The Whole Brain Business Book, Second Edition: Unlocking the Power of Whole Brain Thinking in Organizations, Teams, and Individuals

OUTTHINK, OUTPACE AND OUTPERFORM THE COMPETITION

Now revised and updated with new applications and practical tools to better use your brain in business

If you think your business can’t get any better, think again. Thanks to the power of Whole Brain® Thinking, you can apply what we know about thinking and the brain to transform your organization at every level. Whether you’re struggling to keep up with a changing market, stuck with a tired business model, or challenged by difficult colleagues, the proven methods in this updated guide will help you to:

• IDENTIFY how you and others prefer to think
• IMPROVE your communication skills
• INSPIRE creative thinking in yourself and others
• INNOVATE faster and work more efficiently
• IMPLEMENT changes throughout your organization
• INCREASE productivity and beat the competition

Every business runs on thinking. This book gives you practical tools to assess others’ mindsets and get more intentional about how you use your thinking—and how to best engage the thinking of those around you. Filled with essential charts, engaging examples, exercises, and action steps, The Whole Brain Business Book shows you how to rethink your business, prepare for the future,realign your goals, and reinvigorate your team—by putting your whole brain to work.

This revised and expanded edition features the latest brain research, updated real-world examples, and more actionable content than ever before. In addition to new stories, data and “mind-hacks”, you’ll find Herrmann’s timeless tips for getting unstuck, identifying the four thinking preferences, and applying research-based techniques that have been proven to work in any business environment around the world. By building and strengthening your thinking agility, you’ll be able to work more effectively with others—and leverage the best thinking around—so you can avoid costly delays, missed opportunities, and other business risks. Using the book’s point-by-point action steps, insightful case studies, and emerging thought trends, you can really put your mind to work—and get brilliant results.

The Whole Brain Business Book will help optimize your management approach, align your organization and strategy, and fully engage your own brain as well as the brains of others to work smarter, faster, and better than you ever thought possible.

Ned Herrmann pioneered the Whole Brain Thinking approach and is renowned for his bestselling books and research on thinking and its role in creativity, learning, and business.
Ann Herrmann-Nehdi is CEO of Herrmann International and an internationally recognized speaker, author, and thought leader on applying what we know about the brain to improve business performance.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART 1

THE WHOLE BRAIN FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER 1 Every Business Runs on Thinking

CHAPTER 2 Making Sense of Thinking: A Practical Organizing Principle for Business 15

CHAPTER 3 Getting Smart About Work: Your Thinking Preferences, Your Competencies, and Your Career 27

CHAPTER 4 What You Need to Know So You Can Grow: Becoming a Whole Brain Thinker 45

CHAPTER 5 Expect Difference, and Then Take Advantage of It! 61

CHAPTER 6 Getting More Satisfaction from Work: Why “Smart” Is Relative 77

PART 2

WHERE THINKING MEETS THE BOTTOM LINE

CHAPTER 7 Becoming a Thinking Manager: How to Get Results from Cognitive Differences 101

CHAPTER 8 Communicating Across Thinking Styles: How to Break Through the Mental Static 123

CHAPTER 9 Getting Work Done: Motivating, Delegating and Managing in All Directions 137

CHAPTER 10 Productivity Through Fit: Individual, Job, and Assignment Alignment 149
CHAPTER 11 Growing Yourself and Others: Developing, Coaching, and Mentoring with Thinking and Learning in Mind 161

CHAPTER 12 Teams that Work: Getting Advantage from Difference 175

CHAPTER 13 Influencing, Getting Buy- In, and Connecting with Your Customers: Thinking Behind the Pitch 191

PART 3

LEADING THE WAY THROUGH BUSINESS COMPLEXITIES

CHAPTER 14 Whole Brain Leadership: The Secret to Thriving in Today’s World 203

CHAPTER 15 Making Vision and Values Actionable: How to Align Any Business for Optimum Performance 213

CHAPTER 16 The Essential Shift to Strategic Thinking: Making Strategic Planning Pay Off 229

CHAPTER 17 Reorganization That Really Works: Energizing for Breakthrough Business Outcomes 241

CHAPTER 18 Dealing with Disruption: When Business Adversity, Risk, or Crisis Strikes 251

CHAPTER 19 Making Change Work: How to Break Through the Mindset Barrier 261

CHAPTER 20 How CEOs Think and Lead: Insights from Research on CEOs Around the World 273

PART 4

TAPPING INTO BREAKTHROUGH THINKING

CHAPTER 21 Increasing Business Creativity and Innovation—Head First 293

CHAPTER 22 Getting Business Results from Creative Thinking 311

CHAPTER 23 Want Enterprise- wide Innovation? Make Creativity a Core Competency for Every Job Across the Business 331

PART 5

PERSONAL GROWTH THROUGH WHOLE BRAIN THINKING

CHAPTER 24 Stretching Your Thinking and Overcoming Mental Blind Spots 347

CHAPTER 25 Entrepreneurial Thinking: What It Is, Why You Need It, and How to Develop It 361

CHAPTER 26 Breaking Down the Barriers to Whole Brain Growth 377

AFTERWORD 387

APPENDIX A HBDI Profile Interpretation Guide 389

NOTES 391

INDEX 399

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