One of the reasons that our organizations do not leverage the power of dreams is that they don’t know how to dream. If the organization is to survive, the thinking goes, it must carry out its mission while carefully managing its budgets and resources. Fiscal responsibility frequently requires careful planning, risk-avoidance, and control systems that keep the organization on an even keel. To achieve fiscal responsibility, the organization hires people with strong planning skills.
Planners are analytical, logical, critical-thinking people who are skilled at evaluating a proposed plan of action and identifying potential risks to the company. They are the financial people who make sure that the company remains solvent and attractive to investors. The engineers who work so hard to make sure products are safe and reliable. They are the lawyers who anticipate potential legal actions and take steps to eliminate the risks. These planners who, early in their careers, show these types of strong critical-thinking skills in organizations are often promoted. After all, they are protecting the organization, keeping it viable. As a result, critical thinking becomes the preferred thinking style in organizations and the best of these planners become the leaders of the organization.
Scientists doing research on brain functions tell us that planners do much of their critical thinking on the left sides of their brains. They are logical, analytical, sequential thinkers who think one step at a time and envision the future that same way. But scientists remind us that we all have another side to our brains that thinks differently – the right side. On the right side of our brains, we think not in incremental steps but in leaps. Our right brains want to see beyond a series of steps to see “the big picture.” Creative thinking happens on the right side, as does some of the processing of our emotions. If scientists could locate an imagination, it would be on the right side of the brain.
People who rely heavily on the thinking skills on the right sides of their brains I call dreamers. I’m a dreamer. And I’m here to tell you today that most organizations do not appreciate their dreamers. They are a source of untapped potential. And it is a shame because dreamers often sit in meetings and, in their right brains, imagine new solutions to problems, ways to overcome obstacles, and ways to pursue new opportunities that the organization has never considered. So what is the problem with that? The problem is that the solutions are often longer-term, and organizations like instant, short-term solutions. Or the solutions may require new funding or investments, which the budget never seems to be able to permit. Or the creative solution requires a change in the way business is done, which is always a deal-breaker. So most of the creative suggestions offered by dreamers in meetings are met with a roll of the eyes and a polite but emphatic, “Yeah Doug, dream on.”
Over time, dreamers realize they should probably just come to work with the left sides of their brains and leave the rights at home. So dreamers in most organizations have gone underground, afraid that their creative ideas will be seen as impractical, unfeasible, or even silly. And dreamers know that, when it comes time to reorganize or downsize the organization, the dreamers and their creative thinking skills are tougher to justify than a critical-thinking planner.
But there is hope for dreamers. Organizations, over the past decade or so, have discovered something called “innovation.” They look at the tremendous growth experienced by companies like Amazon, Apple, Starbucks, IKEA, 3M, and Google. A closer look at that growth reveals that it is often unconventional thinking that leads to new growth, the creation of new value in the marketplace. And this unconventional thinking is coming from dreamers, people who use the right sides of their brains. Now CEOs everywhere are looking for right-brainers. Where ARE those dreamers when we need them?
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