Most of us know that the left and right brain functions are different. We are often told that the left brain is the logical brain, controlling logic, math, and language. The right brain, on the other hand, is the creative brain, controlling visual images, especially the ability to recognize faces. In addition, the right brain has a profound impact on

But when it comes to human-specific advanced abilities like language, the division of labor in the brain is quite complex. When you learn a new language, two areas in the brain are critical to this activity, one called Wernicke’s area and the other called Broca’s area, which together make up our language center. For most of us, they are usually

If you are a “left-hander,” are you a “right-brained thinker”? Although this statement seems logical, our current research cannot confirm it. This is actually very complicated. The popular saying that “left-handers are left-brain dominant” actually comes from misinformation. The actual research results say: 95-99% of “right-handers” have their language centers in the left brain, but at the same time about

To be honest this story is one of many motivations that touched me to write this book. Similar stories happen every day in every corner of the world. That designer was a very good designer and that CEO who could control a large company should also be an experienced manager. And at that time the “user experience” brought by the

Gary Pisano a professor at Harvard Business School proposed a framework for classifying innovation. He divided innovation into four categories according to technology and business model. He called innovations that are relatively small in technology and business model Routine Innovation while innovations that are relatively large in technology Radical Innovation those that are relatively large in business model Disruptive Innovation

Psychologists Keith Stanovich and Richard West first proposed the concepts of System 1 and System 2. They believe that our decision-making system has two systems. The operation of System 1 is unconscious and fast using intuition not very brain-consuming relying on emotions and instincts and completely under autonomous control. It uses so-called heuristic judgments which are a psychological shortcut when

People say that Steve Jobs was a genius and there is a reason for that. He almost single-handedly lifted the curtains of two eras: the PC era and the mobile Internet era. The Apple II released in 1977 was Jobs’ first product to amaze the world. The success of this product also directly triggered IBM’s attention to PCs thus allowing

So apart from these two points do Right-Brained Organizations have any other characteristics? Yes these organizations usually have some other characteristics some more macro some more detailed including people in their organizations and methods of doing things. These characteristics at least in terms of frequency of occurrence will be somewhat different from traditional enterprises but they are not iconic features

“User-centric” is the soil of “The Right-Brained Organization”. Without “user-centric”, “The Right-Brained Organization” cannot take root and sprout. But soil is not only capable of cultivating one kind of plant. In fact, “user-centric” is not exclusive to “The Right-Brained Organization”, and I even suspect that it is most likely to have originated from “left-brained organizations”. I don’t know who first

A particularly typical example is Xiaomi. This company started with an Android system UI skin and then launched products such as mobile phones and tablets. Subsequently, they became unstoppable, and Xiaomi’s product line covered computers, home appliances, wearable devices, cars, robots, and even various daily necessities such as shoes, suitcases, toys, and towels. Some consulting companies have criticized Xiaomi for

Human civilization has a history of several thousand years, but if you compare the scientific and technological creations of these thousands of years with the new scientific and technological creations in the past hundred years, it is obvious that more have been created in the past hundred years. And what is more obvious is that the new technologies invented in

In 2011, prior to his passing, Steve Jobs presided over the launch of iPad 2. During the event, he left behind a memorable quote that was later widely circulated: “I said this before, but I think it’s worth repeating: It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that

The term “user experience” is crucial for companies, but it’s easy to be confused about what it really means. Is it a feeling or an experience? Is it design or service? Is it art or commerce? In a company, whose responsibility is it? Is it the designer, the product manager, or the customer service, sales, or operations team? Everyone has

So, what exactly is the “user experience”? Before revealing the answer, let’s go back to the source. Experience comes from our brains. Our understanding of the world is actually a mapping of the external world by our own brains. We interact with the external world based on our “minds” and make decisions. But this interaction relies on “mental models”. In

The transformation of human “mental models” takes time. In the past, when technology did not develop rapidly, this problem was not prominent. We could slowly persuade customers to change their original “mental models” and accept new “mental models”. However, as technology accelerates, the problem becomes more and more obvious: human “mental models” cannot keep up with the speed of technological

This is the real reason why “user experience” is so important in today’s business innovation. “User experience” design uses the “intuitive system” to help users’ “minds” stay on the right path. It’s like the signs you see in the subway that tell you how to transfer and how to find the exit. In the field of “user experience design,” there

Obviously, the core problem that “user experience design” solves is the decision-making process in the user’s “mental model.” Anything related to user decision-making is within the scope of “user experience design” considerations. In this way, we can distinguish in practice what is related to “user experience” and what is not. For example, technical implementation is both related to and distinct

Structure determines behavior. To foster innovation, companies must design organizational structures that incubate it. Innovation is driven by innovation. The Right-Brained Organization is an innovative organizational structure. But innovation is counter-traditional. Becoming a Right-Brained Organization requires the courage to be counter-traditional. How much courage do we have to be counter-traditional? If we’re only countering other people’s traditions, it’s relatively easy

Let’s start with something relatively easy. Close your eyes and imagine yourself flying. What do you see? Blue skies and white clouds, or rows of instrument panels? Either way, your right brain is already at work. Imagination is incredibly useful – it brings us emotions. It’s one of the core ways of thinking for The Right-Brained Organization. Right-Brained Organizations use

Similarly, imagination isn’t just a way of thinking for senior managers of The Right-Brained Organization – it can also be applied at every level of work in the company. For example, many innovative companies use the “user persona” tool to depict their users. This method was first proposed by interaction designer Alan Cooper in 1998. The term is also often

Intuition isn’t right or wrong but feeling and responding. This principle is simple but not easy to master. It requires repeated and repeated practice. In fact this is one of the biggest differences between learning “right-brain abilities” and “left-brain abilities.” Most training for “left-brain abilities” is relatively easy – they only need to be repeated dozens of times or even

Not only that, in traditional management textbooks we’ve heard countless times things like: “If you can’t quantify it you can’t improve it” or “If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it” or “If there’s no evaluation management won’t happen.” I don’t deny that this makes sense. But for most people numbers aren’t a good way to manage. Instead The

Earlier we mentioned Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation. In his famous book “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” he systematically expounded this idea. At the time we praised his ideas for influencing the development of management and a large number of companies. Indeed his work has had a huge impact including Steve Jobs Bill Gates and many other entrepreneurs who highly praised this book.

“Sustaining innovation” is actually quite common in business – we often keep improving our original products. These improved products are usually still aimed at the original market or value center mainly providing higher value to customers through technical improvements to existing products. These improvements include appearance functional features user experience or cost etc. Typical “sustaining innovations” include Microsoft releasing a

This diagram shows how “disruptive innovation” products gradually replace “sustaining innovation” products but that’s not all. More importantly there’s an invisible force on this diagram. This force is hiding in the top right corner of the diagram so it’s also called the “Northeast Corner Traction.” It’s this “mysterious” force that pulls innovation. Why do we have to keep innovating why

Even without considering management decisions. Imagine if you were the product manager of this company at the time. If you have the opportunity to choose one project between two projects. The “sustaining innovation” product development project can make your year-end performance look good and even bring a lot of performance bonuses. While the “disruptive innovation” project is highly innovative but

Christensen’s contribution to the development of business model theory and enterprise operations is a milestone. But even so Christensen has only solved half the problem. Christensen pointed out that an important manifestation of “disruptive innovation” is low price. But this sentence cannot be reversed – we cannot say that all low-priced products are “disruptive innovation.” Therefore what is “disruptive innovation”?

Now we know that in traditional organizations it is those “left-brain factors” such as firm “strategy” clear “market share” and “profit” goals and rigorous “scoring models” that hinder “disruptive innovation.” Behind these “aloof” management methods are numbers especially financial data. In traditional organizations the reasons behind various tasks in enterprises are usually financial contributions. This is not entirely wrong to

However those familiar with “systems thinking” know that things must be reversed and the forces that drive development will eventually often become forces that hinder development. As this book has been emphasizing the accelerated development of technology has also led the value assessment system centered on “money” to collapse step by step. This problem not only occurs in the social

Another reason is that the types of value creation in the market have changed. The development of productivity driven by technology has generally ensured the production of goods that sustain human life. Today’s global poverty and other social problems are essentially social distribution problems not caused by insufficient production capacity. For example on the one hand children from poor families

Time is the truth of the business world. Time is our only truly scarce resource. Therefore it is a “currency” more precious than gold. A person’s life is actually a countdown. If you study the legal sanctions of human society you will find that no matter which race which country whether they start with fines corporal punishment or other means

Zhuangzi was a great thinker in ancient China. His work, the “Zhuangzi”, contains many magical stories. One of the famous stories in his work is about a huge fish named Kun that can transform into a giant bird called Peng. Long ago, there was a huge fish named Kun who lived in the Eastern Sea. Kun was so big that

At the same time, another event also affected the later development of Apple. The success of the Apple II had led to almost tenfold growth in Apple’s sales performance in its early years. So many people advised Jobs that he was a college dropout and the company was growing so fast that he should find someone who really understood management

Microsoft’s transformation was the same. When Nadella became Microsoft’s third CEO, he had to prop up a crumbling building. Nadella realized that what Microsoft really needed was a cultural change, from a bureaucratic culture of a large company to the innovative culture that Microsoft had in its early days. He was smart and chose to change, but he didn’t choose

Timing is very important for change. This is difficult in itself. But today, the turbulent outside world often leaves us with no shortage of opportunities. Once we see an opportunity, we should decisively press the green “start” button. But we should make this “start ceremony” as “exaggerated” as possible. When pushing for change, Nadella had Microsoft’s senior management imagine a

For most “left-brained organizations” in the process of transforming into “The Right-Brained Organization,” the most urgent need is to shift to a “user-centered” thinking mode and understand the user’s “mental model.” Therefore, leaders will ask their subordinates to do “user research.” But often this is a “unfunded mandate.” The so-called “unfunded mandate” originally meant that the legislature passed a law

Forty years after the reform and opening up, China’s economy has risen to second place in the world. Chinese companies are also increasingly going abroad and stepping onto the global competitive stage. But overall, Chinese companies are often large but not strong, with relatively few original innovations, especially truly world-changing disruptive innovations. We can’t help but ask why Chinese companies

On the issue of cultivating employees’ “right-brain abilities,” the first question we need to answer is: who needs to develop right-brain abilities? In fact, the answer is everyone. But different people will have different training programs. Some people seem to have strong “left-brain abilities,” but in fact their “right-brain abilities” are also strong; they may be disguised “left-brain thinkers.” These

So how do we cultivate both abilities? Faced with the problem of talent cultivation. The traditional human resources department mainly relies on two methods. One way is to train employees. Objectively speaking, training has some value. But in fact, just one or two trainings cannot change people’s behavior. In traditional corporate training, the lecturer teaches in the classroom with flying

Therefore, in the talent cultivation system of “The Right-Brained Organization,” we use another method: “capacity building.” The concept of “capacity building” originated from the last century and gradually gained widespread use this century with the promotion of some international organizations and government agencies. The United Nations is one of the main promoters of the “capacity building” concept. According to these