Are you using half a brain or your whole brain? Douglas R. Conant, the recently retired President and CEO of the Campbell Soup Company, recently wrote a great HBR blog post titled: The power of idealistic-realism: how great leaders inspire and transform Judging by his track record, and the 20 comments on the article, he really knows how to inspire toward transformation.
He posits that the job of leaders is to offer a vision that inspires and motivates. Yet, he argues that equally important is the need to be in touch with reality and acknowledge the reality of the challenge. His is a true example of rejecting “either or” thinking and embracing “both and" thinking. Evidently he learned to use both his left and right brain hemispheres. As a result, he has been and excellent leader. That’s the kind of leadership we need today more than ever.
Do you understand why it’s important to use both sides of your brain? Generally speaking, the left and right hemispheres of your brain process information differently. You tend to precess information using your dominant side. Both sides have certain commonalities, and help each other. Therefore, if you encourage the development of a weaker area, for example, intuitive thinking if you are more driven by logic, not only you can become more intuitive, but you can also help other mental abilities improve. Your thinking process is better when you can engage both sides in a balanced manner. Let’s review how this works.
Left brain
Your left brain is a grounded tactician, able to plan, reason, and execute in the moment. It controls sequential and linear thought. It’s where your verbal and analytical abilities come from. It helps you see things as they are in the moment. It’s ordered, quantitative, logical, realistic, and practical.
The left hemisphere reasons from part to whole and assigns names and labels. It’s concern with facts, careful scrutiny, and closure, attuned to the realities of the present. It’s from where your realistic thinking comes from.
Right brain
The right hemisphere is your strategist, innovator, and visionary. It controls intuitive and emotional thought. It’s imaginative, nonverbal, and holistic. It reasons from whole to parts, is reflective, and envisions the world as it could be.
The right brain is concerned with future possibilities, creativity, change, and interpersonal connections. It has a transformational perspective and values interpersonal connections. That’s where your idealistic vision comes from.
Multidominance
Today’s leaders need to develop brain multidominance, having strengths in both left and right hemispheres. You can develop strengths in both hemispheres by engaging in diverse behaviors, experiences and actions. If you use your brain to do new and different things, increasing your processing options, you will be better able to deal with change. You need to get out of habitual thinking patterns, step out of your comfort zone, and try new ways of responding.
Self-reflection will also enable you to stay grounded during emotionally triggering events, and turn them into opportunities for learning and development. That way, instead of being caught up in your preferred way of thinking, you will be able to shift between both left-and right brain styles, even when under stress.
Remember. . .
In today’s world, challenges are complex. If you act solely from your dominant brain preference, you’ll come up short. If you lead from your left brain, you’re going to be methodical, expressive, grounded, and assertive. Your right brain will be strategic, innovative, transformational, and engaging.
Our world today is more demanding, more interconnected, and operates with faster cycles of time. The successful leader today must be ready to engage his or her whole brain with fluidity. We need organized, disciplined, analytical strategists, but we also need creative visionaries, inspirational leaders who are unafraid to challenge current paradigms. If you can use your whole brain, You’ll then be able to inspire realistic action!
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Photo by: Jacqui Brown