What is the main message of The Leading Brain?

The main message of The Leading Brain is understanding how the brain functions can enhance leadership skills.

How long does it take to read The Leading Brain?

The reading time for The Leading Brain varies depending on the reader's speed. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

Who is the author of The Leading Brain?

The authors of The Leading Brain are Friederike Fabritius and Hans W. Hagemann.

Management & Leadership

The Leading Brain Book Summary - The Leading Brain Book explained in key points

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The Leading Brain summary

Name: The Leading Brain
Rating: 4.2 (116 reviews)
Author: Friederike Fabritius & Hans W. Hagemann

Friederike Fabritius Hans W. Hagemann

Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance

4.2 (116 ratings)

15 mins

Brief summary

The Leading Brain by Friederike Fabritius and Hans W. Hagemann explores the latest neuroscience research to provide insights and strategies for improving performance, creativity, and leadership skills.

Topics

Decision-Making Personality

Table of Contents

The Leading Brain
Summary of 6 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 6

What’s in it for me? Forget the gimmicks and let science guide your leadership decisions.

Every year, there’s a new crop of books on leadership, and the truth is that most of them just come up with a new set of buzzwords to dress up the same old advice. But within the realm of neuropsychology, there’s a wealth of leadership insights to be found that are waiting to be put to use.

How we think, feel and behave are all products of distinct psychological processes that neuroscience helps bring to light. These blinks will show you how knowledge of these functions can be used to guide decisions and strategies in both your workplace and your private life.

Along with this hard science, you’ll find the tools to build good habits and understand personality profiles, all of which will help you maximize your performance.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

how the right amount of stress can be useful;
why sleep is underrated; and
what a perfect team looks like.

Peak performance requires a certain amount of stress, and the optimal level depends on your testosterone levels.

If you’ve ever played tennis or baseball, you’re probably familiar with the sweet spot. This is an area on a bat or tennis racquet that will give you the best control or most power when hitting the ball. But what you may not know is that there’s also a sweet spot for getting the most out of your job performance.

We all have a mental zone that allows us to do our best and most productive work, and research shows that it takes just the right amount of applied stress to get us there.

The link between stress and performance was discovered in 1908 by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson, who found that rats were better at navigating mazes when given mild electric shocks. However, they found that when the shocks were too intense, the rats would panic and try to escape. So there was a sweet spot, where just the right amount of added stress would help produce peak performance.

The same holds true for humans as well: when the stress levels are at just the right intensity, we’ll reach our optimal levels of attention and focus. Too low, and we’re likely to be unfocused and bored; too high, and we’ll be so panicked that we won’t be able to focus on the task at hand.

So what is the perfect amount of stress?

Results show that men, on average, require more applied stress than women to reach that sweet spot of peak performance. Researchers believe this is due to their higher levels of testosterone, which is associated with risk-taking and thrill-seeking behavior. So, to perform at their best, those with high testosterone levels will require a more thrilling, or stressful, scenario.

Since our testosterone levels decrease with age, research shows that the level of stress required for the best work results also decreases over time.

To stay in control of your emotions and actions, make sure you get enough sleep.

Football fans know Zinedine Zidane as one of the greatest football players ever – but many also remember him for one moment during the 2006 World Cup final, when he headbutted an Italian player.

The collective reaction of spectators everywhere was along the lines of, “What was he thinking?!” But the truth was, Zidane likely wasn’t thinking at all.

Work with your powerful unconscious mind to develop good habits.

The commonalities between Barack Obama and Jennifer Aniston may not be readily apparent, but like many others, they’ve both found it difficult to quit smoking. Regardless of your strengths in other aspects of life, habits can get the better of us no matter who we are.

Psychologists at the University of Southern California believe that habits account for around 45 percent of our day-to-day lives.

Trust your unconscious intuition when making complex decisions.

Something’s not right. This was the feeling a lieutenant fireman had one day as he led his team in putting out a kitchen fire. As they were struggling to put out the flames in the kitchen, he was noticing that the living room was far hotter than it should be. He quickly ordered his team to evacuate, and just seconds after they did, the floor of the living room collapsed into a pit of flames.

This is another example of the power of the unconscious mind. The fireman didn’t think there was something wrong, he felt it. His unconscious mind was trying to tell him something, otherwise known as an intuition, and he acted upon it. It shows us that, sometimes, thinking less is the smartest thing you can do.

The best teams have diverse personalities and talents.

In 1961, comic books were forever changed when the writer Stan Lee unveiled one of his greatest creations, the Fantastic Four. Each member of the team has their own unique superpower: invisibility, super strength, the ability to create and control fire and the power to stretch like taffy.

The Fantastic Four are definitely the stuff of wild fantasy – but they can also teach us something about how the best teams in business operate.

Social rejection is similar to physical pain and can damage employee performance.

There’s a saying you probably heard as a child that goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” It’s a nice thought, but scientists now know what a lot of kids are well aware of: words can and do hurt.

When someone attacks with sticks or words, the same areas in the brain are activated, which shows that physical pain and social pain have a lot in common.

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What is The Leading Brain about?

The Leading Brain (2017) dismisses the trends and gimmicks surrounding productivity in favor of hard science about how the brain really works in the everyday stress of a nine-to-five job. There is plenty of research and scientific data on how to create productive habits, build the perfect team and keep staff working at their best.

The Leading Brain Review

The Leading Brain (2017) offers valuable insights into the neuroscience of leadership, providing practical tips on how to enhance our cognitive abilities and lead more effectively. Here's why this book is a worthy read:

Packed with research-based strategies, it equips leaders with the tools to optimize their decision-making, productivity, and emotional intelligence.
By combining neuroscientific principles, case studies, and actionable exercises, the book bridges the gap between theory and practice, enabling readers to apply the concepts in their own lives.
With its engaging storytelling and emphasis on personal growth, the book keeps readers captivated, rendering complex neuroscience concepts accessible and relatable.

Best quote from The Leading Brain

Of an estimated 90 percent of Americans who make New Years resolutions, 92 percent fail to live up to them.

—Friederike Fabritius & Hans W. Hagemann

Who should read The Leading Brain?

Psychology students
Managers and supervisors looking to improve their leadership skills
Readers interested in self-improvement

About the Author

Friederike Fabritius is a leading neuropsychologist with years of experience helping some of the world’s top business leaders. She’s also the head of the Neuroleadership Practice Group and a popular keynote speaker at conferences around the world.

Hans W. Hagemann is an expert on innovation and leadership who specializes in conducting transformative workshops. He is also the cofounder and managing partner of the Munich Leadership Group.

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Management & Leadership Psychology

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