Left Brain versus Right Brain

Bob Brothers — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:52:48 +0000

For those of us who believe that marketing – even in the hard facts, industrial B2B world – is as much about psychology as it is about science, John Tierney’s article on the ‘Science’ page of the 29 June NEW YORK TIMES will be no surprise. More than a contrasting of hard science vs soft, Tierney’s article underscores how important – and how unusual – it is to capture the best of the “left brain” and of the “right brain”, whether you’re a marketer of industrial widgets, a PhD economist assessing why people spend as they do, or a medical scientist doing cancer research – or the grant review committees who fund the research!).

Too often, people look across the left brain – right brain divide and see the enemy – or at least a suspicious and unfathomable alien. A listing of some of the key left brain – right brain characteristics suggest why each side has such a difficult time understanding the other:
LEFT BRAIN: Logical, Sequential, Rational, Analytical, Synthesizing, Objective, Looks at Parts
RIGHT BRAIN: Intuitive, Randon, Holistic, Synthesizing, Subjective, Looks at Whole
Source: www.funderstanding.com

All but the most entrenched left-brainer or right-brainer would concede, however, that there are certainly useful traits on the other side of the divide.

It’s not so surprising – human nature being what it is – that the left brains and the right brains of society or of an organization often disagree. What is surprising is that so few organizations recognize or take advantage of the complementary strengths of left and right hemispheres.

How about sharing some uplifting examples of organizations taking advantage of left brain – right brain synergies? Some particularly egregious examples of squashing one side or the other?

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Left Brain versus Right Brain