Institutional thinking is Old Brain thinking

We have described Old Brained thinking as negative, grumpy and out-of-touch. Others use different terms to describe the same phenomenon.

I was struck today by how, Thomas Power, founder of Ecademy, defined Old Brained thinking as: Closed, Selective and Controlling. Except he wasn't defining Old Brain thinking as such but Institutional thinking. However, it amounts to the same thing; for Institution read Old Brain.

Thomas Power goes on to describe Network thinking. Networks are Open, Accept Everything, Random and Supportive. This, to me, is also a good proxy for Young Brain thinking.

So, what's this telling us? Big institutions (schools, charities, health services, companies, governments) have Old Brained cultures, almost by definition (for reasons of governance and public interest, for example). However, the world and society more specifically is evolving to a more networked place (see Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and LinkedIn). Since the world is becoming Young Brained, shouldn't you too?

Read our book 'You Can Be As Young As You Think' to find out how. And watch Thomas Power on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4IpLo0rKkE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eecademy%2Ecom%2Faccount%2Ephp%3Fid%3D8&feature=player_embedded