Ben Morton explains how leaders need to balance task focus with people focus using two brain networks: the Central Executive Network for execution and the Default Mode Network for empathy and creative thinking. Disconnecting isn't a luxury but a neurological requirement for sustained performance and emotional intelligence.
Finding time to disconnect and schedule activities that allow you to come up with your very best ideas and breakthrough solutions isn't just an indulgence or something to do when you have the time. It's a neurological performance-enhancing leadership necessity. Fundamentally, leadership is about two things. Tasks and people. The Central Executive Network helps us manage the tasks. The Default Mode Network helps us to understand the people. And if we live permanently in task mode, yes, we might gain some short-term efficiency, but we start to lose perspective. We lose the space needed for creative problem solving. And we reduce our capacity to process emotion, both ours and other people's.
