Sydney Lifelong Learning: Neuroscience of Leadership

10 October 2007

The Neuroscience of Leadership is the combined study of the human brain and its behaviours in organisational environments. Research indicates that managers can utilise recent breakthroughs in cognitive neuroscience to more effectively lead and influence mindful change in their employees and the workforce. These new findings and insights are giving rise to the emerging concept of NeuroLeadership – a next-generation leadership approach which takes into account the physiological nature of the brain, and the ways in which it predisposes people to resist some forms of leadership and accept others.

As organisations and leaders grapple with the constant challenge of steering organisational transformation, competing in the ‘war for talent’ and driving employee engagement, research findings from Neuroscience are yielding new and exciting insights for leaders, managers, coaches and consultants involved in creating change and improving organisational performance. This LLL event will give a snapshot of recent findings from the Neuroscience of Leadership with application to real-life case examples, expert panel discussion and the implications for practicing business leaders.

Panelists

David Rock launched Results Coaching Systems in 1998, and has since been helping large organisations around the globe build coaching cultures, while building one of the largest executive and personal coaching groups worldwide. His clients include EDS, AIG, HSBC, IBM and NASA. He co-founded the coaching programs at NYU (SCPS) in 2003. He is now on faculty and serves on the advisory board at the international business school CIMBA in Italy, where he heads up their Neuroleadership Institute. David co-wrote 'the Neuroscience of Leadership', an influential paper in strategy+business magazine in 2006, and his work was written about in BusinessWeek in 2007. He has published two books including Quiet Leadership (Collins, 2006), which introduced neuroscience as a way of thinking about managing others, and is shortly to release 'Coaching with the brain in mind' (Wiley). He is a regular guest lecturer at business schools in six countries. David was the organiser of the NeuroLeadership Summit in Italy, and will be presenting findings and video interviews from this event in Sydney. He lives between the US and Australia.

Robert Wood is Director of the Accelerated Learning Laboratory, as well as Professor in the Australian School of Business at the UNSW. He is Editor of Applied Psychology an International Review. His research studies how motivational and cognitive processes interact to influence learning and performance on complex tasks, such as managerial problem solving, and his research publications appear in many journals. He is a Fellow of the Academyof Social Sciences in Australia, the American Psychological Association, the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP),and the Australian & New Zealand Academy of Management.

Victoria Sherwood Victoria leads Booz Allen Hamilton’s Organisational Change practice, with her range of experience spanning strategy development, business transformation, change management, commercial management, M&A activity, new ventures and project management across Asia and Europe. She has worked with clients enabling cultural change through leveraging neuroscience principles and has delivered training courses on the science and psychology of change. Victoria is a leading member of the Change Facilitation Network (CFAN) – one of the worlds largest global change networks – and a member of the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP).

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