Brain Scans Show Entrepreneurs Do Think Differently

The brain engages primarily in two approaches to problem-solving: exploration and exploitation. One involves seeking alternatives, the other focuses on harvesting what you already know.

A joint research project by the neuroscience department and business school at MIT found that entrepreneurs were quite different from the rest of the population. Were they more exploitative or more exploratory? One can imagine rational and passionate arguments on both sides of that question, probably based on ones biases and experiences with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurialism.

The answer, however, was not what many expected. What differentiated entrepreneurs was their almost equal use of both sides of the brain, meaning that they pursued both exploration and exploitation to achieve their goals.

The implication appears to be that the creative, competitive and logical impetus for business success demands an open, wide-ranging approach to problem-solving. Raising money, creating new products or services and making them ready for market requires multiple skills - and a tolerance of alternatives that might not originate with the individual in charge. This model supports a focus on success over dogma or doctrine.

While the research was designed to understand entrepreneurs specifically, the findings may be useful to managers in any organization who seek success in a complex and competitive economic environment. JL

Anya Kamenetz reports in Fast Company:

A brain scan study at MIT suggests that entrepreneurs are more likely to use both sides of their brains when making decisions. Your widgets are selling slow and steady. But the kids are demanding widgets with Wi-Fi. Should you bet the farm on a new product line or concentrate on incremental improvements in widget production?

Our brains have two basic problem-solving strategies. Exploitation means taking advantage of what you already know, concentrating deeply on a current task to optimize performance and efficiency. Exploration means taking a step back from the task at hand to allow your mind to roam flexibly among alternatives. Leadership in the age of flux calls for "ambidextrous" minds that can switch back and forth between the two strategies when called for. A new study from MIT suggests that one component of this ambidextrousness involves tapping your creative and logical sides at the same time.

Researchers from the neuroscience department and business school collaborated to scan the brains of 63 subjects, divided between self-described entrepreneurs and managers, when engaged in a game. The game involved virtual slot machines; to maximize returns you had to decide when to keep playing the same machine (an exploitative choice) or try a new one (an explorative choice).

The entrepreneurs in the study, perhaps surprisingly, weren't any more likely to engage in exploration. But when they did, they were more likely to activate both the right and left sides of their frontal cortex. Managers mainly stuck to the left side, which is associated with logic and structured thinking. The right side, on the other hand, is associated with creativity and emotion.

Successful decision-making isn't necessarily about doing more exploration than exploitation. It's in the timing--knowing when to shift between the two forms of thinking. A question for further research is whether entrepreneurs' brains function this way because of the kind of decisions they're used to making, or whether people with these more coherent brains are more likely to end up as entrepreneurs. “It’s a nature versus nurture question," said Professor Maurizio Zollo, the lead author of the study.