Future Brain

Most organisations I’ve worked for spend a lot of time planning how to allocate and manage limited resources to generate optimal return. This generally involves how we should invest in technology, manufacturing assets and what market opportunities to pursue. But what if we could expand the capacity of our resources by adopting an approach that helps us to grow what is often the most value creating part of our business, our people.  Dr Jenny Brockis’ book FUTURE BRAIN, simply and approachably outlines the strategies we can utilise, and environments we can create, that can do exactly this for ourselves and our teams.

While in the early section there is little surprising on this topic, ie. eat well, sleep well and exercise your body and mind, Dr Brockis brings a more robust, researched approach than much of the existing literature on this topic I’ve seen.  Dr Brockis also takes time to explain the biological underpinnings of why these factors are so important, and outlines easy ways to improve their performance.  Similarly, the second part covers off the psychological factors that can affect your brains performance such as the impact that stress, focus and mindfulness can have on your brain’s functioning capacity.  Again these explanations are supported with better data than I have previously seen in this area.

The final section I found the most interesting.  Here Dr Brockis connects the concepts outlined in the first two sections and highlights how these factors come together in the workplace to either optimize or reduce our performance, and importantly what you can do about it.  She makes clear connections on how we can foster the right environment for optimal brain functioning, and thus provides a different perspective on creating greater organisational effectiveness.  

The book is very simple and easy to read.  It is approachable, and provides a good overview of the topic. For more detailed information you might need to look elsewhere, but this book provides a good starting point to help optimise your and your team’s mental capabilities.