The Right Side of the Brain

Holiday’s are great times to do something different. On this holiday I did two things which were different for me. The first one is the boring sounding one, I read a business book rather than a novel – The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman. The second was spending lots of time on my daughters Nintendo DS playing Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training. While these two things might not sound like they have too much in common – both of them focus on the brain and specifically the use of the right side of the brain.

In the knowledge businesses the brain is obviously a very important asset, and understanding it could help us to look after it better.

Much scientific research has gone into understanding the brain. It would appear that the two  sides of our brain have different roles. The left side of the brain is apparently responsible for thinking things through in a linear way helping us to understand things sequentially. The right side of the brain processes things holistically, it’s about the big picture. The right side is also the side which is the creative side.

The web is littered with information.

In The World is Flat, Friedman argues that all of the left brain activities are the ones ripe for automation by IT systems, or for Outsourcing to other cheaper countries. The people who can see the whole picture and deal with concepts (the right brain people) will be the ones that will be invaluable. This type of people are the ones who will be the versatilists.

The Dr Kawashima game is focussed on exercising the brain – both left and right.

This has left me with a few questions, some of which I think it’s about time I knew the answer to:

• Is it possible to change the focus of your brain – from left to right?
• Which am I, left or right?
• Is it possible to strengthen your brain?
• If it is possible, how do you strengthen the right side?
• Will truly right-brained people be the most valuable, or are we talking about people who are balanced?
• Which type of people are the happier?
• Will having a more balanced brain make me more employable in the future world?
• What is creativity anyway?

No answers yet, but I’ll let you know how I get on.