Avoiding Brain Drain

In an excellent book written generally for leaders in Christian organizations—but with applications anywhere—Reggie McNeal stresses the importance of self-management and particularly the need to manage your mental heath. In Practicing Greatness, he lists three “brain killers” that can sap an otherwise effective leader of their mental energy:

• Negative People. Leaders need to be aware that when the allow themselves to be consumed by negative people (who seem inclined to seek them out), they allow precious mental, emotional, and spiritual energy to be drained off from other leadership pursuits. He suggests, “creating a mental boundary” and adopting “a strategy of surrounding yourself with positive people.”

• Disorganization. Disorganization is a major brain drain. Not only does it consume time (“it’s right here—somewhere”) but it also raises anxiety (“what am I forgetting?”), which is another major cause of brain drain. The idea here is not to get your desk completely clean or that you match the organizational skills of someone who has a great propensity for this. You just want to defend against having a level of disorganization that creates a brain drain.

• Tendency to second-guess decisions. Depending on personality and cognitive style, leaders need differing amounts of information and lead times in order to make decisions. But once decisions are made, the best leaders practice little second guessing. “Would I have made the same decision with the same information I had at the time?” is a good question for leaders to ask themselves when tempted to second-guess. If the answer is yes, then the leader can move on. If the answer is no, then the issue is to find a better way to make decisions.