Phoenix AZ, October 8, 2010: Evidence of a third faculty of the brain, the conative faculty, was announced today at a conference for business, education, and government leaders from nine countries and 35 states, hosted by Kolbe Corp.
The conative faculty of the brain triggers purposeful action (conation).
Enzo Calamo of Vancouver, British Columbia, who attended the conference as a Kolbe Certified Consultant, will provide local business leaders, professionals, and educators with innovative methods of assessing and managing this part of the brain.
Kathy Kolbe, internationally renowned conation theorist, and Arizona State University professor Pierre Balthazard, an acknowledged expert in the brain activity of leaders, released preliminary results of a study of conation in the brains of community leaders.
The study was supported by research partners including the Arizona Science Center, Banner Health, the EDGE Innovation Network, and Valley Leadership.
Initial findings regarding the conative faculty, which triggers purposeful action in the brain, include:
• Conation is a separate, intrinsic faculty of the brain that is different from, but equal in power to, the cognitive and affective faculties.
• The brain works far more efficiently when it has the freedom to perform a task according to its natural conative patterns of action—the person’s unique modus operandi, or M.O.
• Separate and distinct patterns of brain activity exist for each of the four conative Action Modes® as described in previous work by Ms. Kolbe.
• Human beings have an equal amount of power across the Action Modes.
Conation was found operating in all areas of the 117 subjects’ brains.
Kathy Kolbe has been assessing behaviors related to conation for 30 years with a wide variety of subjects from around the globe. She developed protocols for the Kolbe/ASU study based on data sets from 500,000 people who completed the Kolbe A™ Index, a widely used assessment instrument.
“This supports my theory that conation is the one human factor that gives us equality as well as our unique character,” Kolbe said. “You can manage your response to a situation, but your M.O. is made up of strengths that are hard-wired Action Modes in your brain.”
Calamo, CEO of Lugen Family Office Inc. is a pioneer in the local use of the Kolbe A(TM) Index, which assesses conative strengths. Through www.igraciousliving.com, which leading global experts have described as “the smart phone of Family and Business Legacy Planning,” members have access to using Kolbe Wisdom(TM) to improve personal productivity and building more effective teams.
Balthazard, whose work is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), analyzed the subjects using qEEG brain signal processing techniques.
Balthazard said, “Each conative Action Mode identified by Kolbe proved to be a distinct and different function with neural correlates that produced connectivity signatures in the brain that are distinct from known patterns of cognition and affect.”
“Previous brain research looked primarily at things that weren’t working well. Researchers studied disabilities and brain injuries,” noted Dr. Balthazard. “By learning from healthy brains of high performing people, we’ve learned lessons that could be applicable to a broader population.”
Discovering the signature for conative activity allowed the investigators to compare levels of efficiency in the brain while subjects were working against their innate M.O.s,” Kolbe said. “Brains went into a dithering pattern, searching but seemingly incapable of discovering an alternative path to a solution.”
The findings hold promise for continued innovation in fields like organizational and leadership development, personnel assessment, and behavioral health and education issues such as differentiating methods of learning.
For more information:
Questions for/stories regarding the Kolbe/ASU brain research project:
Kathy Kolbe: kkolbe@kolbe.com; 602 840 9770 x 125
Pierre Balthazard: pierreb@asu.edu; 623 687 0108
Questions for/stories regarding local contact/local perspective:
Enzo Calamo
CEO, Lugen Family Office Inc.
1-866-605-8885
enzo@igraciousliving.com
About Kathy Kolbe
Kathy Kolbe is an acclaimed theorist, bestselling author, entrepreneur, educator, organizational strategist, consultant and speaker, and is the founder of Kolbe Corp and the Center for Conative Abilities. She is considered to be the world’s leading authority on human instincts and conation* and has dedicated her life to helping people to find the freedom to be themselves through understanding and using their conative abilities.
The author of multiple research studies, Kolbe has proven her long-held theory that conation is a third faculty of the brain. Additionally, over 750,000 case studies have tested and validated her theories on the inherent, instinctive nature of human conation. Kolbe’s work has earned her widespread recognition and awards.
She has authored a number of assessment and performance tools used across the world by business, schools, families and individuals, including the Kolbe A™ Index, the only valid and reliable assessment tool for measuring an individual’s method of operation (M.O.) within the conative faculty of the brain.
Kolbe’s motivation for her life’s work is rooted in her own cognitive challenges. A severe dyslexic, she discovered early on that instinctive, purposeful action could trump any learning disability. Additionally, in midlife Kolbe survived a near-fatal car accident that left her unable to perform simple cognitive tasks. Rather than focusing on what was lacking, Kolbe relied on deep-rooted conative instincts to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
*Conation is the faculty of the brain that drives you to take purposeful action according to your instincts. Conative abilities are the natural, inherent and unchanging talents that, when acted on, lead to success and well-being as you use your creative energy to solve problems.
Business Advisor
Kathy Kolbe founded Kolbe Corp in 1975 and is currently Chief Creative Officer and Chair of the Board of Directors. Kolbe Corp provides corporate training/coaching and organizational development tools for a variety of purposes, including recruitment, retention, and leadership and team tactics/analytics.
Ms. Kolbe has advised Fortune 500 companies, business executives, government leaders, universities, professional sports teams, nonprofits, management consultants, bestselling authors and job holders to maximize performance and increase productivity through identifying, understanding, and using conative talents. She also provides advanced training to Kolbe Certified™ Consultants who consult with individuals, managers, business leaders and corporations throughout the world.
A sought-after speaker, Kolbe has delivered presentations to audiences in 17 nations (including keynoting Management Center Europe, the Global Leadership Conference, and the State of the World Conference) and has discussed her groundbreaking work on over 300 radio and TV programs.
Educational Specialist
Kolbe is founder and Chair of the nonprofit Center for Conative Abilities. The Center disseminates information, provides training, and educates individuals and communities in practical ways to engage conative strengths for positive purposes at the highest levels of social responsibility. Kolbe has consulted school districts, state departments of education, and the U.S. Department of Education and has designed specialized learning materials and programs that help children excel by utilizing their instinctive strengths. She has written over 100 children’s problem-solving workbooks, used in more than 30,000 schools in 15 countries, and has set a worldwide standard for K-12 gifted education.
Kolbe is also deeply dedicated to higher education and research. She has authored and conducted research and has lectured at over 20 universities, including Stanford, Northwestern, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, and Arizona State University (where she taught as adjunct professor in the College of Education).
Bestselling Author
The Conative Connection, Kolbe’s first book, shook the foundations of conventional wisdom regarding the mind by identifying its third dimension: the conative. The bestselling book recounts Kolbe’s steps in putting together the puzzle of striving instincts and the development of her methodology for building upon individuals’ innate strengths. Pure Instinct, Kolbe’s business book published by Random House, details her experience with high corporate performers and her innovative techniques for helping them maximize their potential. Her third book, Powered by Instinct: 5 Rules for Trusting Your Guts, is an individual’s guide to increasing personal productivity and well-being by learning to unlock the power of one’s own authentic, creative self.
Awards
Kolbe has been profiled in Time magazine’s Man of the Year issue as one of the seven Americans “who exemplify the spirit that inspires… the choice for Man of the Year,” was honored by the White House as “one of America’s Can-Do People,” and was inducted into Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism Hall of Fame. She has received numerous other honors and awards.
Kathy Kolbe is married and has five children and eight grandchildren.
To purchase Kathy Kolbe’s books, please click here.
