As most of you more recent alumni know, CIMBA has placed considerable importance on decision making and problem solving skills. But not in the way in which an individual manager or leader actually makes decisions or solves problems; rather, in the way in which the individual communicates his or her thinking process to others and then involves them in the thinking process. Conversely, much of cognitive neuroscience has focused on the process by which an individual uses his or her brain to make decisions and solve problems. 

In "Why Choose This Book? How We Make Decisions," Professor Read Montague (Professor of Neuroscience, Director of Human Neuroimaging Lab, Baylor College of Medicine) explores this issue by considering the biological roots of decision making and the impact those roots have had on brain function and efficiency. Importantly, he discovers how intensely our decisions are intertwined with and affected by our deep-seated, hardwired, and largely unconscious values and goals.  

In this sense, the book provides a good jumping off point - from how "I" make decisions to how (and perhaps, why) I communicate that thinking process so that "we" can make decisions. The values and goals bases for decisions as explained by Prof. Montague are very consistent with CIMBA's basic beliefs development and its underlying philosophy. Having a clear and conscious understanding of one's basic beliefs or values is so fundamental to a leader/manager. Such an understanding allows the leader/manager to more effectively build the "shared-mind-map" of values that define the overall nature and direction of organizations and other social groups in which he or she leads, manages, or participates - and forms the foundation upon which those organizations and groups make decisions going forward.