Way back in 1944 Hans had an insight about the extreme male brain (EMB) theory of autism. Here’s what he said…
“The autistic personality is an extreme variant of male intelligence. Even within the normal variation, we find typical sex differences in intelligence …In the autistic individual, the male pattern is exaggerated to the extreme.”
1944 Hans had an idea. It was not until 1991 that his insight reached the English speaking world. And, it took until 1997 for anyone to study, learn, and decide if there was any truth to his controversial theory. Damn.
We humans are biased to our own. Not invented here is a thing. Closed systems are the norm. Ideas become fluent, remember, when given oxygen and shared in the open. Want more creativity and innovation on your team? Shut your judging brain down hard. Open your mind. Learn from all types, especially those unlike you. I just finished my third re-read of Simon Baron-Cohen’s book titled The Essential Difference. The quote above was mostly missed by me the first two reads through. Jumped off the page this time. Slow down. Reflect. Where are biases getting in the way? What types do you have a hard time hearing from? Open up. You and your teams just got better; bitter, not so much. Good.
Live hard. Love harder. Thanks, Hans…
BUILT TO LEAD 