A New Sense of Nature Dickman and Stanford - 2 Advanced organizer: This chapter targets intelligence as the brain connection of primary concern to leadership

What is the Brain For? Comprehensive relationship between leadership and the capacity for intelligence Brain Purpose –To make decisions about how to enhance the reproductive success of its host body –Genetically programmed directive to survive and reproduce –Brain did not exist till they were needed  evolution and biological adaptations, i.e. snail –The business of the brain = internal adjustments to monitor and process information from the internal and external environment –This is done beyond our conscious awareness  capacity for interpreting, organizing, and applying information  intelligence/executive skills Why Would You Want To Know This?

Intelligence –What you use when you don’t know what to do…Piaget –Triarchy composition…Sternberg Adapt to environment  practical Cope with novel situations  creative Process information effectively  academic –Guessing well…Barlow –Slipping the bonds of instinct and generating novel solutions to a problem… Gould and Gould –Dimensions of neural efficiency, experiential knowledge and reflective thinking…Perkins –Biopsychological potential to process information that can be activated in cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value to the culture…Gardner –Cognitive traits, habits of mind and attitudes that are invested in mental energy…Flynn

So, intelligence is: Collective attributes of brain acquisition and application that contribute to ….of knowledge in diverse and novel situations However, the definition of intelligence is always changing as new information comes to mind Getting a grip Daunting sea of knowledge  judicial engagement with the sources that are at hand  destillation of essential understanding

Sunset (beauty on our backyard) example as a metaphor to seeing intelligence in the 21 st. Century  what is available, to be seen & appreciated Proof that there is a connection between intelligence, brain and leadership –fMRI, PET, EEG –We are at a new stage of investigation – a period of enlightenment –“the mind once stretched never goes back to its original form”  plasticity Blink = the moment when an idea, product or concept suddenly catches fire with the population at large (Gladwell, 2005)

In order to really understand the relationship between intelligence, brain and leadership we must understand the nature of intelligence: –Physiological  platform of knowledge  body-mind connection –Social  provokes and refines knowledge  expectant and dependent –Emotional  arouses, focuses and motivates the acquisition of knowledge  judgemental and manageable –Constructive  understands and organizes information in order to apply knowledge  pattern making –Reflective  directs acquisition and application of knowledge  executive and unifying –Dispositional  determines the effectiveness and efficiency of the use of knowledge (inclination to find truth)