Smart Management: Both Sides of the Brain.

Strategic leaders use both head and heart

By Mary Donato

One of my favorite books on leadership is Principle-Centered Leadership by Stephen Covey. Written more than 15 years ago, it is still relevant t. The chapter that stands out in my mind is "Manage From the Left, Lead From the Right." In it, the role of the leader is identified as the most critical within an organization. That's because without strategic leadership, people might follow a certain path but discover that it leads to the wrong destination.

Effective leaders do the following: Provide vision, direction, value, and purpose; inspire and motivate; and build a complementary team leverages individuals' strengths. Don't get me wrong; managers also play an important role. Without them, you would have fewer systems and procedures, role conflicts and ambiguity. Great managers are the ones who organize resources to achieve higher objectives and produce bottom-line results. Leaders set the vision and direction.

Peter Drucker once said that within a few years of an organization's establishment, many executives lose sight of their mission and focus on doing things right rather than doing the right things. That's why the role of the leader is so critical to the long-term success of the group. Great leaders make sure that people are headed toward the right destination.

Understanding how the brain operates helps us understand why some people are great managers but poor leaders, and vice versa. The left side of the brain is logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective and focus on parts. The right side of the brain is random, intuitive, holistic, synthesizes, thinks subjectively, looks at wholes and deals with emotions. In general, businesses tend to favor the left brain while downplaying the right brain. However, there are many organizations that have great management systems and controls, but lack heart. Others have heart, but lack effective processes and structure. The same can be said about individuals. An excellent manager may be organized and have great procedures, but unless he shows heart, he will never evolve into being a great leader.

This leads to Covey's suggestion: Manage from the left, and lead from the right. The best corporate cultures and leaders span both sides.

Acquiring that balance takes practice. If you're a left-brain thinker, exercise your right brain by learning to communicate with visual imagery, and get involved in the creative side of problem solving. If your right brain is dominant, do analytical problem solving, communicate through words and logic, and read material that is more technical or detail-oriented. A successful strategic leader who uses both sides of the brain provides both direction and vision—and has learned how to motivate with the heart.