William Edward "Ned" Herrmann (1922 - 1999) was an American researcher and author of creativity, known for his research in creative thinking. He is considered the "father of brain dominance technology".
At Cornell University, Herrmann graduated in physics and music in the class of 1943. He continued to study at New York University.
After graduation, Hermann became manager of Education in Administration at General Electric (GE) in 1970. His main responsibility was to oversee the design of the training program; specifically, maintaining or increasing an individual's productivity, motivation and creativity.
In 1978, Herrmann created the "Herrmann Survey Form for Participants". He profiled the thinking styles and learning preferences of the workshop participants, according to the brain dominance theory. This quickly evolved into a theory of stable brain quadrants, regardless of the anatomy facts of the brain, each with its own "genius" characteristic. He developed the " Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument " (HBDI), the Participant Survey punctuated and analyzed and designed the Applied Creative Thinking Workshop (ACT), which remains one of the main tools for personality assessment and the topic of a corporate training workshop.
Herrmann's contributions earned him worldwide recognition. In 1992, he received the Distinguished Contribution to Human Resource Development Award from the American Training and Development Society (ASTD). In 1993, he was elected president of the American Creativity Association.
Herrmann was a pioneer in exploring, explaining and expanding the understanding of the brain in close-up as a system of four quadrants . He was one of the first to verify, through tests, how individuals use or prefer one, two, three or all four possible brain quadrants. His approach to brain balance was to encourage experiments, use and exercise of weaker quadrants through live games, in person, small group processes and discussions. This evolved into more and better ideas about the total brain.
He spent 30 years, approximately between 1964 and 1996, exploring and explaining the Herrmann Cerebral Dominance Instrument to teach, learn, increase self-understanding and enhance creative thinking skills, both at the individual and corporate level.
Ned Herrmann's theory classifies styles of thought in relation to the dominant brain. People dominated by the left side are described as analytical, logical and sequential. Those dominated by the right side are more intuitive, based on values and non-linear.
According to Ned Herrmann, people have four basic behavioral styles and in general, there is a predominance of one of them in each person, although everyone has a little of each. The predominant style influences the way people think and behave in their daily lives.
There is no better style than the other, and we could say that in a team, the ideal is that there would be members with a predominance of All styles. The important thing is to be aware of your personal characteristics and understand the characteristics of colleagues, to avoid and alleviate conflicts that may result from these differences.
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