What does ‘the Brain’ mean to me?

Every individual comes across as unique from the others in

more ways than one. What makes all of us so distinct from each
other has a lot to do with all that we have learnt in our lives up to the
present day. All this learning and the experiences of the past are
reflected in our behaviour and are displayed in our personality. This
is the personality or image that people associate with every
individual. What and how every individual learns throughout his life is
what I understand as the Brain in the concept of leadership. The
reason why I have such an abstract concept is that this has a lot to do
with understanding the character of every individual (including
myself) and how human beings behave.

Digressing for a while, I would like to mention about a short

seminar that I had attended on the subject called ontology. Ontology,
as I was made to understand, relates to the study of being of human
beings. In simple words I can explain ontology as the study and
understanding of why we as humans act and behave in the way that
we do. And if I were to put this concept alongside the Brain, I can see
a very strong correlation between the two.

Going back to the concept of the Brain, I would like to add that
this addresses the issue of how a leader can be more effective and
successful in dealing with other people and more importantly dealing
with himself. What the Brain refers to is the whole process of
learning the manner in which humans think and act, and how leaders
react and manage their teams to be able to identify the exact point of
concern of every member in the team. This enables the leader to not
only approach the problem with the most optimum solution in an
efficient style but also increases his acceptance and trust in the
group.

An additional connotation that can be attached to the Brainis

‘change’. I believe that many times a leader is required to bring

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about a change in the organisation and in the people around him.
This createsan image of being a more efficient leader. However, it
should not be taken for granted that every effective leader will be
able to bring about an effective change in his environment. To be
able to do this, the leader has to understand very clearly how the
human mind functions and how people think given certain situations.
In learning to do so, the leader has an advantage over the group in
being able to know exactly how each group member needs to be
approached. Along with the change mentioned above, a leader is also
expected to help the group or team become more successful in every
mission with the aim of achieving the overall vision of the
organisation.
Moving on to a more personal area, the leader will also
understand his leadership style and character. The Brain practically
means the mind of every individual and if an individual is able to
understand how his mind works then he is in a much better position
of controlling the outcome of every thought process he undergoes.
Every individual will be much moreclear as to the kind of personality
he possesses and this will help him work towards his actual goals as
far as personal development is concerned. Without understanding
one’s own self an individual is at great risk of drifting away from his
personal goals and thereby portrays an ineffective image of his self.
He is very likely to carry a false identity of himself, which results in an
incorrect way of handling people and problems. And no matter how
successful that person might have been, it does not necessarily make
him a good and effective leader.

Most of us have had a major portion of our learningfrom

observation. This learning becomes so engrained over time that it
forms part of our actions even without giving much thought to it. This
is what we can also refer to as the reptile brain in action. A similar
conceptwas also brought out by Kjeld Fredens during the class
lecture. He mentioned the concept of ‘I’ and ‘Me’ and how we
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perceive ourselves vis-à-vis how people perceive us as individuals.
Every individual becomes so accustomed to the perception of himself
that he does not realise that others look at him differently. How the
Brain comes into the picture here is that every individual needs to
recognise both these sides i.e. the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’, and this will help
the individual expresshis true character and thereby be more
successful in dealing with problem situations.

Moreover, the concept of the Whole Brain (4 quadrants) can act

as a great tool in understanding the personality and the character of
individuals. It is a very simple and practical way of charting out an
individual’s character. It may also prove to be helpful in
understanding team members so as to be more direct in dealing with
them based on their characteristics as per the quadrant to which they
belong. The Brain tells us to adopt this thinking into the style in which
we deal with problems and people so that we can be more valuable
leaders.

Finally, I would like to sum up the meaning of the Brain as the

development of an individual, such that he is able to recognise
himself and his style of leadership and is able to bring about a change
in himself and in his environment through this understanding. The
subject of the Brain does not relate to how the human brain functions,
but it relates to how one can come to value the human mind and be
able to control it.

How can I use ‘the Brain’ in my life?

The concept of the Whole Brain has really been an eye-opener

and in some way I have already started to apply the Brainin my
personal life. I am an optimistic person and flexible enough to permit
changes in my personality and behaviour. In the class exercise I had
come up with Blue as my primary colour and Greenas my secondary
colour. The idea that I had was that as far as the Right Brain (Red
and Yellow colours) was concerned not much development would be

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seen here. However, when I did the home assignment I was pretty
surprised to see the results.

Although the results were not alarmingly different from my

earlier assumptions, they were significantly different in the sense that
I had a much stronger Redquadrant than what I had expected of
myself. The final results of the home assignment showed that my
primary colour was Green.Where the secondary colour was
concerned, I had an equal score on the blue and red quadrants. More
importantly, as compared to the score on my primary colour (Green)
the difference was only two. My estimate about the Yellow quadrant
turned out to be correct but again here, the surprising part came out
in the home assignment, where I scored nothing but a big zero.

Reflecting back upon the outcome of the Whole Brain

experience I have now acquired a much better understanding of
myself. I have been able to associate certain aspects of my character
to the way in which I behave or react in certain situations. Had it not
been for the understanding of the Brain, I would have either not
understood why I behave or respond to situations in the way that I do
or I would not have even bothered to think about that particular
situation. And now it feels like some sort of a great discovery to
observe and understand my mind and how I behave, and I have to
accept that it is extremely involving.

I feel that combined with the learning of Reflective Leadership

and Cognitive Coaching, the Braincan be used as a very potent tool to
observe and look at myself from a completely different angle. With
this I can also recognize myself from how others perceive me. I can
realise the kind of picture that I portray to others and the type of
image that might be formed in the minds of those around me. This
literally provides me with the skills and the ability to understand what
people think about me and how I can change and modify my outlook
to match their perceptions. Considering this, it is almost

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unimaginable how effective I can be in dealing with people even if
they are complete strangers.

I will be working at practicing this aspect of understanding my

mind in order to bring out the best in me. I now know what my
qualities are and what characterises me as per the four quadrants and
I have the ability to look at myself from a different perspective. I
have realised that I cannot be present in all four quadrants and that I
will always have one primary quadrant that I can relate to. However, I
believe that I have the opportunity to improve in other areas where I
am lacking, especially in the Yellowquadrant. Instead of feeling
dejected with a zero score there I can look at developing in that area
and in the process move closer to the centre of the whole circle (the
brain). This will not make me proficient in all the quadrants (and I
think that would be rarely found), but I will surely be a more balanced
person after having moved from the outer fringes of the brain in
Green quadrant towards more to the centre. I have a long way to go
and there is a wide scope of expanding in this direction before I can
fully integrate this theory as my second nature.

I am very strongly looking at utilising this concept in being able

to present myself in the exact way that I am. It would be kind of
turning inside-out. People should see what I really am and that I have
only one side. Putting it down in a more academic way, I would do
away with the ‘I’ and keep only the ‘Me’, especially as far as my
image is concerned. I would use this to build up more trust in the
people who I deal with and in turn strengthen their confidence in me.
I will use it to handle situations at a personal as well as a professional
level so that my team members or subordinates areabsolutely
comfortable talking to me about almost anything that they would like
to.

I would become a more approachable and a more sociable

person than what I am today if I am able to imbibe the Brain as a part

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of me. Some may argue that this does not necessarily lead to better
leadership, but I would like to bring out the fact in support of my
considerations above that wherever we go, we will always be dealing
with other human beings. Be it any role that one is in; leader,
manager, CEO, etc; one will always remain in association with other
human beings and there can be no better way of dealing with humans
than having a strong understanding of how the human mind works.
Possessing and developing the ability to understand the human mind
can lead to a wonderfully successful and satisfied life in any role that
an individual might assume throughout his life. I cannot say when
exactly I will reach this stage that I have conceptualized. Maybe I will
be 50 or 60 years old by then or on the other hand maybe I will get to
it in a very short time. But what I can be sure of is that this journey
has started and like the old saying goes “Well begun is half done”;
with the encouraging start that I feel I have achieved, I am almost half
way there. Ultimately, I will realise the final results only when I get
there, but this whole process of discovery itself is so exciting and
revealing that it becomes difficult for anyone to stop embarking on it.