When I was in school I often felt that I wasn’t as smart as the other kids. It took a while to understand that the school system was mostly geared toward academics & left brain thinking. Naturally, a “right brain” thinker (such as myself) might not feel “at home” in such an environment.

It was while working in the marketing department of one of Canada’s chartered banks that I noticed differences between myself and my “co-workers”. The workers that were chosen as management excelled at left brain technical skills...the “number crunching” & processing data ( interest & exchange rates, etc.). Often, the individuals chosen as department managers seemed devoid of creative skills.

I sat in on some meetings, loaded with information about RSP’s and mutual funds and how to solicit interest from potential clients. It’s not difficult to understand why all this “left brain” stuff was boring. The right brain is not only the source of creativity, but is also connected to emotion. The left brain data was leaving me feeling,...pretty dry.

It occurred to me that right brain thinkers are invaluable to many corporations. The right brain/creatives understand the emotional side of the corporation's potential clients. People tend to make a lot of buying decisions based on emotion.

You don’t get the “warm fuzzies” from looking at a television screen full of "jargon & technical data”, but you do from seeing two people sitting on a beach...snuggled together & watching a beautiful sunset while sipping on martinis (or some other exotic beverage). Creative people have a knack for dreaming up these wonderful images, and are usually paid handsomely by corporations who want to lure the consumer to purchase their products.

I mean yeah,...I admit I get a good feeling from balancing my checkbook, but when I realised that some of these bank executives had lost touch with their creative/emotional side and that was the motive for hiring a bunch of right brainers (like myself) to do their marketing, I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything at school after-all.