Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders (30 page)

Figure 7.2. The lobes of the brain

Many of the thinking processes involved in decision making intricately involve parts of the frontal lobe and its connections.

There are many functional parts of the frontal lobes. We will focus on three parts. The first two are part of the front (or the anterior part) of the frontal lobes, called the prefrontal cortex (PFC; see
Figure 7.3
):

• The dorsolateral PFC (or DLPFC) is on the outside.

• The ventromedial PFC (or vmPFC) is on the inside.

Figure 7.3. The prefrontal cortex

Their main functions are as follows:

•
The DLPFC is the short-term memory.
This part of the brain is involved in the maintenance and manipulation of recent memory. We need to have recent events readily accessible so as to make decisions. Also, this brain region has been implicated in self-control.
¹

•
The vmPFC is the accountant in the brain.
This part of the brain does the risk-benefit analyses after receiving inputs from various other parts of the brain, including other parts of the frontal lobes and the emotional brain. We need to have an intact vmPFC and cannot take for granted that their sensitivity to risk and benefits is always the same. As a result, communication and check-in with others is vital.

Under demanding conditions or stress, the vmPFC may not function as well. For the leader, optimal functioning of the accountant in the brain means that it must factor in risk, delay, ambiguity, and value assessments in all choices.
²
This relies on input from many other brain regions, and the vmPFC is well positioned to receive these inputs.

The third part is the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is shown in
Figure 7.4
.

Figure 7.4. The anterior cingulate cortex

The ACC monitors for conflict in the brain and is an important part of the brain’s attentional system. Although I am including it as part of the thinking brain, this part of the brain has a dorsal part that connects with the PFC and a ventral part that connects with the amygdala, insula, and reward centers of the brain. In that sense, it is a lynchpin that connections the thinking and emotional brain.

2. The Feeling Brain

A useful oversimplification to understand the feeling brain is to recognize that it is largely found deep inside the brain. The two major
parts of the feeling brain we will focus on are the hippocampus and amygdala (see
Figure 7.5
).

Figure 7.5. The spatial relationship of the amygdala and hippocampus

The hippocampus is largely responsible for long-term memory. Some may argue that this is not “feeling.” However, this brain region influences feeling significantly because our memories may be emotional memories.

The amygdala processes emotions in order of significance. Because fear is such a strong emotion, it processes fear first, and because emotions are an important determinant of attachment, it can distort the attachment of leaders either by causing too much or too little of it.

3. The Brain’s Reward System

The brains of leaders have to register reward or loss when they are making decisions to act. The major part of the reward system is the ventral striatum, which includes the nucleus accumbens (NA). The NA is responsible for registering pleasure and reward and is
therefore involved in motivation and learning from positive feedback.
Figure 7.6
illustrates the reward center of the brain.

Figure 7.6. The connections of the reward center

4. The Brain’s Action System

Movement and action are usually attributed to the motor cortex, which is at the back of the frontal lobe. For leaders, this is the critical variable that is benchmarked and all processes that precede it must be optimal for action to be successful in attaining the goal.
Figure 7.7
illustrates the “action” centers of the brain.

Figure 7.7. The “action” centers in the human brain

Notably, the left frontal cortex is involved in controlling language-related movement. Coaches should be aware of how to access this brain region if they are to bring a leader to action (see
Chapter 6
, “From Action Orientation to Change: How Brain Science Can Bring Managers and Leaders from Action Orientation to Action,” for more information).

5. The Insula

The insula, shown in
Figure 7.8
, maps gut feelings and sends them to the cortex to be interpreted. It also registers aversive stimuli, such as disgust.

Figure 7.8. The insula

Summary

As described in the preceding sections, the different parts of the brain connect to form neural pathways that a manager or coach can target with regional brain interventions, as illustrated in
Figure 7.9
.

Figure 7.9. Overview of coachable brain regions

Consequently, the overarching summary model of a brain that you need to call up when you are coaching is shown in
Figure 7.10
.

Figure 7.10. Model of the targets in the brain