To get a hold on how we can be better leaders we need to understand how we influence and then motivate people to do what we want. There are many ways to do this but the best way is to be able to understand their feelings and desires to then create the right emotional motivations for them to want to do it themselves. This can be something they don’t want to but are willing to trade something for that activity or it can be an internal drive for their self fufillment or a mix of both.

To understand how we are influenced we must start with how we detect and then respond to the whole. We do this through our nervous system.

The nervous system is one of the many systems that we have that keeps us alive. A system is one where multiple parts are connected and work together to create a single function like a car has a fuel system and an entertainment system. Like the car we can classify each system and then further divide that system into components or sub-systems. For our detection and response system (the nervous system) we can divide it into two main parts: 1) Central nervous system (CNS) that consists of the brain and the spinal cord, and 2) Peripheral nervous system (PNS) that are all the nerves that connect all the organs of the body and the bodies muscles to the CNS via the spinal cord.

Central Nervous System

Brain and the Spinal Cord

The central nervous system (CNS) can be broken into many parts but the two main ones are the brain situated in the head protected by the skill and the spinal cord and other central nerves protected by the spinal vertenbrae that make up the spinal column.

The division between the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is the CNS is seen as one unit that does the administration of the body whilst the PNS is all the sensing nerves detecting changes or afferent nerves and motor nerves that react to those changes or efferent nerves. To help remember I used the slightly childish phrase all PNS nerves are the SAME (sensory: afferent, Motor: efferent). If you spend any time in anatomy you’ll come across a lot of rude phrases to help with the memory. It helps that there are lots of words beginning with V.

Cerebral Cortex

Corpus Callosum

Forebrain

Midbrain

Hindbrain

Limbic System

Peripheral Nervous System