right brain excels at processing creative
and holistic information.
In the course of our evolution, we have
developed three brains. Although the
newest of these, the neocortex, controls
our conscious thinking abilities, like rea-son
and focused attention, the other two,
evolutionarily older brains, are attuned
to social and emotional information: the
reptilian brain values information about
survival, sex and safety, whereas the limbic
brain is in charge of our motivations and
emotions.
Another brain resides in our hearts.
The heart contains neurons, the same
type of cells as those found in the brain.
Activity in our heart-brain is tied to our
emotional states and affects activity in our
CEO brain, giving substance to the adage,
“What does your heart tell you?”
Yet another brain is in our stomach and
bowels. This gut-brain contains as many
neurons as contained in the spinal cord,
and monitors our internal state and emo-tional
status – our “gut feelings.” Not only
is the gut brain the body’s largest producer
of serotonin, a brain chemical closely linked
with happiness, our gut brain is keenly ac-tive
when we are faced with challenging or
risky situations.
“I THINK, THEREFORE I
LEAD – RIGHT?”
What does this all mean for those in lead-ership
roles? Clearly, our neural hardware
is as sensitive to social and emotional cues
as to facts and figures that we consciously
analyze. Crucially, more than 50 per cent
of the information received by our CEO
brain is channelled through our emotion-al
and gut brains. This means that those
in leadership roles must integrate the ac-tivity
of this network of brains to meet
performance expectations; not only do we
need our rational brains to set strategies,
but also our emotional brains to engage
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THOSE IN LEADERSHIP ROLES MUST INTEGRATE THE ACTIVITY OF THIS
NETWORK OF BRAINS TO MEET PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS; NOT ONLY
DO WE NEED OUR RATIONAL BRAINS TO SET STRATEGIES, BUT ALSO
OUR EMOTIONAL BRAINS TO ENGAGE EFFECTIVELY WITH OTHERS AND
OUR GUT BRAINS TO TAKE RISKS WHEN FACED WITH CHALLENGES.
54 ❚ JULY/AUGUST 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL