Talking about the brain is inseparable from these two points: physical and non-physical forms. The physical form can be referred to as the brain structure, while the non-physical form is also called the invisible soul. All are interconnected and complement each other. Psychiatric symptoms in a person may be caused by a problematic brain structure, either due to physical factors or substances that can injure the brain. Then emerges a personality that influences performance.
In the brain, there are 187 billion nerve cells, each of which is comparable to one of today’s most sophisticated computers. That connection determines the typology or character of a person, whether he is calm or emotional, an extreme, lateral or moderate thinker. All that cannot be separated from the three processes occurring in the brain: neuroplasticity, neurogenesis and neural compensation. Uniquely, the signals and characters can be mapped and pictured in the brain.
The emphasis in the above processes should be neuro compensation, defined as a person’s ability to rise after a fall. For example, when we learn to ride a bicycle, we need balance so we can focus and also hope to master it. We relentlessly fall, get up, pedal and fall again. These processes, however, change us from being unable to able. We also develop reflexes when riding it, and eventually, we can ride it easily.
There is no doubt that neuro compensation is mainly determined by two factors: genetics and environment. One way or the other, genetic factors contribute to a person’s character, and the environment enriches that character. People raised in an environment with good leadership, such as by a president, will develop leadership qualities. In contrast, a poor environment also develops poor character. For example, children of the mafias will eventually “join” the ring.
In America, a study was conducted to analyze voters’ tendencies, according to their brain structure. The results showed that there are differences in brain structure between those who choose the Democratic party, mostly the lower-class society, and the Republican party, mostly the middle to the upper class. In fact, the tendency of choice can last for seven generations unless environmental factors “successfully” change it.
In Indonesia, neuroleadership can be used to analyze political tendencies based on the habits of the brain. Neuroplasticity is expected to occur and develop a healthier and growing brain.
Neuroleadership is a renewed term for how leaders utilize their minds and thoughts. It is about how leaders prioritize their minds from all forms of emotion, egoism, partiality, extremism and others.
This scientific discipline should be viewed from four angles of truth: philosophical, sociological, juridical and cultural truths. Neuroleadership discusses the truth with academic language and can be answerable.
With neuroleadership, a leader is expected to keep moving, growing and developing to become better, day by day. In psychology, the term positive psychology is very familiar. That is what neuroleadership strives for: seeing things from a place of strength.
Neuroleadership becomes a new enlightenment, one that does not leave humanity, because the aim of leadership is love and grace. No leadership should be misleading. Therefore, leadership based on a healthy brain becomes a new need and hope.
In the future, the world will face uncertainty, changes, complexity and ambiguity. That is when neuroleadership plays a role in maintaining sanity and stability in Indonesia. It all starts with individuals whose (emotional) brains have been refined.
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Indonesian leaders are those who have comprehensive capacities, so they are willing to take risks and be accountable. For that, we need to choose the right leader. “Right” in this context means a leader with a growth and transformational mindset.
Do not choose a leader who has a fixed mindset and is resistant to change. It is even more perilous to choose a leader with a destructive mind, ignorant of the culture, history, philosophy and social conditions of the Indonesian nation. This leader will eventually revert to an authoritarian leadership style.
Lastly, neuroleadership is a model of when phenomena can no longer explain complexity. A model of a leader needs someone calm, able to solve various problems, and with the capacity to make changes for the better, as demanded. Therefore, the Indonesian people can be proud of having an exemplary leader. That is neuroleadership engraved within themselves.