Leadership Phenomena and Neuroscience: Moving Forward with a Research Agenda

February 29, 2008

Conference hosted at the Center for Responsible Leadership, Arizona State University

An inaugural meeting was held at Arizona State University in February 2007 to begin to address research directions that could be taken in an attempt to understand the neurological underpinnings of effective leadership. Present at the meeting were management academics, a neurological technologist, and representatives of an EEG products manufacturer.

During the past year, a project associated with these efforts has received some notoriety in the media, for example, articles in the Wall Street Journal and Business Week. In addition, further data collection efforts have been undertaken at the United States Military Academy at West Point. We are now at the point of more precisely outlining a research agenda based on three interwoven aspects of effective leadership: (1) inspiration, (2) complexity/adaptability, and (3) global mindset.

The purpose of our recent conference on Feb. 29, 2008 was to provide a more in-depth consideration of the opportunities and challenges in attempting to determine the neurological basis of such aspects of leadership. In addition to the ASU research team, the conference included four special guests and participants. First, Colonel Sean Hannah, Director, Leadership and Management Programs, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, United States Military Academy was present. Second, in attendance was Robert Thatcher, Director of Neuroimaging, Applied Neuroscience Laboratories, and adjunct Professor, Departments of Neurology and Radiology, University of South Florida School of Medicine. Third, Jeff Maxwell, cognitive neuroscientist with the Human Research and Engineering Directorate of the Army Research Laboratories attended. Fourth, Mansour Javidan, Director of The Garvin Center for Cultures and Languages of International Management, Thunderbird School of Global Management, as well as his colleague, David Bowen, were in attendance.

In sum, this eclectic and interdisciplinary group of individuals generated lively discussion, as well as tangible ideas and plans for how to take the study of the neuroscience of leadership forward.  We look forward to exciting new developments in 2008 and beyond.