Minors: Brain-Based Leadership

The minor in brain-based leadership is designed to equip doctoral students with current research, theory and best practices for increasing student achievement by ensuring that education is aligned with how the brain learns best. Most of what has been learned about the human brain has been discovered in the last two decades. At the same time new research on the nature of leadership has identified the cognitive skills that have the greatest impact on leadership effectiveness. In this minor students explore ways of putting the key implications of this research into practice so that they may learn to lead more effectively.

EDD 8260: Linking Leadership to Brain Research
Knowledge about how the human brain functions has doubled in the 1990s and continues to grow (Balog, 2003.) Furthermore, emerging research about leading strategic change indicates that institutional transformation occurs one brain at a time. In the broader context, there has been a dramatic shift in the types of cognitive skills necessary to thrive in the 21 st Century (Pink, 2005). New brain research indicates that there are two primary modes of brain function: one brain area specializes in managing routine cognitive tasks, while another area excels at managing novel tasks and situations. In this course, students will assess strategies for putting this research into practice for increased leadership effectiveness. Links between the latest brain research and the reasons why 70% of institutional change efforts fail will be investigated (Black & Gregersen, 2003) and six specific keys to enhancing whole brain thinking for improved results will be analyzed. Students will explore the three brain barriers to institutional change and develop strategies for overcoming these barriers. A practical framework for moving an organization ahead of the change curve will be created.

EDD 8261: The Neuroscience of Everyday Leadership
In this course, students will explore cutting edge developments in the field of brain science and evaluate specific links to essential leadership functions. The specific functions of key brain areas will be investigated including the prefrontal lobe as the CEO of the brain and the latest data on hemispheric differences in terms of use in novel or routine leadership tasks. The role of the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes and information processing will be analyzed within the framework of everyday management functions (Goldberg, 2001). Breakthrough technologies in brain mapping and imaging will be investigated and the implications for using such technologies to guide the way to possibly enhancing cognitive skills. In this course students also will discover the new concept of executive intelligence and analyze specific links to the thoughts and behaviors of effective leaders. Current studies on how the mind can grow younger as the brain gets older also will be investigated (Goldberg, 2005).

EDD 8262: Rewiring the Organizational Brain
Current research now confirms that learning physically changes the structure of the human brain (Sylwester, 2005). At the same time, the process of leading strategic change involves the process of helping stakeholders change their thoughts and behaviors in a way that positively enhances institutional performance. In this course of study, the metaphor of rewiring the organization's brain as a framework for transformational leadership will be explored. Students will apply this concept in the contexts of self, team, and organization. Three levels of thinking and of organizational transformation will be analyzed. Students also will examine the implications of research about the executive brain and its importance in enhancing leadership effectiveness. In particular, the notion of the executive brain acting as the conductor of an orchestra will be investigated. An important theory of effective leadership through becoming an 80/20 individual will be examined and students will make specific links to how they can discover and focus on the 20% of factors that produce 80% of the results in their organization (Koch, 2003).

EDD 8263: Improving Thinking Power in Organizations
Cognitive research suggests that the human brain operates in two primary modes (Goldberg, 2005, Gladwell, 2005). One mode is slow and deliberate and another mode is geared for swift, two-second insights into everyday situations. A key to leadership effectiveness is to learn how to capitalize on the inherent strengths of these two modes. In this course, students will first explore research suggesting that when individuals and teams learn specific cognitive skills they can leverage their brainpower in ways that can increase productivity by 100 to 600% (Kelley, 1999). Students will investigate the following key strategies that improve productivity in the brainpower economy: initiative, networking, self-management, prospective, “followership,” leadership, teamwork, organizational savvy, and show and tell. Students will apply this expert model to a leadership situation they are currently addressing. Next, students will study how the human brain is geared to make snap judgments and investigate strategies for making these quick decisions effective in their role as leader.

EDD 8264: Engaging the Brain Power of Organizations
In this course, students will explore why harnessing employee brainpower is the key to maximizing performance. Effective leaders cultivate this brainpower in productive ways. However, studies suggest that only 30% of the U.S. workforce is comprised of engaged employees; 54% of employees are not engaged, and 16% are actively disengaged (Coffman and Gonzalez-Molina, 2002). Students will analyze and evaluate critical factors that drive engagement such as the alignment of individual brain strengths with tasks they are asked to perform within the organization. In this course, students will fuse together a dynamic investigation of theories from the fields of cognition and leadership to discover how leaders can unleash organizational engagement for maximum results. Different styles of leadership may result in different levels of employee engagement. Students will analyze the concept of resonant leadership in the context of improving results within an organization.