First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently

by Gallup Press

By the time the child reaches her third birthday, the number of successful connections made is colossal — up to 15,000 synaptic connections for each of her 100 billion neurons. But this is too many. She is overloaded with the volume of information whirling around inside her head. She needs to make sense of it all. Her sense. So during the next 10 years or so, her brain refines and focuses its network of connections. The stronger synaptic connections become stronger still. The weaker ones wither away. Dr. Harry Chugani, professor of neurology at Wayne State University Medical School, likens this pruning process to a highway system: “Roads with the most traffic get widened. The ones that are rarely used fall into disrepair.”