Behold, the Biz Kid Brain

The title of a recent article by Anna Baluch from the US Chamber of Commerce is as clear as it is intriguing: “What Science Shows About How Entrepreneurs' Brains are Wired.”  

Clear: a Biz Kid’s brain is different.

Intriguing: how so?

The study the author cites was no softie. Instead, its researched employed MRI machines to literally scan the brains of entrepreneurs, looking specifically at the two areas of the brain responsible for “flexible thinking” and “new decision-making.” 

Their finding? That those two areas work in closer coordination in the mind of an entrepreneur than an employed person. Translation: the entrepreneur’s pattern of being flexible, then making decisions, is a skillset hardwired into their brain.

It’s telling on its own that the researchers homed in on these two areas. The life of an entrepreneur is, after all, one marked by frequent change, high risk, and a mandate for innovation. A sole proprietor doesn’t have anyone approving of their decisions or providing the handrails by which to make one. 

We’ve all heard people on different sides of the entrepreneurial aisle say, “I could never work for someone,” while others assert, “I like knowing what I need to do to succeed.”

Now, it turns out, science is backing up both of those positions as being hardwired – with a catch.

Baluch explains, “Even if you don’t have the natural ability to think like an entrepreneur, you can train your mind to do so.” While the study found that an entrepreneur’s brain fires differently, the brain is a muscle. It turns out that those who wouldn’t call themselves entrepreneurially mindset can do something powerful: change their mind. 

Read the full article on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blog here.