While I agree with your concerns here and especially agree with the fact that we are a long way off from finding roadmaps for what leader’s brains should look like, I also grow concerned that what we do know is so little included in university learning circles.

Except for the jargon which leaves lay folks behind, and the foppery that misinterprets brain based benefits, the topic of the brain rarely comes up. That seems a pity – when there are so many new facts that would add higher motivation and achievement for MBA students.

I teach courses such as leadership and organizational management — in MBA programs, and find my students are highly engaged in brain based benefits for leaders.

Guess what I am saying is that I so agree with you about the caution we should use, and at the same time let’s take a risk to roll out what we do know about the human brain as it could benefit business leaders. Would you agree.

Magical thinking about how “leaders think” can be especially dangerous because all leadership is situational. Bob Nardelli was one of the best operational leaders ever at GE, but a failure in many ways at Home Depot. Scan Nardelli’s brain in those two places and you’d probably get pretty much the same thing. The Bob Nardelli brain that produced magical results in one place produced something quite different in another.