Neuroscience for Leaders: A Brain Adaptive Leadership Approach

by Dr Nikolaos Dimitriadis, Alexandros Psychogios

To behave more productively in complex business situations, we need to understand and alter the inner workings of our brain. With insight from applied neuroscience, behavioural economics and psychology, the brain can be retrained and become our most valuable asset. Neuroscience for Leaders takes a practical approach and offers an easy-to-implement framework for making the behavioural changes to become a more effective leader.

Drawing on research and practical experience, the authors present a flexible framework for fine-tuning the leadership brain. The Brain Adaptive Leadership approach is a step-by-step guide to enhancing the way you think, understanding and nurturing emotions, shaping automated brain responses, and developing dynamic relations. Neuroscience for Leaders explains both the underlying science and how to apply its findings in business, demonstrating why and how you can become a better leader through brain-based learning. With tools, managerial tips and clear actions to implement the method straight away, Neuroscience for Leaders is an invaluable companion to managers and leaders who want to gain the brain edge.

Genres: Leadership, Psychology, Management, Business

240 pages, Paperback

Published April 3, 2016

Reviews

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear and interesting, a good choice to read it if you work in a company or you are a coach. Many of the things written in this book were not new, but the way the author uses and applies them to a different context is what makes the difference.

Chiaro ed interessante, un libro consigliato se lavorate in un'azienda o se siete un coach. Molte delle informazioni contenute nel manuale non sono nuove, ma il modo e l'utilizzo che ne fa l'autore é quello che rende questo libro diverso.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND KOGAN PAGE LTD. FOR THE PREVIEW!

[PurposeFocusCommitment · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you know what is most likely to hold you back and prevent you from being successful?

Yes, it’s your brain.

Why is that?

Well, you will find your answers to that in the book Neuroscience for leaders where the authors talk about how your brain works, changes over time based on your experiences and way of thinking, how your brain can trick or blindside you based on your biases and much more.

The authors offer an approach (Brain adaptive leadership – BAL) to understand and implement “a leadership brain”. This approach has four pillars/groups of ideas that are based on scientific insights. The first pillar reflects the cognitive functions – thinking of your brain, the second reflects emotions, the third reflects automated responses and protocols of your brain (brain automation) and the fourth pillar reflects relations. The surprising thing about the book is that it is written in an easy to read manner so you do not have to be an academic to understand what the authors are saying but at the same time there are so many researches and facts in the book that you get an in-depth explanation of how and why hormones, emotions, and triggers from the environment affect you the way they do.

One of the most important takeaways is that your brain is physically changing all throughout your entire life. Based on what you do, with who you surround yourself with, and how you think. Based on that the neurons in your brain dissolve or are created. The less you do and think of something the less you trigger those neurons and in time they dissolve, on the other hand, the more you think or do something the stronger they get.

I highly recommend this book because of its mix of simplicity and complexity (difficult information presented in a simple way). The authors make it a lot easier to understand what they are talking about because they also present case studies and other research for each topic. So nothing is left to blind assumptions and when you finish the book you can go through your past experiences and take “another look” with a different “pair of eyes”. You never know, maybe you have been doing everything as you should have or maybe you made a couple of mistakes. If you did, learn from them and adapt.

You can find more book reviews with notes from the books athttps://purposefocuscommitment.com/ca...

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A slightly specialised, focussed read that sets out to show how we can be better leaders through the use of brain-based learning or neuroscience. Definitely a case of invest the time to reap the benefit with this book!

The authors take some of the latest thoughts and research within the field of neuroscience and apply them to a business leadership context, offering a clear framework to enhance how we think, how we process data, how we respond and how we develop our relationships - all designed with business in mind. This is supplemented by a host of case studies, exercises and self-assessment programmes.

It may be a challenging read but definitely a worthwhile one. It is written in a quite clear, easy-to-understand style when you consider the amount of theory and science it has to impart. The specific application and focus to a business context is the key here. This is a science and area that is not standing still; scientists are still learning about the human brain and its complex relationships, despite major advances being made in the past couple of decades.

The authors are quite clear, recommending that the reader does not just read this book but they immediately begin to try and apply the ideas and recommendations, starting in a form of experimentation with low-risk situations and broadening out this reach as the reader’s experience and confidence grows. It does make sense.

All in all, this is a recommended book for leaders and managers, particularly those who want to get an edge and be even closer, more in touch and direct with their fellow man. It has clearly the capability to deliver benefits to everyone too.

[Gio · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to be successful at anything in life, you need to master your brain. This is especially true for leaders because your behaviour and actions influence, either positively or negatively, those around you and can, therefore, either make or break your business.

The four 4 areas to master are: thought processes, emotions, automated brain responses and dynamic relationships. This book explains the science behind these processes and provides valuable tips, exercises and step-by-step systems to help you understand and master them. While most of the advice here is hardly groundbreaking, it is tailored especially for leaders of businesses and organizations. If you're one, this book will give you everything you need to take your business to the next level.

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers an interesting summary of some of the most relevant neuroscience for leaders with their own touch of research! I met one of the authors at a conference and really enjoyed his speech, and was eager to hear more. The book did not disappoint!

[Lucas Sebastián · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple y muy aplicable

[Diana Aguirre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting topics presented in this book. It triggered me to do more research on leadership topics and how to better a manager.