By TONY BUZAN                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
The science of the brain is truly in its infancy. Ninety-five per cent                                                                                
of what we now know about the human brain has been discovered in the                                                                                  
last five years. The brain itself has only existed in its present form                                                                                
for some 45 thousand years-a mere twinkling of an eye in the context                                                                                  
of evolutionary history. And it is only in the last 500 years that                                                                                    
scientists have come to recognize that our mental skills are located in                                                                               
our heads.                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
Learning organization or extinct organization                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
The business world is swinging irrevocably from a manufacturing                                                                                       
orientation to one where information processing and systems, creative                                                                                 
and strategic thinking, and other intelligence-driven factors are the                                                                                 
norm.                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
Where manual labour and routine activity once ruled, brain power and                                                                                  
creativity now begin to reign supreme. Brain power is the new driving                                                                                 
force in the accumulation of wealth.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
In these contexts, consider the following:                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
1. On average executives spend 30 per cent of their time reading and sorting through information, 80 per cent of which is for                         
                                                                                                                                                      
2. Executives also spend on average 20 per cent of their time solving problems and thinking creatively, and over 90 per cent                          
                                                                                                                                                      
3. Executives spend 20-30 per cent of their time communicating in writing or in speech, and most find it arduous, distasteful                         
                                                                                                                                                      
4. Companies that spend one million dollars on training lose $900,000 of that investment within two weeks of the completion o                         
                                                                                                                                                      
The fact that we use a small percentage of our brains contains some                                                                                   
interesting and apparent contradictions: in the 1950s the proportion                                                                                  
was thought to be about 40 per cent. Each decade has seen a dramatic                                                                                  
call in this estimate, from 40, down to 30 then to 20, then to 10 in                                                                                  
the 1980s and today 1 per cent or even lower. This might suggest that                                                                                 
people are becoming more stupid rather than smarter. But the reason is                                                                                
that recent research has revealed the human brain to be much more                                                                                     
powerful than was once thought. These findings tell us that there are                                                                                 
immense opportunities for personal and organizational development.                                                                                    
Professor Anokhin, Pavlov's most brilliant student and one of the                                                                                     
world's renowned neuro-physiologists, declared that "no human being                                                                                   
exists who can use all of the potential of his brain. This is why we                                                                                  
don't accept any pessimistic estimates of the limits of the human                                                                                     
brain. It is unlimited."                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
The past few years have seen an increasing number of traditional market                                                                               
leaders being toppled by more mentally literate and creative thinking                                                                                 
newcomers. It is no coincidence that the leading companies are those                                                                                  
who spend the highest proportion of their income on developing their                                                                                  
employees, and it is similarly no coincidence that the leaders among                                                                                  
these leaders are those who are "front ending" such learning - teaching                                                                               
their employees to think, create, remember, concentrate, plan and                                                                                     
communicate before they embark on any other personnel development.                                                                                    
This ensures that all subsequent training is absorbed and applied                                                                                     
appropriately and at least two times more effectively than on average,                                                                                
and also makes it more likely that all employees in the corporation                                                                                   
will daily be using their vast intellectual resources to gain                                                                                         
competitive advantage.                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
To dramatize this competitive advantage, consider the following                                                                                       
scenario: your own company is suddenly cloned, and there are two                                                                                      
identical organizations, with identical staff, identical buildings,                                                                                   
identical equipment and identical objectives. Your current                                                                                            
organization remains as it is, while the new "twin" is identical in all                                                                               
ways with the one exception that every member of the staff is deeply                                                                                  
skilled in learning how to learn, in memory function, in creative and                                                                                 
strategic thinking, and in communication skills on all levels.                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
At this very moment, the two organizations go into direct competition                                                                                 
with the ultimate goal of completely dominating the market. For your                                                                                  
own amusement and entertainment, jot down the advantages you think each                                                                               
organization would have over the other, which organization you think                                                                                  
would win, and how long you think it would take the winning                                                                                           
organization to accomplish victory.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
In surveys done over the last five years, 100 per cent of executives                                                                                  
and managers chose the mentally literate organization, and predicted                                                                                  
complete victory within five years. The reality in the open market                                                                                    
place is now beginning to reflect this scenario.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
The author is the originator of Mind Mapping(r) and the concept of mental                                                                             
literacy. He is scheduled to appear live in Malaysia in September 2003                                                                                
to share how organizations can tap learning and thinking processes for                                                                                
better results. Call MIM Customer Service at 03-21654611, e-mail                                                                                      
enquiries@mim.edu or visit www.mim.edu for more details.