The Debate Rages On: Head and Heart Leadership

Objective

The purpose of this article is an attempt to add to the ongoing debate of the head versus the heart with respect to leadership and is in itself extracts of a debate, I myself had some years ago.

Prologue

In 2010, I had the privilege of being outsourced at a global manufacturing company. The good thing, at least for me, about working at a finance outsourcing company, was the opportunity to understand a multitude of different industries and sectors and build networks concurrently. During that time, at one of our clients, because I was not the type of person to sit at my desk, I built a relationship with the COO who in turn provided insights into the work I was doing. But this article is not totally on finance rather leadership.

The discussion really started on whether the head or heart of leadership made sense. With the COO being an A Type personality and concrete thinker, he stated that the head would always win over the heart. I had no evidence as to why using the heart as a leader made sense. Everything about heart leadership seemed fluffy to any rational thinking person, worse yet even trying to explain it.

But I accepted the challenge, to put my social sciences major to work, as to why using the heart made sense as a leader but I knew he expected me to lose the debate.

Interlude

The following is the research I found in 2010 and what I presented to the COO:

“There is a brain within our hearts,” said Dr. A A. Abdulgader, Professor of Congenital Cardiology/Electrophysiology, General Directorate of Health and Director of the Cardiac Center in Al-Hasa in the Middle East. “This might come as a pleasant surprise to many, but here is a fact proven by the world’s widely recognized heart specialists.”

Abdulgader quoted Dr. Rollin McCraty of California's HeartMath Institute and Jeffrey Ardell, professor of Pharmacology and vice chair for research at the Quillen College of Medicine in Tennessee for their research in the field as well.

Abdulgader said there are thousands and thousands of neurons in our heart. “The new research will have far-reaching results. So far, it was believed that the heart is nothing but a pumping machine that purifies blood. This indicates that the heart is the key organ and not the brain.”

“Now we know that because the neurons on our heart has the capacity to think. These neurons are like a wire that is connected to the brain. Studies indicate that some of these neurons are going directly to the brain without any intermediary. They are going from very important sites in the heart to very strategic locations in the brain,” he deliberated.

“These neurons are giving orders or carrying messages to the brain, which then leads to personality development and decision making. What has also been revealed is that the heart is sending more signals to the brain than the brain does to the heart. So you know who is the leader in our body.”

Just to confirm, the heart that is being referred to here is not the figurative or hypothetical heart but the real heart as an organ.

Do we have a choice to listen to it? Absolutely.

This additional reasoning happening in the brain forms part of who we are, which impacts whether we should make a decision or not, follow through on a matter or give it up. Further processing in the brain also means considerations for behavior, upbringing, environment and personality. There are times when they aren’t in agreement and there are other times when the heart and the head are in total sync. And we all know how both options feels.

So, what does it mean for leadership?

For those who ascribe to heart leadership, state that there is greater mental clarity, intuitive ability and better decision making (Heartmath Institute)

But then what sort of messages are sent to the brain from the heart?

Well, its shaped by a leader’s value system and varies from person to person.

Can we still make the wrong decisions using these 2 brains? Absolutely.

However, feelings and emotions primarily come from the brain or limbic system. (Healthline)

Thus far, learning (and/or un-learning/re-learning) is one of the things that can impact the existing value system in the 2 brains but research has been on-going in this particular area.

At this stage, I threw out everything I was taught as the traditional head and heart leadership traits.

Present Day

Various studies like the ones of Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman revealed that great bosses are often seen as those who have both a strong results focus and social skills. Seeing that rational thought happens in the heart, as a side-note, here are just a couple of recommended techniques to assist you on your journey to build stronger social skills or personality skills. Remember a strong results focus is just as mandatory as are the below:

Ask how can we solve a problem for this person or department?

Lead by example

Be open

Empower Others. Imagine a department with thinkers who are all mini- CFO’s.

Show people that you trust them. Let’s pause here for a second. What is the one quality you’re known to have or not to have before you even get the partnering position with the corner office and the lovely view? Its trust.

 A study by Kouzes and Posner (1995) surveyed 2,615 successful leaders in business and industry and asked them to put their success down to one quality. Later in 2002, some 75,000 respondents from 6 continents were also asked about what makes a good leader. The results were fascinating: the top quality was not business acumen or the ability to predict future market trends, it was not innovation or a cutthroat hard-headed approach to leadership, rather it was honesty and being trustworthy.

I think in finance we could do more with trust as it will be necessary for navigating change within the finance function.

Epilogue

I did manage to win the discussion but it doesn't matter now and there was more on the debate that is beyond the scope of the topic. In pursuing my MBA in Leadership at this exact moment and with all of the many crises that’s been happening in the world today, I’ll leave this article stating that leadership is about having a multidimensional approach for the right environment and because of this, it transcends the whole head versus heart debate.