Developing Leadership

Leadership Theory: the story over the last 100 years... In 20 minutes Great Man theories. Leaders are born great or have the appropriate character/traits. Ralph M. Stogdill Contingency theories. Leader s success is contingent upon situation, followers, leader s preferred styles. Fred Fiedler, Paul Hersey/ Ken Blanchard. Behavioural theories. Learn & practice definable behaviours. Mintzberg/Katz Participative Theories. Involvement, commitment and quality of decision making is improved. Rensis Likert, Kurt Lewin Transformational Theories. Who leader is, as well as what leader does. Merges theories and focuses on vision/goal yet to be achieved/defined. Bernard Bass, James MacGregor Burns 2

Integrating the theories with your experience Your definitions of leadership (from before lunch). How do you: get the best out of yourself? get the best out of others? make better decisions (insightful, rational)? influence and collaborate with others? do all of this well under pressure? How well have organisations gone in developing leaders? 3

Integrating the theories with your experience and neuroscience For today: Basic brain anatomy for leaders. Getting the best out of yourself. Can you find out about the: Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Occipital Lobe, Temporal Lobe and the Insula Lobe? 4

Brain Basics Frontal Lobe Planning and Execution of movements For today: Basic brain anatomy for leaders. Parietal Lobe Primary senses Brain 1-2-4 Model 1 - Organising Principle 2 - Operating Modes 4 - Key Brain Processes Occipital Lobe Visual information Getting the best out of yourself. Temporal Lobe Auditory processing, object recognition Insula lobe Visceral information from organs 5

Brain Facts If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn t. Lyal Watson, Biologist, Zoologist, Botanist, Anthropologist 1.3-1.4kgs When active, uses more energy per unit of tissue weight than your quadricep muscle under load. 10 billion neurons in cerebral cortex Neuron capable of 2,000 electrical signals per second Levels: Neuronal Cortical Columns Networks of Columns Regions Networks of Regions Systems 6

How do we know? Dissection of cadavers Study of animals (primates, monkeys, rats). EEG electroencephalography 1924 fmri (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) 1992 Not: Phrenology Angelo Mosso in 1880s in Italy. J.C. Walsh 1898, physical force with dynamometer. Linking: psychology, evolutionary theory, etc. 7

Your Brain s Key Organising Principle Minimise threat Maximise reward 5 times more threat circuits than reward circuits. 8

Limbic Networks or System Primitive part of the forebrain. Pleasure, pain and memory. Tightly connected and close to one another - becomes a relatively energy efficient system for decision making Limbic

Leadership Stress Prolonged high allostatic load: Craig Hassad, 2008 impaired immunity, metabolic syndrome, bone demineralisation atrophy of nerve cells in the brain and inhibited neurogenesis: hippocampal formation - learning and memory (reduction in grey matter PFC - working memory, decision making growth of amygdala Stress - Hypothalmus - Endocrine (slow) - Cortisol Stress - Hypothalmus - Neural (fast) - Adrenaline and NorAdrenaline It does not matter if the stressor does not exist, that is, the stressor only exists in our imagination imagination, rumination, anticipation, exaggeration and dreaming - all forms of misperception - can all activate the fight or flight response.

Your Brain s Two Operating Modes 11, 000, 000 11

Conscious and Nonconscious TV Channel metaphor. Nonconscious is faster (cerebellum + basal ganglia. We live by unconscious habit for very good reasons. Frees up PFC for more challenging tasks. At any given time our brain is processing much more information than we are aware of. e.g. Patients under anaesthetic. (Nordgren, 2006) Even when conscious attention is directed elsewhere, we are nonconsciously working on a problem. 12

Four Key Brain Processes Emotion Feeling Thinking Self regulation Non conscious Conscious Conscious Conscious action tendencies based on emotional cues in environment glutamate / GABA awareness of body s physical feedback dopamine / serotonin processes that allow focus and planning noradrenaline / dopamine capacity to manage and align emotion, thinking & feeling oxytocin / endorphins Seconds Seconds - Minutes Minutes - Hours 13

Pre Frontal Cortex - the key to getting the best out of your self PFC is 30% of the human brain. In cats it is 3%. Serial processor one visual representation at a time. Critical for: guiding our attention self-regulation paying attention to remember Space limitations: simplify, chunk, priorities. Powerful, but limited capacity: storyboarding mindmapping pitching 14

Capacity of PFC 15

Getting the best out of yourself Knowing what you know about your brains, how might you get the best out of yourself? 16

Know yourself: Live Better: Lead Better You will need: * Commitment to: trying some new things, tracking your sleep, reflection and physical activity * For the activity tracker: A smartphone or tablet running ios or Android. A download of the free UP software 17