Is Your Brain a Flashlight or a Lantern?
Neuroscience teaches us that a young adult's brain is fast and focused, with a similar value to having a flashlight on a night hiking trip. It can move quickly and offers precision control so that you can quickly see the path ahead of you. There's a certain intensity to a flashlight and a young brain.
Brain science also teaches us that an older brain works holistically and systemically with broader peripheral vision, sort of like a lantern. A lantern casts light over more expansive areas, just like an older brain can move more adeptly from the left brain to the right brain and back. A more aging brain is also better able to see blind spots.
Some leadership situations require a flashlight - limited time to make a decision, a need to focus on something that must be solved. Other situations require a lantern - the time to be curious and open to new solutions and the willingness to explore blind spots.
As a leader, ask yourself, "What's needed right now: a flashlight or a lantern?"
