I remember that when I first came across the idea that humans have ‘three brains” in a reading many years ago, I was captivated by the idea. I also remember that when I shared that idea at a training five years ago, a medical student in the class almost fell of his chair, probably alarmed at the ‘accuracy’ of the notion of the ‘three brains’.
I would like to suggest the ‘brain’ alluded here is not to be taken literally (as an organ) but instead as a metaphor for thinking i.e. we can ‘think’ with our ‘head’, ‘heart’ and ‘guts’. Over the years, scientists have termed these three intelligences as Intelligence Quotient (IQ),Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Somatic Intelligence (SQ)respectively.
I once heard a staff complaining about his boss who is a scholar who graduated from the renowned Oxford University (high IQ): “my boss has zero EQ”. Upon probing further, I understand that he thinks his boss is not caring and unable to empathise with his subordinates. We have seen both in politics and big organisations how leaders who are naturally selected through the high IQ route (good academic track records etc) have failed in their roles as leaders because the ‘brain’ in the ‘heart’ is not developed or fully activated. Relying on an over-developed ‘brain in the head’ can lead one to over-think, analyse and judge rationally and prevent a leader from developing strong relationship with his people
Recent studies on leadership have clearly shown the importance of the ‘brain in the heart’ i.e. emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management) in leadership. This corresponds to Level 4 of Maxwell’s 5 Levels of Leadership i.e. the Leader as a People-Developer.
Interestingly, scientists and doctor have called the ‘brain in the guts’, the enteric nervous system (ENS), made up of 100 million nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract from the esophagus to the rectum. Malcolm Gladwell in his book, “Blink” alluded to the ‘brain in the guts” as” thin-slicing”: our ability to use limited information from a very narrow period of experience to come to a conclusion. This intuition also defined as the ability to understand something quickly without conscious reasoning is one of the 4 functions of human personality mentioned by Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst i.e. thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition.
Holistically speaking, if one is to optimise our brain-power, we should aim to optimise all our three brains i.e. “the head, heart and the guts”.