LEADERSHIP and decision-making has for the past few decades relied on financial figures, fastidious detail and rational reports - the left brain - but the emerging 21st century leader needs to be more well-rounded, more open to creativity and innovation and more intuitive.
This is according to Chris Breen, emeritus associate professor at UCT and the programme director of the short course Leading with Intuition at the UCT Graduate School of Business from September 20 to 22.
"While some might balk at the idea, and indeed many executives might say it just seems too irrational, take a closer look and there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to intuition," explains Breen.
In the journal Science, a research article showed that increasingly complex decisions place increasing strain on cognitive sources. The quality of a person's decisions declines as complexity increases. Complex decisions, then, overrun cognitive powers.
Henry Mintzberg, in his Harvard Business Review article, The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning,adds that when one gets to more senior leadership positions, the demands of strategic thinking are different to lower levels of management.
"Planning is about analysis - about breaking a goal into steps, formalising those steps, and articulating the expected consequences. Strategic thinking, in contrast, is about synthesis. It involves intuition and creativity," writes Mintzberg.
Breen says that his course is one of a few programmes that breaks managers out of their existing patterns of thinking.
"It's not about left brain thinking versus right brain thinking. It's about finding middle ground between the two as a leader. It's about breaking out of the 'comfort of complacency', as Edward De Bono puts it," says Breen.
De Bono, the father of the term 'lateral thinking' and author of Six Thinking Hats, recently wrote: "As far as education is concerned, far from encouraging further developments in human thinking, leadership is more often minded to block such developments. Even if practical evidence shows the powerful effect of teaching perceptual thinking and creative thinking, the comfort of complacency, helped by traditional advisers, is more appealing."
Helping leaders break beyond their comfort zone in decision-making is tough, Breen says, but some business schools are beginning to break through to new levels of thinking.
Breen's course is aimed at enhancing executives' ability to make informed intuitive decisions, explore win-win solutions, and slow down at crucial pressured moments to consider different solutions.
The merit in finding balance between the left and right brain is further evident when one looks at the processes some of the world's top leaders utilise.
Richard Branson is a case in point. "I research new ideas very thoroughly, asking a lot of people about their experiences and for their thoughts," said Branson in an article recently. "But on many occasions I have followed my intuition - you can't make decisions based on numbers and reports alone."
Branson added that "it's important to have the courage to follow through on a project if you believe it's worth pursuing".
Breen says it's not just leaders like Branson that concur that using new ways of perceiving can be a game-changer.
"In a study by Harvard's Jagdish Parikh, 13000 executives indicated that they relied on both left-brain analytical skills and right-brain intuitive feelings equally, but they credited 80percent of their success to right-brain intuition. The enduring and great leaders find that a bit of right brain can go a long way in making the right choices."
Contact 021-406-1323 or SMS 'Intuition' to 31497 for more information on the course.
Helping leaders to think more intuitively
LEADERSHIP and decision-making has for the past few decades relied on financial figures, fastidious detail and rational reports - the left brain - but the emerging 21st century leader needs to be more well-rounded, more open to creativity and innovation and more intuitive.
This is according to Chris Breen, emeritus associate professor at UCT and the programme director of the short course Leading with Intuition at the UCT Graduate School of Business from September 20 to 22.
"While some might balk at the idea, and indeed many executives might say it just seems too irrational, take a closer look and there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to intuition," explains Breen.
In the journal Science, a research article showed that increasingly complex decisions place increasing strain on cognitive sources. The quality of a person's decisions declines as complexity increases. Complex decisions, then, overrun cognitive powers.
Henry Mintzberg, in his Harvard Business Review article, The Fall and Rise of Strategic Planning,adds that when one gets to more senior leadership positions, the demands of strategic thinking are different to lower levels of management.
"Planning is about analysis - about breaking a goal into steps, formalising those steps, and articulating the expected consequences. Strategic thinking, in contrast, is about synthesis. It involves intuition and creativity," writes Mintzberg.
Breen says that his course is one of a few programmes that breaks managers out of their existing patterns of thinking.
"It's not about left brain thinking versus right brain thinking. It's about finding middle ground between the two as a leader. It's about breaking out of the 'comfort of complacency', as Edward De Bono puts it," says Breen.
De Bono, the father of the term 'lateral thinking' and author of Six Thinking Hats, recently wrote: "As far as education is concerned, far from encouraging further developments in human thinking, leadership is more often minded to block such developments. Even if practical evidence shows the powerful effect of teaching perceptual thinking and creative thinking, the comfort of complacency, helped by traditional advisers, is more appealing."
Helping leaders break beyond their comfort zone in decision-making is tough, Breen says, but some business schools are beginning to break through to new levels of thinking.
Breen's course is aimed at enhancing executives' ability to make informed intuitive decisions, explore win-win solutions, and slow down at crucial pressured moments to consider different solutions.
The merit in finding balance between the left and right brain is further evident when one looks at the processes some of the world's top leaders utilise.
Richard Branson is a case in point. "I research new ideas very thoroughly, asking a lot of people about their experiences and for their thoughts," said Branson in an article recently. "But on many occasions I have followed my intuition - you can't make decisions based on numbers and reports alone."
Branson added that "it's important to have the courage to follow through on a project if you believe it's worth pursuing".
Breen says it's not just leaders like Branson that concur that using new ways of perceiving can be a game-changer.
"In a study by Harvard's Jagdish Parikh, 13000 executives indicated that they relied on both left-brain analytical skills and right-brain intuitive feelings equally, but they credited 80percent of their success to right-brain intuition. The enduring and great leaders find that a bit of right brain can go a long way in making the right choices."
Contact 021-406-1323 or SMS 'Intuition' to 31497 for more information on the course.
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