Brain Power

The best leaders have healthy brains

a) A leader’s ability to manage emotions is critical as emotions can compromise or sabotage your ability to make effective decisions.

b) Your brain has the capacity to continue to develop and grow. A growing brain keeps mastering the competencies of leadership – everything from self-confidence and decision making to empathy and persuasion to running effective meetings – until it gets it right.

c) Our brain thrives on change and challenges. But in most cases, people resist change because of the pain of change. The brain’s main function it to keep you alive and resist pain.

d) There is usually huge resistance to the change and failure. Leaders who leverage brain-power will understand the need for engagement and employee participation in any change effort.

e) Many leaders still hold on to the old adage of leadership by command and control. Instead, empathy and social intelligence is the way forward. A newly discovered brain neutron, called the mirror neuron, enables leaders to learn empathy.

f) So, a leader’s action is more important than his words. The brain thinks in pictures not words.

The MBA - Is it still relevant? (The Star)

MBA - Is it still relevant? (The Star)
a) Many MBAs not well equipped to make good judgements, and didn't have enough good sense to take corporate social responsibility to next level.

b) Still, greedy appetites in a 'corrupt' eco-system can overpower even the best management education.

c) It was a time of market liberalisation.

d) This new preoccupation with quantitative methods and mathematical models, including the use of advanced analysis, unfortunately gave MBAs the illusion of being able to control financial risks. Moreover, their teaching was flawed by ignoring a good sense of ethics and impacting lots of moneymaking knowhow.

e) Ooverheard this at MIT-Slogan last summer: ’In physical science, three laws explain 99% of behaviour; in finance, 99 laws can explain at best only 3%.’

f) Actually, MBA training helps understand the ecosystem and master developments. The education as two elements – one is about business and economics and the other, management and leadership. The first looks outside the firm to its context (customers, suppliers, regulators, markets), while the second looks inside the firm to its effectiveness, efficiency, planning and implementation. Both are important to the success of individuals in a leadership position.