The Whole Brain® Thinking Model

The most advanced system ever developed to measure and define cognitive diversity.

What is Whole Brain® Thinking?

In today's highly volatile and uncertain climate, the demand for more agile, Whole Brain® Thinking is stronger than ever. The Whole Brain® Thinking Model. presents an advanced representation of the different thinking preferences that are demonstrated in individuals or in organizations.

The metaphoric model has been highly validated over the last 40+ years with more than 2 million leaders and managers worldwide who have completed the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®).

Ned Herrmann, creator of Whole Brain® Thinking

Developed from research conducted by Ned Herrmann while leading Management Education at GE (Crotonville), the Whole Brain® Thinking model is divided into four separate quadrants of thinking, each one different and equal in importance -- and all of which are available to every leader.

Get more information by taking a look at our FAQs page.

A Deeper Dive:
Whole Brain® Thinking

Everybody thinks differently, but few organizations are able to leverage cognitive diversity as a strategic advantage.

The ways individuals think guide how they work. The ways groups of individuals think guide how the teams they form work. The ways that groups of teams think (and work) make or break the companies they work for.

To put it plainly, the success of a business depends on the ability of its management teams to drive communication, innovation, and productivity within and across functions. In 40+ years of working with Fortune 100 clients, we've found that understanding thinking is the key to business-level success.

The Whole Brain^® Model (below) is our time tested framework to decode and harness the cognitive diversity of individuals, teams, and organizations.

What Customers Are Saying about Whole Brain® Thinking:

I have been using Whole Brain® Thinking for my entire career, across many lines of business in different corporations, with leaders from many parts of the world. I have found it be to immediately enlightening and interesting for serious business people. For most, Whole Brain® Thinking applies quickly to business situations to diagnose [challenges] and plan for improvement.

Katie Sterrett

Sr. Director, Leadership Development

Herrmann’s approach to idea generation works because it takes us out of ourselves and our comfort zones and away from how we normally see our brands. And among [the] wacky ideas, some genuine nuggets and a few real gems have appeared for us.

Michael McShane

GM Asia-Pacific

Increased individual responsibility and new leadership competencies are a necessity in our current business environment, and we need to be able to rely on a globally integrated team to get the best business results. Our BBNL program makes management a competitive advantage for IBM - and it's powered by Herrmann.

Rich DeSerio

Manager, Global Design Team