Three pounds of gelatinous pudding, that’s how Jeffrey Schwartz refers to the brain in his book The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. My interest in the brain has grown directly out of my work as a coach. I am keenly interested in how we develop and change, and what factors are likely to contribute to a successful transformation ( click here for a link to a very interesting article on neuroplasticity and leadership). Recent research in neuroscience and brain plasticity has turned conventional assumptions about the brain upside-down. Insatiably hungry, intriguingly opportunistic, paradoxically stubborn and adventuresome, beguilingly brilliant and seriously under-estimated, these are just some of the ways we might think to describe the human brain. I wont even attempt to try and summarize the amazing research; what I will do is tell you that the stories and research presented are positively fascinating and for that reason I encourage you to pick up the above mentioned book or perhaps the recently published The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge. This book inspired the recent PBS Brain Fitness Program and mentions a number of interesting resources, one of which you can visit by clicking here. Besides providing the reader with an acrobatic reading experience -the brain studying itself- it is sure to fire up your motivation for persuing everything and anything that interests you while at the same time offering some reassurance for people such as myself who fear their memory might be weakening or for those recovering from brain injuries or struggling with learning disabilities or obsessive compulsive disorders.

I heard a little story this morning about a woman who, frazzled by her child’s lack of co-operation stated firmly that she had run out of patience to which her daughter replied (holding up a her chubby index finger): “Don’t you have one more patience, mommy?”

In negotiation, patience can be defined as “the ability to withstand the costs of a temporary impasse” which in turn translates into bargaining power. For the mother, running out of patience, meant succumbing to either her daughter’s misguided behavior or to her own explosive reaction, quite likely a lose/lose scenario.

When we are working with people in teams our ability to manage our needs and wants can have a dramatic impact on organizational success. Artful leadership is all about balance, generosity and strength of vision. Yet so many organizations and teams are led by tyrannical managers who misuse their power to get their way. Our culture is a particularly impatient one. Because of this, we ambush creativity, restrict input, settle on mediocrity, ignore robust disagreement and when all else fails threaten those around us.

The child disarmed the conflict by questioning the obvious: What’s the rush?

Patience is power, bargaining power. By withstanding the temporary impasse, by not rushing to push our agenda through, we make room for innovative ideas to emerge