Whole Brain Thinking

Sir Ken Robinson recommends Whole Brain thinking tools!

Neil France — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:35:04 +0000

I have long been a fan of Sir Ken Robinson and if you have yet to be acquainted then look him up on www.ted.com.
On page 99 of his book ‘The Element’ Sir Ken Robinson mentions the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI). In fact in comparing it to Myers Briggs he says ‘I feel more relaxed about this one, because it talks about cognitive preferences in terms that I believe most people would find acceptable’ He goes on to say ‘It doesn’t seek to put people in a box. Instead it tries to show people which of the four brain quadrants they tend to use more often’
Sir Ken obviously hasn’t come across the Neethling Brain Instrument (NBI) Brain profiling and this is probably because HBDI is an American product and Sir Ken now lives in Los Angeles, California.
NBI was created in South Africa by Dr Kobus Neethling who has authored more than 80 books and 9 television series. He has received 10 International Who’s Who Awards and has been cited as one of 2 000 outstanding scholars of the 20th Century. He is the first South African to have received the International Creative Genius Award in 2004 from the International Genius Academy in the USA.

Kobus developed the largest battery of Whole Brain Instruments in the
world, which is currently being used in 30 countries. He also works with major
Corporations, national sporting teams and educational groups around the world.
Kobus is one of the top three speakers in the world on the topics of creativity
and innovation.

Just like Sir Ken, Kobus Neethling is inspirational and they have a similar philosophy.

The majority of people become what they believe. “If you constantly tell a child that he or she is naughty, the child will most likely live up to this label,” says Kobus “If you constantly tell yourself that you will never lose weight, be successful or live to be 100, the chances are that you will not achieve your goals.”

“People never lose their creative abilities but to flourish they must be nurtured. This will ensure that individuals stay creative and achieve success.”

Neil and I are proud to be the principal licensee and distributer throughout the UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the NBI, the most comprehensive battery of whole brain thinking instruments in the world

What is the UK’s creative future?

Neil France — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:17:59 +0000

In his recent blog see http://www.richardgerver.com/blog/ Richard Gerver talks about the index created by the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute. The index ranks nations in terms of the contribution entrepreneurship makes to their overall economic output. A friend of Neil and I is working in China and she tells us that China is changing to a ‘designed in China’ culture backed by new laws just passed. Of the 17 out of the 65 factories set up to target key Western markets she is helping them be more innovative.
My concern is that in this country we are looking back to what worked in Education before and not forward to the future. We seem fixated on how standards are dropping and how the exams are easier. (front page of Daily Mail Wednesday 2nd May 2012 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2137939/A-Levels-GCSEs-HAVE-got-easier-decade-says-qualifications-watchdog.html)’. Well maybe we don’t need young people to learn the same things as we did. Young people need to be able to think on their feet, be creative, develop interpersonal skills. We need to prepare them for a changing future because they won’t be in the same job for 40 years!

I went to a talk by Richard a few years ago, I remember him saying 80% of the jobs available when our new school starters reach adult age do not yet exist because of the rate of technological change.

Most people retiring this year are likely to have been employed by 3-5 organisations. By the time our new schools starters retire it is predicted that they will have been employed by 18-25 organisations.

In that same talk Richard talked about a visit he made to China

He ended by telling of his experiences in China. Students attended school 6 ½ days a week and had 5 hours homework a night, classes had 60 -65 students. At the beginning of every lesson students would bow to their teachers and thank them for what they were about to hear. At the end of the lesson they would again bow and thank the teacher for teaching them. There was very little interaction between the students and teachers apart from one lesson where one very elderly teacher came in and he bowed down to the students and thanked them for coming to his class and expressed his hope that they learnt from him. His class by Chinese standards was very interactive. At the end of the lesson the teacher again bowed before his class, Richard asked the teacher why he did that and he explained that he in one of his classes there might be someone who could be the next president, an Olympic champion, a scientist who finds the cure for Aids and he expressed the honour he felt to impart what knowledge he had.

Isn’t that why we are so passionate about Education? Who knows who will be in our class and that is also the reason why we all should be interested in Education.

Clients using the NBI Brain Profile and its applications

Neil France — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:04:33 +0000

These clients and more have all been delighted with the impact the NBI Brain Profile has had on their people: Credit Agricole, Volvo Construction equipment, Woolwich plc, Bank of Ireland Mortgages, Platform Home Loans, Barclays, Clydedale Bank, Yorkshire Bank, Mortgages PLC (Merrill Lynch) Taylor Wimpey, Interbay Funding, Mortgage Trust, The Chelsea BS, The Finance Centre, Tribal plc, Scarborough BS, Cephalon (Paris), Novartis (Basel), Rooftop Mortgages (Bear Stearns), Morgan Stanley (securities lending), Arab Banking Corporation, Crown Mortgage Management, HML, Briggs Environmental (Baku), McCurrachs Financial Services, TLT (solicitors), Aviva, Zurich Insurance, International Faculty of Finance (Informa plc), Collins Construction plc, Go! Business Mortgages, Charterhouse Voice and Data plc, Nightingale Associates (architects) Bond Bryan (architects), Walsall Housing Association, Facilitate (med coms), Saracens Premiership Rugby club,Current tv, John Charcol, Moneyquest, Wells Healthcare, Pink Home Loans, AToM, R W Freight, Skillstrain, Wilson James….in education too many colleges to list call me!!

Greek crisis explained – simply

Neil France — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:33:24 +0000

It is a slow day in a little Greek Village . The rain is beating down and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich German tourist is driving through the village, stops at the local hotel and lays a 100 euro note on the desk, telling the hotel owner he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. The owner gives him some keys and, as soon as the visitor has walked upstairs, the hotelier grabs the e100 note and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the e100 note and runs down the street to repay his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the e100 note and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel. The guy at the Farmers’ Co-op takes the e100 note and runs to pay his drinks bill at the taverna. The publican slips the money along to the local prostitute drinking at the bar, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer him “services” on credit. The hooker then rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill to the hotel owner with the e100 note. The hotel proprietor then places the e100 note back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the e100 note, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.

No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole village is now out of debt and looking to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how the bailout package works.

Join me in our ‘Virtual training room’!

Neil France — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:28:35 +0000

Our friends at TrainingDirectoryUK have kindly created a virtual ‘Whole Brain Training’ room. Please visit and have your avatar walk around and see whats now possible in the world of remote coaching and training.
If you click on the video screens in the room I’ve put some great clips on them….enjoy.
Click on: http://hostavirtualevent.com/wholebrain/player?ld=1166|g6bede682852549119c8b2783aaef52d4

Its a Virtual World out there!!!

Neil France — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:02:40 +0000

Tomorrow we will be delivering our first ever Virtual Presentation in a virtual conference centre. This fantastic concept is being promoted by our associates Training Directory UK. Please click on the link and join us for a glimpse at the future….http://hostavirtualevent.com/tdvirtualexhibition
We will be presenting from 12.45pm and then you can virtually join us on our booth for a chat afterwards all from the comfort of your office or home!
Hope to see you there…Neil

Become a Brain Profile Practitioner!

Neil France — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:18:12 +0000

Exciting news… have you ever wanted to understand why your partner, family or colleagues behave the way they do?
Would you like to start a new people focused career with a brilliant unique selling point?
We are pleased to announce the next public course has been confirmed for Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th January. It will be run at the Clydesdale Bank IFS centre in Crawley near Gatwick Airport.
We will happily send you details of the course content via email.
What will you also receive:
• After completing the post-course case studies you will be awarded a certificate confirming your status as an official NBI Brain Profile Practitioner
• 10 free NBI Brain Profiles to use as you choose worth £350.00p
• Full post course support including tutorials, powerpoint slides for presentations etc.
The fee for the course is only £695.00p plus VAT and this includes all course materials, refreshments and lunch for the two days.
Half of the places have already been reserved so please book soon.

South African Creativity Conference 2011

Neil France — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:43:30 +0000

Record breaking numbers made the 17th running of the SA Creativity conference a resounding success. Excited by being asked to present at both the Educators conference which is exclusive for teachers and latterly at ACRE 17 (African CREativity).
Whole Brain Coaching was the topic we chose for the Educators and we explored how to integrate whole brain thinking into the development of young students who often come from a severely underprivileged background. The teachers were really enthusiastic and grateful for the new ideas and techniques we shared with them. Some comments received included: ‘gave us ideas on how to handle different learners’, ‘loved it…useful…relevant’, you gave tools of insight and inspiration, etc.
At ACRE 17 following the first conference we were asked to deliver at one of the key four hour sessions. As there are mainly commercial participants at the second conference we covered ‘Whole Brain Selling in the credit crunch’.
The content looked at how to identify, target and then close on commitment from contacts who can take your business forward. The groups were a mix of Corporate sales people to new entrepreneurs who were looking for tips on how to deliver consistent profitability to their company.
Once again the feedback was very encouraging:’brilliant’, ‘the material he covered was very beneficial and informative’, ‘lots of helpful and accurate info…brilliant’.

Bryan Steel Double Olympic Medallist Cyclist looks to Whole Brain Thinking

Neil France — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 09:48:37 +0000

Bryan a member of the uber successful Pursuit Team and I are excited to announce that his new company ‘Winning Mindset’ and Genesis will be offering programmes to ‘raise the performance bar’ for our clients. After winning medals at Sydney and Athens Bryan is utilising all of the winning techniques he lived and breathed to succeed at the very top of his sport to support clients to reach their potential. At a time when many companies are working hard to stay ahead the application of our unique approach will unquestionably improve their performance beyond even what they thought was possible!

Saracens Aviva Premiership Champions 2011!

Neil France — Sat, 28 May 2011 21:49:52 +0000

They’ve done it after thirteen years!

Congratulations to the players, coaching staff and management of Saracens in finally achieving their dream of becoming Aviva Premiership Champions at Twickenham today.

It has been a pleasure helping their coaching team in applying Whole Brain Thinking to their coaching interventions. We have all learnt a lot in the process and their hard work both on and off the field has delivered the highest level of success they deserve. In particular we would like to thank Brendan Venter for the opportunity of initiating the work with the coaches and David Priestley for his application of the NBI Brain Profile.

Well done guys!