In Praise of Middle Age Brains

From an HBR blog today (Barbara Strauch), this is really encouraging for those of us who realize our brains work if anything better after 2 or 3 decades of professional life in many important ways.

No reason this can't and doesn't apply in full force in the CI space. I have found it to be true allowing me also to easily span multiple industries.

"By midlife our brains have developed a whole host of talents that are, in the end, just as well suited to navigating the modern, complex workplace. As we age, we get better at seeing the possible.

Younger brains, predictably, are set up to focus on the negative and potential trouble. Older brains, studies show, often reach solutions faster, in part, because they focus on what can be done.

By the time we reach middle age, millions of patterns have been established in our brains, and these connected pathways provide invaluable perspective — even when it's subconscious. For instance, some middle-aged managers I've spoken with talked about how solutions seem to "pop'' into their heads "like magic.''

It doesn't come from magic, of course, but from the very real — and often unappreciated — talents of our middle-aged brains."

Thanks Barbara.

http://tinyurl.com/yhso9qx