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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS38

the brain perform fundamentally different functions and process
information in quite different ways.

right brain: intuitive The right side is the domain of

visualisation and intuition. Operating in terms of sensory images and
non-rational modes of thought, the right side represents the source of
dreaming and feeling. Right-brain thinking draws on the power of
divergent reasoning, which is the ability to create a multitude of
original, diverse ideas and to investigate issues from the widest set of
perspectives.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter is Professor of Business Administration at
Harvard Business School and author of such classic management texts
as The Change Masters and When Grants Learn to Dance. She coined
the term ‘kaleidoscopic thinking’ to describe this capacity to question,
rearrange and see things from a different angle.31

The importance of hearing and trusting the inarticulate voice of
intuition is highlighted by research by Marton and others, which
revealed that 90 per cent of the 83 Nobel science laureates surveyed
relied upon intuition in one way or another.32

left brain: logical In contrast, the left side is characterised by

thinking in terms of symbols and words. It performs logical thinking,
judgement, speaking and mathematical reasoning. The left side is the
domain of the so-called rational and logical functions. Based on
convergent reasoning, it is the left side which evaluates multiple ideas
and selects the best solution to a given problem with a highly detailed
focus. The contrast between left- and right-brain thinking is illustrated
in Figure 2.2.

Sperry’s split-brain theory held that our habit of using one side of the
brain more than the other influences our problem-solving skills,
physical and mental abilities, as well as our personality traits. In other
words, we tend to possess a dominant and preferred thinking style.
These preferred thinking styles can be categorised as either left-brain
(convergent) or right-brain (divergent). The characteristics of each
thinking style are shown in Table 2.1