p.50 "Everything you do in life is based on your brain's determination to
minimize danger or maximize reward." ...succeeding in combat is a measure of how well the brain copes with dangerous
situations and performs tasks that ensure survival.
p.50-51 the prefrontal cortex... is the center for higher-level thinking, which actively influences body
functions and performance.
p.51 The more sophisticated processes of the mind occur in a sheet
of tissue just behind the forehead known as the prefrontal cortex. As explained by Dr. Rand Swenson of Dartmouth Medical School,
the prefrontal cortex is also known as the "thinking brain," the manager of "memory, judgment, planning, sequencing
of activity, abstract reasoning . . . impulse control, personality, reactivity to the surroundings, and mood." This
area is what allows humans to solve math problems, develop abstract concepts, and ponder our own existence. It
is also the area that military leaders use to balance risks in combat, develop courses of action, and create strategies to
lead effectively.
p.54 A leader with a clear vision of how he wants to perform will,
as survival author Laurence Gonzales puts it, create a kind of "memory of the future" that the brain can access during
combat.
p.55 leaders must think beyond the battle drill and formulate innovative
ways to beat the enemy. As neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer explains in How We Decide, "This is where the
prefrontal cortex really demonstrates its unique strengths. It is the only brain region able to take an abstract
principle and apply it in an unfamiliar context to come up with an entirely original solution."
p.57 inhibiting is the practice of selective focus, when one actively tries to
not engage certain mental maps because they are irrelevant or counterproductive.
p.60 "The test of fitness to command is the ability to think
clearly in the face of unexpected contingency or opportunity." ...knowing how to think could be a combat
leader’s most valuable tool.
