Stephen H Baum Leadership

“This is your brain on the Job (Phred Dvorak and Jaclyne Badal, WSJ September 20)” does a disservice to the enlightening brain research that has been accelerating since the mid-1990s.  Readers are focused on research that seeks to map the brain of leaders, then train others to use their brains the same way. In the words of the computer world, that is garbage in, garbage out. 

The reason the leader’s brain works the way it does is the result of decades of experiences which shape and re-wire the brains. Yes, brains: the “new brain” which serves intellect, the “mid-brain” which is emotion-focused and the “old-brain” which is focused on survival and therefore is the gatekeeper for all that is seen, read and heard. Each experience re-shapes the brain: a fistfight with a bully,  rejection doing door-to-door sales,  getting caught red-handed. It makes no more sense than showing videos of Muhammad Ali to someone with no interest or aptitude in boxing so they can copy the techniques. Don’t confuse the result with the process. Don’t think that fine wine is only about the grapes or a tasty cake is about the ingredients. It’s about the development process and what’s inside. And you are what you have tried, especially when you have failed.

There is great research that is beginning to confirm that, with a modicum of the right stuff as a child and the right set of experiences, one’s ordinary brains can grow into leader brains. As we face our fears, we change. As we learn what it feels like to fail and recover, we change. The first time we truly connect with another human being not in the family, our ability to empathize changes. When we are betrayed, our ability to tell biased input from objective input changes. 

And the changes are not just in intellect. They are in our gut because they are in our memory in our brain. That is why when facing an aggressive negotiating adversary some years ago, Rudy Giuliani recalled the fistfight with a bully, unwittingly re-enacted the initial fear, the adrenaline rush of the fight and survival. And said to himself: “It’s Albert <the bully> again. I can take this guy.” I don’t care how a functional MRI machine maps Rudy’s brain at such a moment, you can’t create a clone by aping what you see.

So, we will learn a lot from brain research over the next few years. In the field of leadership development, it will teach us what is happening at significant moments (e.g., a crisis in the business, public speaking, problem-solving). But let’s not think there is a short cut to a strong leadership core. It is like physical fitness training: it takes extensive, continual work on your core to enhance your balance, resilience, performance and stamina.