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Brain Power
Here are 10 tested ideas for a good performance management system for your own organization
By Dulce Castillo-Morales
Buzan says that although he came up with the mind-mapping technique in the 1960s, it actually had been used long before by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albert Einsten, and many Asian thinkers as well as by great artists and geniuses. "Leonardo da Vinci was a mind mapper who filled his notebooks with doodles and drawings," he says.
He claims that human beings are born with the talent to mind-map, but that the note-learning system in schools has killed their ability to use their imagination and word association skills. "In schools, students are asked to put their thoughts into words written on straight lines," he says. "This trains them to be uncreative and to think in a way that's unnatural to the brain. Their memory and learning skills deteriorate as a result."
He says he discovered mind-mapping as a student when he realized that his notes were not helping him at all in his studies: "I was taking notes in words and lines or in a monotonous manner. Monotonous, as we know, is boring. When the brain gets bored, it shuts down or switches off. So my notes were actually not helping me. In fact, they were making me sink, like putting a lead weight around my body while trying to swim. It was not only 'not useful' but actually counter-productive."
Hoping to improve his learning techniques, the young Buzan searched for a book that could help him. But he found out that the brain doesn't come with an instruction manual. He recalls: "The librarian kept on pointing me to the medical section when I asked for a reference on how to make proper use of my brain. But I didn't want to operate on my brain. I wanted to learn how to operate it."
Mind maps were the answer to his questions about the human brain. He says that the technique works on the principle that the mind works better with signs, symbols, figures, and not just plain words. Thus, according to Buzan, a typical mind map consists of the theme or topic written or drawn at the center of a piece of paper, with sub-themes or topics working their way out like branches of a tree.
He elaborates: "The method is different from others because it is based on psychology and on the use of the brain. When I began to look into how my brain works, I studied the various elements that go with it. I studied the psychology of learning and memory. I studied the whole nature of creative thinking. I then found out that the human brain works on the same principles for everybody. The Filipino brain is the same as that of other nationalities. The brain is universal; it is not racist."
Buzan, who is a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, also believes that not only is there a pattern among geniuses; there are also common and dominant qualities or traits among entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Here's how he describes those people: "They have a vision and it's usually a big vision and it's very clear. They are energetic. They are enthusiastic. They love what they do and they love people. They are primarily honest. They work incredibly hard but their work isn't work, it's play. They are also persistent; in other words, they keep trying. They take risks and in conjunction with that, they learn from their failures. If they fail, rather than going into a deep depression and jumping off the bridge, they would say: 'How fascinating! So what I can learn from that?'"
Buzan says he is glad that more and more people the world over are recognizing the importance of getting to know how their brain functions and how they can help it operate more efficiently.
"Everywhere I go now, the brain is a public topic," he says. "Thirty years ago, you didn't know anything about how the brain works-it was just a lump of gray cells. Now everyone wants to know. They want to develop the brain. And because entrepreneurship is a brain-based activity, there's a need to fuel that activity and put more energy into it."
