The Neuroscience of Leadership and Brain Fitness

September 22, 2006 at 3:40 pm · Filed under Brain Fitness, Brain health, Brain Training, Cognitive Neuroscience, Corporate Training, Decision-making, Education, Leadership, Learning, Lifelong learning, Mental flexibility, Mental Health, Mind Fitness, Mind/Body, Neuropsychology, Positive Psychology, Working memory

Stephanie West Allen kindly alerted me of her blog on Neuroscience and the Legal Profession. There, I found her great post about the beautiful article “The Neuroscience of Leadership”, by David Rock and Jeffrey M. Schwartz.

I encourage you to read the full article. Many Aha! insights, and a great survey of implications of cognitive neuroscience. Stephanie will interview the authors soon-keep tuned.

Some highlights of the article
– Leaders would benefit from engaging others in ways based on innate brain predispositions
– Learning is physical change in our brain structures. You have probably heard that “cells that fire together wire together”. Therefore, each of our brains is, literally, unique.
– The Quantum Zeno Effect, applied to neuroscience, means that “the mental act of focusing attention stabilizes the associated brain circuits…Over time, paying enough attention to any specific brain connection keeps the relevant circuitry open and dynamically alive…The power is in the focus.”
– Which results in “Self-directed neuroplasticity“: “With enough attention density, individual thoughts and acts of the mind can become an intrinsic part of an individual’s identity: who one is, how one perceives the world, and how one’s brain works”.
– One of our bottlenecks with learning new information and sustaining attention is working memory, i.e., “the brain’s holding area, where perceptions and ideas can first be compared to other information”
– Finally, “given the small capacity of working memory, many small bites of learning, digested over time, may be more efficient than large blocks of time spent in workshops”. Did you need a neuroscience-based reason to frequent this blog regularly:-)

The authors also believe that “change is pain”. If you need proof, please
try this quick brain teaser.

Further information on a number of these and other areas covered in the article:
– Neuroplasticity and brain exercise
– On being “smart” and building neural connections
– “Use It or Lose It”: what is “It”? (simplified brain anatomy)
– Ready to learn?
– Working Memory Training and Attention
– On attention, trading psychology and open minds
– Emotions and Decision-Making
– Brain Fitness Programs and the Brain and Mind Fitness Revolution
– Physical fitness and Brain Fitness
– On being positive

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