First of 2 parts
This is an article that I adopted from the prologue written by the late Perla Rizalina M. Tayko for my book Entrepreneur in 12 Days. It was about the Whole Brain Literacy (WBL) mindset for entrepreneurs in going MAD (Making a Difference). I found this very appropriate for our current times and for the intra-pademic and post-pandemic times.
What makes the world of business or service flourish differently with innovations and distinctions in changing and challenging times? Where does “ET” come from? Surely, the extraordinary feat of an entrepreneurial mind that gets into the world of possibilities does come from right at the start outside the mindset of the normal curve or the average thinking of business as usual or of the so-called comfort zone. Why is this so? The ET mindset takes leaps and bounce, making breakthroughs right in exploring possibilities and opportunities that others do not see in the horizon of their own thinking.
Lynch’s quotable quote is apt to explain this phenomenon that states, “You do not see the world the way it is. You see it the way you think.” Yes, it is in the way we think, our mindset, that defines what we see in the world. For the ET, he sees the world beyond and more than “what is.” In fact, “ET” sees more “what might be,” “what could be” and “what he wants to be.” The “ET in ET” dares to SOAR and soar with the challenges to think differently, enabling him go through the process of entrepreneurship, effortlessly.
The entrepreneur in ET and Whole Brain Literacy
Let me start with the premise and a firm belief that anyone and everyone born into this world is gifted with whole brain intelligences—the gift of NATURE to the human species. This capacity to THINK is the greatest potential resource for “thinking through” any opportunities and possibilities. When a baby is born into this world, he cries, screams, scrambles, crawls, reaches out to the world of great possibilities for him “to feel, know and do” whatever there is in his new world, now that he is outside the walls of his mother’s womb. His brain must be “surfing and morphing” for possibilities to get to know this new world. He must be an entrepreneur at heart as a baby, even if his main thinking faculty is made possible through his sensori-motor skills. In one of Piaget’s cognitive stages of development (1983) describes this stage of thinking as “preoperational thinking” through the senses and movement.
This disposition and propensity to explore the world is innate in every human being. However, through cultural and socialization practices of significant others, this exploring mindset is tempered and tailored to the norms of acceptability and approvals of the immediate environment. Thus, the “do’s and don’ts” of thinking, relating and doing are defined by the norms for compliance and conformity to what is acceptable modicum of behavior.
To the “ET in ET” he takes the exception and goes beyond to chart a new path, create a new norm, a different enterprise.
How can the “ET in ET” make a difference in changing and challenging times?
This is when the entrepreneurs of today need to discover further, deeply, consciously to think in tapping and tipping the whole brain intelligences through a process that is called “whole brain literacy.” This is the third literacy learners of all ages can develop for the 21st century. This is “a thinking skills set of competencies” to lead and manage change in fast changing times.
It has been established that the left brain is more inclined for logical and sequential thinking, with preference for language and words. It responds to verbal instructions, solving problems logically by looking at similarities. Left-brainers are planned and structured and more in control of feelings. The right brain is more inclined into processing thoughts randomly and intuitively. Right-brainers prefer visual images and look for differences but are more fluid and spontaneous. They are freer with feelings and prefer elusive uncertain information but respond to demonstrated instructions.
Since centuries past and even until today, the thinking process that gets the highest premium in formal and informal education is the ability to think critically and logically in getting things done and delivering results. Unless one can clearly illustrate his thinking in ways that conform to this high standard of critical and logical thought, he stands out on the side and at times considered as differently endowed with artistic and creative thought patterns. To the minds of many, it is a clear divide between those who exhibit logical and methodical and those that are creative and artistic, as if it were separate thinking capabilities.
The accelerated changes in the global environment with the exponential advances of information, communication and digital technologies have challenged existing mindsets affecting functional processes as thinking, learning, creating, caring and connecting.
Knowledge workers, characteristic of the information age, have been defined as those who “create and manage information massaging it into intangible knowledge goods.” The “web workers of the connectivity age” are those who “create and manage relationships across knowledge goods, hardware and people.” Whether one is a knowledge or web worker, the whole brain potential is at work for the tapping.
In the new waves of development, be it Toffler’s, information age (1980), Pink’s conceptual age (2005), and/or Zelenka’s connectivity age (2007), today, the entrepreneur in exponential times must be mindful not just of his keen drive, passion and vision to explore possibilities and opportunities for new businesses but also and more importantly to take consciously the whole potential of his brain capacity and capability to perform and excel with savvy skills in what he wants to do and what he does. This is where and when, “ET in ET” can use the Whole Brain Literacy (WBL) competency to go M.A.D. (make a difference).
In the next issue, we shall explore Whole Brain Literacy in Entrepreneurial Decision Making.
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