Frans published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and is currently a Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology at Emory University.

Tune in to learn about the striking leadership similarities between humans and primates:

Leadership practices that date back millions of yearsLeadership principles that govern primates and humansHow cultural norms influence behaviorsHow female and male leadership differ in the primate worldThe role of alpha males and characteristic traits of successful leaders

Connect with Frans de Waal:

WebsiteTED Talk

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Full Transcription:

Frans de Waal: Another thing that people think is what animals do must be instinctive and what humans do is based on whatever; culture, education, things like that. I think that’s an enormous simplification because animals, of course, also have cultures. They transfer knowledge and habits to each other. A chimpanzee is adult when they’re 16 or something, so they have an enormous amount of time in which to learn how to live their life and do things. I would say in the primates, things are – the balance between, let’s say, what is learned and what is cultural and what is natural or instinctive is very similar to our species.

Tanya: That’s Frans de Waal, two-time TED speaker, 12-time author, biologist, and ethologist that, through his research, draws fascinating parallels between primates and humans, In his TED talk titled Moral Behaviors in Animals, which has been viewed by millions of people, he shares groundbreaking research that debunks preconceptions we have long-believed to be true about animals and our proximity to them. Named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people today, Frans has published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and is currently a professor of primate behavior in the department of psychology at Emory University.

Frans, what drove you to studying primates and where did your love for primates, or for animals really, start?

Frans de Waal: Well, I’ve always been, as a child already, been interested in animals. At that time, it was small animals and usually fish or salamanders or something. The primates itself, that was secondary. That came much later when I was a student. Of course, I had no primates around in the Netherlands at the time.

Tanya: What really prompted your interest to start really diving into the behaviors of primates. At what point did that happen in your life?

Frans de Waal: Well, I went to study biology and I was very disappointed. I went to study biology because I was interested in animals and then all the animals I saw were already dead and I had to dissect them. It was very much focused on anatomy and on systematic of plants and things like that, and biochemistry, which we now call molecular biology. Those were the subjects that I was dealing with and I was really disappointed. I started working in a psychology lab, just over the summer to earn some money. They had two chimpanzees, which is unusual of course. In a way, it’s ridiculous for a psychology lab to have two chimps sitting around, among the offices basically. That was really fun and that got me interested in the primates. Then I moved to another university where I could do, finally, animal behavior and I started working with birds and with rats. The birds actually were wild birds,