The Leader's Brain: Enhance Your Leadership, Build Stronger Teams, Make Better Decisions, and Inspire Greater Innovation with Neuroscience

by Michael Platt

Overview

A pioneering neuroscientist reveals how brain science can transform how we think about leadership, team-building, decision-making, innovation, marketing, and more.

Leadership is a set of abilities with which a lucky few are born. They're the natural relationship builders, master negotiators and persuaders, and agile and strategic thinkers.

The good news for the rest of us is that those abilities can be developed. In The Leader's Brain: Enhance Your Leadership, Build Stronger Teams, Make Better Decisions, and Inspire Greater Innovation with Neuroscience, Wharton Neuroscience Initiative director Michael Platt explains how.

Over two decades as a professor and practitioner in neuroscience, psychology, and marketing, Platt's pioneering research has deepened our understanding of how key areas of the brain work—and how that understanding can be applied in business settings.

Neuroscience is providing answers to many of leadership's most vexing challenges. In The Leader's Brain, Platt explains:
Why two managers, when presented with the same set of information, make very different decisions;Why some companies (Apple) build strong social and emotional connections with their customers and others do not (Samsung); How some of the most significant events in sports history, like the "Miracle on Ice," contain insights for how to build a team; Why even some of the most visionary business leaders can make disastrous decisions, and how to fix that.
The Leader's Brain relates findings like these, and many more, to help enhance leadership in an ever-shifting world entering a "new normal."

In this fast-reading and engaging guide, you'll gain actionable insights you can put into practice as a leader. You will also learn what's going on in your team's brains when they are working in sync with one another, how you can tweak your message delivery to make sure others hear you, how to encourage greater creativity and innovation, and much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613630990
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	10/06/2020
Pages:	150
Sales rank:	1,066,417
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.35(d)

About the Author

Michael Platt is a scientist known for asking some of the most challenging questions in 21st century neuroscience—and conceiving innovative ways to find the answers. He focuses on applying insights and technology from brain science to business, particularly questions in marketing, management, finance, and innovation. As a Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor, he has appointments in the Department of Neuroscience in the Perelman School of Medicine, the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Marketing in the Wharton School. A revered instructor, Platt won the Master Teacher/Clinician Award from the Duke UniversitySchool of Medicine and the Teaching Commitment and Curricular Innovation Award from the Wharton School. He is the former Director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Duke, and the founding Co-Director of the Duke Center for Neuroeconomic Studies. Platt's work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Guardian, and National Geographic, as well as on ABC's Good Morning America, NPR, CBC, BBC, MTV, and HBO Vice.

Editorial Reviews

"If you want to drive change in large organizations, this is a must-read."

Per Hugander

"The Leader's Brain walks the reader through our collective understanding of the science of leadership and decision-making. A must-read for any business leader looking to sharpen their focus."

Gavan J. Fitzsimons

"Every leader should read The Leader's Brain for insight on how to apply the trusted principles of neuroscience to their business. If you are a leader, this book should not only be on your bookshelf—it should be an everyday manual."

Scott Prince

"If you're looking for an expert who can help you understand how the flourishing field of neuroscience can boost your business, Michael Platt is that person. His book, The Leader's Brain, is a must-read for anyone who is looking to use the latest brain science to improve their leadership, and it is a must-use guide for those leaders tasked with building a better future."

Murali Doraiswamy

"Wharton Professor Michael Platt analyzes how to establish and maintain successful individual leadership and corporate actions. Living in a time of public protests, not privately voiced complaints, against the exercise of authority, this book is a quickly read and timely must-read."

Carlos M. de la Cruz

"This compact book is an impressive feat. It distills frontier neuroscience—especially how our social brain works—into advice for leaders at all levels that is both surprising and immediately actionable."

Colin F. Camerer

"As a reader, I felt like I was being granted access to the next major ridge line of the study of leadership . . . . The Leader's Brain is a roadmap for leaders who wish to use pioneering research and science to push toward peak performance and growth."

C. Brian Ferguson

"The Leader's Brain is a practical and entertaining leadership handbook grounded on robust brain research and compelling business cases. Michael Platt elegantly combines management and neuroscience to help executives literally rewire their brain to lead more effectively."

Jean-Marc Laouchez

"Leadership has often been more of an art than a science, but Michael Platt's work is allowing us to better understand the brain so that we can be more deliberate in how we lead. Michael's insights are revolutionary for those who want to understand how they can set the conditions for team success and enhance the impact on those they lead. While there are countless books with authors providing their theories on leadership, Michael has highlighted the actual science behind great leadership and great teams."

Josh Gibson

"I finally have the instruction manual I've wanted for leading a company . . . . So many of the real challenges I face as a leader are explained through the lens of neuroscience, allowing me a deeper understanding of what is actually happening in those moments . . . . If you are a leader, drop everything and read this book. (That's what I did.)"

Geoff DiMasi

"The Leader's Brain is not only a must-read—it is a must-use for anyone who wants to lead others to a better future that is backed by data-driven, scientific approaches. Its vivid examples, such as how different sports settings can serve as neuroscience 'petri dishes,' offer invaluable, actionable tools for leaders."

Joy Seppala

"Leaders who seek continuous improvement and optimization will find a wellspring of both innovative and practical advice here . . . . The Leader's Brain offers a rare window into the neurobiological levers for performance, that when activated effectively, can be the difference between leadership effectiveness or derailment, organizational success or demise."

Jonathan Kirschner

"If you're looking for an expert who can help you understand how the flourishing field of neuroscience can boost your business, Michael Platt is that person. His book, The Leader's Brain, is a must-read for anyone who is looking to use the latest brain science to improve their leadership, and it is a must-use guide for those leaders tasked with building a better future."

—Murali Doraiswamy, Professor, Duke University; Former Chair, World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Brain Research

"Every leader should read The Leader's Brain for insight on how to apply the trusted principles of neuroscience to their business. If you are a leader, this book should not only be on your bookshelf—it should be an everyday manual."

—Scott Prince, Founder/Executive Chairman, Merchant Wealth Partners

"The Leader's Brain is not only a must-read—it is a must-use for anyone who wants to lead others to a better future that is backed by data-driven, scientific approaches. Its vivid examples, such as how different sports settings can serve as neuroscience 'petri dishes,' offer invaluable, actionable tools for leaders."

—Joy Seppala, CEO, Sisu Capital

"Leadership has often been more of an art than a science, but Michael Platt's work is allowing us to better understand the brain so that we can be more deliberate in how we lead. Michael's insights are revolutionary for those who want to understand how they can set the conditions for team success and enhance the impact on those they lead. While there are countless books with authors providing their theories on leadership, Michael has highlighted the actual science behind great leadership and great teams."

—Josh Gibson, Director of Learning and Development, Cleveland Indians

"I finally have the instruction manual I've wanted for leading a company . . . . So many of the real challenges I face as a leader are explained through the lens of neuroscience, allowing me a deeper understanding of what is actually happening in those moments . . . . If you are a leader, drop everything and read this book. (That's what I did.)"

—Geoff DiMasi, Co-Founder and Chief Partnerships Officer, Apostrophe Technologies

"Leaders who seek continuous improvement and optimization will find a wellspring of both innovative and practical advice here . . . . The Leader's Brain offers a rare window into the neurobiological levers for performance, that when activated effectively, can be the difference between leadership effectiveness or derailment, organizational success or demise."

—Jonathan Kirschner, CEO, AIIR Consulting

"The Leader's Brain is a practical and entertaining leadership handbook grounded on robust brain research and compelling business cases. Michael Platt elegantly combines management and neuroscience to help executives literally rewire their brain to lead more effectively."

—Jean-Marc Laouchez, President, Korn Ferry Institute

"Wharton Professor Michael Platt analyzes how to establish and maintain successful individual leadership and corporate actions. Living in a time of public protests, not privately voiced complaints, against the exercise of authority, this book is a quickly read and timely must-read."

—Carlos M. de la Cruz, Sr., Chairman, CC1 Companies

"If you want to drive change in large organizations, this is a must-read."

—Per Hugander, Head of Leadership and Organizational development, SEB

"As a reader, I felt like I was being granted access to the next major ridge line of the study of leadership . . . . The Leader's Brain is a roadmap for leaders who wish to use pioneering research and science to push toward peak performance and growth."

—C. Brian Ferguson, Founder + CEO, Arena Labs

"This compact book is an impressive feat. It distills frontier neuroscience—especially how our social brain works—into advice for leaders at all levels that is both surprising and immediately actionable."

—Colin F. Camerer, Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics, California Institute of Technology; Wharton Neuroscience Initiative Fellow

"The Leader's Brain walks the reader through our collective understanding of the science of leadership and decision-making. A must-read for any business leader looking to sharpen their focus."

—Gavan J. Fitzsimons, Edward S. & Rose K. Donnell Professor of Marketing and Psychology, Duke University

From the Publisher