Left-Brained, Right-Brained Or Something In The Middle
June 7, 2007 by Jonathan Farrington
I have always known that the very best sales professionals are predominantly right-brained: I also suspected the Finance Directors and Technical Directors were predominantly left-brained – so where does that leave CEO’s and Managing Directors?
My perception was that it would all depend on their background but in fact recent experimentation currently taking place in the USA, which I am following with great interest, suggests that the most successful business leaders are in fact “balanced”
In general the left and right hemispheres of our brains process information in different ways. We tend to process information using our dominant side. However, the learning and thinking process is enhanced when both sides of the brain participate in a balanced manner. This means strengthening your less dominant hemisphere of the brain.
So what, I hear you say, has this got to do with Leadership?
My answer is simple – we need our leaders to be organised, disciplined, analytical strategists but we also need them to be creative visionaries who are unafraid to constantly challenge paradigms. We do not need predominantly Left- Brain or predominantly Right Brained Captains – we need “something in the middle”!
I’ve always had the personal philosophy to improve on my weak areas.
Conventional wisdom seems to say to forget about your weak areas and improve on you strong areas. This has always seemed illogical to me. Why improve on your strong points when they are already strong?
Hi Protospike, thanks for stopping by. Have you noticed that often the only thing that ‘conventional wisdom’ and “common sense’ share is the ‘co’? Can you imagine what would happen to an athlete who ignored weaker muscles and only worked on the strong ones? I think ignoring your weaker areas is some of the dumbest advice I’ve ever heard.
Hi Protospike, thanks for stopping by. Have you noticed that often the only thing that ‘conventional wisdom’ and “common sense’ share is the ‘co’? Can you imagine what would happen to an athlete who ignored weaker muscles and only worked on the strong ones? I think ignoring your weaker areas is some of the dumbest advice I’ve ever heard.
Stick with your own philosophy and continue to run so-called expert info through YOUR own common sense—it seems pretty astute.