Neuroscience Leadership
Aleksander Varga
USASMA

Abstract
In the last decade scientists have made huge progress in the neuroscience field, which has had a tremendous impact on leadership development studies. Knowledge gained through brain observation helps us to understand how the brain responds during certain activities and how some processes in the brain are connected to each other. One important part of our brain is the limbic system, a primitive system responsible for our long term memory, how we build relationships, and how we create patterns based on experiences. Another important part is the prefrontal cortex, which is evolutionarily younger than the limbic system and responsible for more sophisticated processes in our brain, such as our working memory with which we plan, react and judge. Connection between the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex determines our response to certain situations. If we know that the brain cannot use both with the same power in certain situations, and that our brain is plastic and has the ability to change if influenced by certain exercises, this could be very useful information for leaders. We can use this knowledge to improve many fields from how to build empathy to how to change our and others’ behavior in accordance to make better organization, which will consequently make us better leaders.

Neuroscience Leadership
Leadership is probably as old as humanity. As a matter of fact, we can find some sort of leadership also in the animals, especially those who live in groups. We all heard of wolves and their authoritative organization. However, humans are in higher, more complex levels of organizational behavior that gives us special purpose and a role in society. That requires those with leadership responsibilities to have special abilities to fulfill their role and be successful leaders. Because of today’s world where leaders are not necessarily “natural born”, we cannot expect that everybody who leads others will have certain abilities to do that successfully. That’s the reason we invented leadership studies, which can help us develop leadership skills. As in any other studies, progress is made in the leadership field as well, and the biggest progress was made in the last decade when we figured out how to use neuroscience knowledge to affect leadership skills. Neuroscience can help us be a better leader, and consequently we’ll have better, more successful organizations. The things neuroscience noticed about the brain in the last decade are not new, they are always been there, we just discovered them now, explains Pearce in the interview (Pearce, 2010). Basically, what we are learning is how the brain works given certain stimuli. According to that fact, we can now tweak certain messages in order to get a desirable response. In Pearce’s opinion (2010), the most promising field for leadership is the empathy field, more accurately how empathy is actually developed. It’s very important how we build up a capability of understanding how other people feel or think. Now we know when we have a conversation with others we are actually building a model just as though we are having their response, which is most easily seen in babies, how they learn through imitation, when the mother is smiling the babies’ brain creates a pattern that is exactly the same as if the baby were smiling itself (Pearce, 2010).
Understanding others how to think and feel is probably the most important area we can improve with neuroscience; the second most important is understanding implicit memory versus explicit memory. Both forms of memories are types of long term memory, which is more complex than short term memory because it stores different types of information such as procedures, language, life experiences, etc. Explicit memory or declarative memory requires conscious thought while implicit memory does not require conscious thought, but allows you to do things by rote (Types of Memory).
Long term memory is formatted by the limbic system, in particular the hippocampus and amygdala, and the whole limbic system governs emotions and behavior (Jasmin, 2012). The limbic system is part of our brain through which we develop our relationships. The limbic system also creates implicit patterns for us that we remember, so every experience we have is a reflection of experience we’ve already had, which means that we see that pattern first rather than see the reality. Understanding how preconception drives most of our human behavior is an important part of leadership because it can help us to look in implicit memory and develop ways of communicating and give people an opportunity to not react with their typical response, advocates Pearce (2010)
Another important role in our brain is carried by prefrontal cortex located just behind the forehead. The prefrontal cortex is evolutionarily younger than the limbic system and as Dr. Swenson explains (as cited in Steadman, 2011, p. 2), is the place where more sophisticated processes of mind occur and actively influence body function and performance. The prefrontal cortex is also known as the working brain, because it manages memory, planning, mood, personality, reactivity to surroundings, sequence of activity, judgment, etc. With the prefrontal cortex we solve math problems, develop abstract concepts and ponder our own existence.
Therefore, every part of the brain has its own role and is running more than other parts of the brain in certain events or actions, which Steadman (2011) describes by citing numerous authors (p. 3). Every part of the brain is using for its functioning certain amount of blood that provides the oxygen needed. The brain manages this blood need to redirect it to certain areas of the brain that are more in use at a certain time event (e.g. visual cortex, motor cortex). That necessarily leaves less fuel for other brain function, which means that when the limbic system is engaged (during high thread stress) the prefrontal cortex will lack fuel, this handicapping a person’s ability to use cognitive processes in that situation. Rock explains in his book Your Brain at Work, “the degree of activation of the limbic system is the degree of deactivation of the prefrontal cortex” (as cited in Steadman, 2011, p. 3). This fact tells us that in critical situations, our emotions suppress our rational thoughts, which is bad for leaders who want to preserve cognitive function during stressful situations.
This basic knowledge about the brain is necessary for leaders because they can be aware of functions in their brains, and that they are able to train their brain to respond differently than how nature wants to respond, because the limbic system is a primitively old system developed to respond to life-threatening situations, it still has authority over brains (Steadman, 2011, p. 3). According to Rock (2009): “People who succeed under pressure have learned to be in a place of high arousal, but maintain a quiet mind, so that they can still think clearly. Over time and with practice this capacity can become an automatic recourse" (p. 115). Knowing this fact and having awareness that a leader needs to keep his head cold as much as possible during stressful situations is crucial to the outcome of any kind of mission, just imagine the military leader who will react all the time under the run-fight mode instead of using his cognitive mind to face all the situations on the battlefield.
Steadman explains in his article Neuroscience for Combat Leaders that platoon leader and platoon sergeant are the first leaders who are engaged in more complex problem solving rather just focusing on the direct fire battle. The more moving up through the ranks, the more leaders are under cognitive region, so they have to learn how to decrease the effects of stress. This can be done in multiple ways, which mostly deal with breathing and visualization (Steadman, 2011, p. 4-5). But a leader has to do much more than just care for himself; he also must be aware that he is responsible for people who need to be led and that the organization’s success depends on how they will perform as a group. A leader has to enforce these techniques to his subordinates; one way to do this is proper training for their job, either for combat or another profession a leader works in. Training in repeated activity, which are battle drills in the military meaning, certainly can literally “change cellular structure and strength of connection between neurons” (Steadman, 2011, p. 9). Doing these under stress will prime the individual to control stress and become able to work with emotional control. Another important thing is how people feel in the team, which requires the leader to understand social aspects of the brain. The brain has a social network responsible for all social interactions and helps individuals to understand and connect with others. Rock says: “Studies show that the strongest emotion in a team can ripple out and drive everyone to resonate with the same emotion, without anyone consciously knowing this is happening” (2009, p. 161).

For all leaders it is also important to strengthen their cognitive memory, which is achievable with building their own database that will assist them using that knowledge during stressful situations. This is doable by studying certain doctrine and history, recording and discussing new ideas, rehearsals, etc. All this solid knowledge is a part of long term memory that will provide the prefrontal cortex with a vast array of options from which it is possible to generate new solutions (Steadman, 2011, p. 9-10).
The brain approach leadership offers us even more than stated above: Researchers are developing exercises that will allow individuals to alter their brain activity and consequently will become better leaders, and proof of that are a huge number of internet sites offering us brain training exercises. The concept of neuroscience leadership has been proven, now we have to go to operationalization, says Professor Balthazard from W. P. Carey School of Business (Using Neuroscience to Learn How To Build a Better Leader, 2011).
One might object here that neuroscientists do not take a holistic approach to human personality and that the brain is not a separate part of a person. That kind of counter argument comes mostly from philosophers saying that neuroscientists incorrectly attribute certain abilities to human brains because of misunderstanding what constitutes a person (Colborne, 2012). They go even further arguing that neuroscientists use impropriate language describing the brain as if were a person itself, like saying that car drives and bicycle rides. And I could even agree with that to some point, but taking out the parts from the whole isn’t really wise not even from their perspective. Neuroscience is not an independent field; it is just a tool to help other sciences to fulfill its research, so we can use it successfully only if we have certain knowledge about philosophy, psychology, leadership, sociology and life generally.
Probably the most important thing we want to accomplish concerning common society is to have success in any kind of organization, because history and experiences teaches us that a group of people could accomplish more than only one person can. Just take for example a military organization, which is very complex and made from a lot of parts. And that kind of system that includes more people needs someone who is moving these parts. That’s why leadership is a very important field that consists of many other studies, and now we can be more confident adding another field called Neuroscience. Using neuroscience itself is the same as wanting to use any other science solving multidisciplinary issues; it just doesn’t work, but using neuroscience as one of the tools, is certainly a multiplayer in the leadership field.

References

Colborne, S. (2012, March 29). Neuroscience and Philosophy’ by Bennett, Dennett, Hacker and Searle (book review). Retrieved from: http://perfectchaos.org/2012/03/29/neuroscience-and-philosophy-book-review/
Jasmin, L. (2012). Limbic System. Retrieved from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19244.htm
Pearce, T. (2010). Neuroscience and Leadership Communications. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOR1ehxXzX0&feature=related
Rock, D. (2009). Your Brain at Work: strategies for overcoming distraction, regaining focus, and working smarter all day long. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Steadman, A. (2011, May/Jun). Neuroscience for Combat Leaders: A Brain-Based Approach to Leading on the Modern Battelfield. Military Review, 91(3), 50-61. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/869075759?accountid=46682
Types of Memory. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.positscience.com/humanbrain/memory/types-of-memory Using Neuroscience to Learn How To Build a Better Leader. (2011, may 4). Retrieved from: http://asu-stage.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm;jsessionid=cc30bd48137342ba3c7536374b402f147125?articleid=1997