The following is a overview of my history with STYLE INSTRUMENTS since 1976
I first became aware of
Sperry and Bogan's SPLIT-BRAIN work with 9 epileptic patients in 1976.
Then when I began my
doctoral program I became aware of many different thinking styles,
communication styles, leading styles, and many other STYLES models from a to z.
In 1980 I first met New
Herrmann and some of the people who were directly or indirectly connected with
him through his position as director of management development at General
Electric. I can't specifically attending a session of his. I must have because
I had heard during that week at CPSI that he was going to be holding a
week-long symposium he was called the WHOLE-BRAIN SYMPOSIUM in Key West. Also I
heard that attendance was by personal invitation only from one of the 26 or so
core group.
That week I presented a
multi-media presentation several times about the Osborn-Parnes CPS Process and
Ned attended one and stayed after to talk about it. I mentioned that I had
heard about his Symposium and that I had heard that it was by invitation and
all the invitations were already given out.
Ned said: "I still
have an invitation and I am inviting you."
I went as the only one who
was not a published author,
researcher or successful
consultant. I was a lowly doctoral student only 2 years into his Ph.D. program.
Sid Parnes, Paul Torrance,
George Prince co-founder and owner of Synectics, Tudor Rickards, Stan
Grys....(CCL), Dorothy Sisk Director of the US Office of Gifted Education, and
about 40 others.
and me.
Over the next couple years
I completed my proposal and became a PhD candidate, did my study of the
matching of learning and teaching styles to improve learning using Ned
Herrmann's newly revised HBDI (4 quadrants instead of a linear model). While
doing the required study of the literature for chapter 2 is when I learned much
about the history of style models, dominance, human difference from the fields
of education, psychology and other sciences.
Brain Domiannce,
Right-Brain/Left-Brain were HOT, HOT, HOT topics in education and training from
the Arts to Zookeeping. You couldn't open a magazine or a journal or buy a book
and not see reference to or use of RIGHT-BRAIN/LEFT-BRAIN DOMINANCE.
At the same time in 1981
(backing up 3 years) in the Fall after Ned's Whole Brain Symposium in Key West
I attended his 2nd HBDI Certification Program where he showed slide shows,
overhead presentations, movies providing the LATEST proof of the findings use
EKG and other scientific methods.
Ned had been collecting
articles, books, movies about Whole Brain and Brain Dominance or as it was
called Hemisphercy then. He had gotten to know Betty Edwards and several others
who had written HOT HOT HOT best seller books using the terms.
Tony Buzan had published
his USING BOTH SIDES OF THE BRAIN and several other people had also. I have a
couple dozen of those books on my shevles and file folders filled with articles
from popular magazines, scientific journals, educational journals and
magazines.
During Ned's 2nd
Certification workshop I happen to sit next to Richard "Dick" Bolles
author of WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PARACHUTE?, one of the continually best selling
non-fiction books even after 30 years still.
He kept mumbling about the
scientific studies that rebuffed or questioned the validity, reliability and
accuracy or reality of what the Corpus Collosum studies and the accuracy of the
theories claiming that brain localization of brain functions was not truly
accurate.
During my review of the
literature I ended up reading papers, articles and books as far back as the
Greeks in 200 or 300 BC with Hippocrates, father of medicine who wrote about
the 4 types of Greeks. He called them the 4 Tempuraments. Also I ended up
reading as far back among Asian literature to the I Ching where the Ying-Yang
was talked about thousands of years ago.
Between the Greeks and the
Chinese and modern times I discovered papers from the Renaissance (articles
about them or that reference them) where studies were done of a army solider
who had lived after having had a spear pierce his helmet on the right side of
his head/brain and lived for many years seemingly normal. Autopsy was illegal
at that time in history yet a surgeon did open up his skull after he died and
discovered that he had no right hemisphere.
There were other similar
yet scattered papers or anecdotal examples until the 1900s when the first split
brain research was do on mice, rats, monkeys until Sperry, Bogan, Levy,
Gazzaniga (still practicing...you can hear him talk on a BIG IDEA interview if
you want. I will send you the link) got permission to do their experimental
work with 9 people suffering from epilepsy who agreed to have their corpus
callosums split.
Voila...the beginning of
the famous SPLIT BRAIN research which kicked off the following 5 decades of
teachers, trainers, speakers, consultants using the WHOLE BRAIN terminology and
varied models they created or copied from hundreds of others.
Back to Richard Bolles.
Throughout the 3 days during Ned's Certification program he continually called
reference to scientific studies that challenged or contradicted or disproved
what Sperry, Bogan, Levy and Gazzaniga claimed their researche had proved.
Dick kept raising his hand
and suggesting and probably TELLING Ned to use the WHOLE BRAIN references as an
analogy, a metaphor not SCIENTIFIC FACT.
Between 1982 and 1985 I
made a variety of speeches, presentations or led several workshops that either
were from scientific associations or my audiences included scientists who would
challenge me when I tried to imply or say that WHOLE BRAIN THEORIES were
factually proven, they were scientifically accurate.
Also I continued to read
articles that challenged the validiity, reliability, accuracy of the Sperry,
Bogan, Levy and Gazzaniga research techniques/studies.
More articles claiming to
have scientifically PROVEN the Brain function Localization theories were also
published.
This has continued up
through today.
Both extremes of articles,
studies, books are being published.
Some who claim matter of
fact on one extreme.
Others who claim matter of
fact on the complete opposite.
Welcome to the world of
scientific research.
The 4 years of studying to
earn the right to place 3 letters after my name: Ph.D. corrupted and changed
how I think...
I question everything.
I question every study.
My meister leber (master
teacher) and Kobus' and a many others' E. Paul Torrance used the Whole Brain
subject as a premise, a model, useful terminology to help to explain to
teachers that chiildren and teachers have different styles of LEARNING and
TEACHING and that we can improve the amount of learning, intention, attention,
retention if we consider the differences in our teaching.
That is what my
dissertation study demonstrated using Ned's brand new 4 quadrant Herrman Brain
Dominance Instrument far beyond the usually acceptable statistical measurement
levels.
To me it was common sense.
If I only speak in French
and my Students are Hungarian and only speak in Hungarian for one class and I
speak in Hungarian, even though it is my second language, for a second class of
students who are Hungarian and only know that language the second class will
understand more, pay more attention (probably) and probably learn more.
After I left teaching at
the University of Georgia in 1984 and began speaking, teaching, training,
consulting full-time I stopped CLAIMING that the studies, the papers, the books
were absolutely correct.
Instead I began using the
WHOLE BRAIN theories as that....
THEORIES
The general public does not
read scientific studies. They do not read the opposing viewpoints or studies.
They simply DO NOT GIVE A
CRAP.
The general public (ranging
from truck drivers to CEOS) either accepts that there MAY BE SOME TRUTH to the
Whole Brain theories or they don't.
The general public who
accepts it like the FUN LABELS....
You're a RIGHT BRAIN WEIRDO
You're an ANAL LEFT BRAIN
ASSHOLE!
For me....
due to mutliple variables
people eventually develop different styles of or prefaces of (unknown or not
known)...
thinking
learning
communicating
leading
working in teams or hating
to work in teams
creative thinking
and probably every other
human task or activity.
I created my M.I.N.D.
Design questionnaire after studying 300 different instruments and exercises
using a randomized mix of them with 300 UGA students that came from classes of
students I made presentations to about the usefulness of knowing our thinking,
communicating, learning and teaching styles and matching them to improve the
amount we learn or understand.
After using MBTI, HBDI,
Kolb, Gregroc, KAI and many others with students, professionals and many
different audiences I wanted to find a way to get the point across....
We are different
We will benefit by
considering that we are differnt
We will succeed more often
if we accept, learn from, honor and respect our differences.
and I wanted to do that in
a 20 minute presentation at a Rotary, Lions, Civitan or any other luncheon or
dinner meeting.
So when I was walking one
morning in Italy in 1982 asking myself "HOW THE HELL TO DO THIS in 20
minutes or less" I had the AHA! of why do we have to ask 100, 120, 200
questions.
All the tests, quizzes or
models only ask (my study of 300 showed this later) 4 questions...
Are you or do you think you
are a/an...
1. rational, logical
thinker who proves ideas are accurate or highly probable
2. exploratory thinker or
dreamer who comes up with endless ideas
3. feeling focus person who
prefers that people come to concensus and work happily together
4. systematic,
rule-following, step-by-step person who uses accepted, published facts,
theories, systems or formulas without ever questionning or doubting the
"EXPERTS".
That day I created my first
8 questions and used them that evening to give a 2 hour workshop on BRAIN
DOMINANCE to many of the students and faculty in the UGA Cortona Trael Abroad Summer
Program and a few citizens from Cortona who came too.
Using Whole Brain terms,
model gives people a simple model, that is easy to remember to help them deal
with the complexity of differencs in peopls.
Hope this is helpful.
