Battle of the Books
It's interesting how the popularity of books can swing like a pendulum. This is certainly true of business books pertaining to left-brain and right-brain thinking. But there also seems to be a correlation with the state of the economy.
I saw this pattern with the left-brain, downturn economy hit, Moneyball, which argued smart organizations (in this case, the Oakland A's), could accomplish more with less. Oakland crunched the numbers and analyzed the statistics to determine which players were undervalued, and therefore, who to draft and who to trade. The team even reexamined conventional baseball statistics and discovered how new metrics (on base percentage as opposed to batting average, for instance) could change the game altogether. Too bad, the word is out. Now, Billy Beane must content himself with the rubber chicken circuit as other teams capitalize on his insights. 
The other downturn favorite was Execution, arguing that greater success could be achieved through "rigor and discipline." Indeed, it was as if you could put your company back in the black by submitting to a little S&M. “Strategies most often fail because they aren’t executed well,” state authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charam.
But then the economy started to pick up...and the publishers brought out their new line.
The up economy books argued that right-brain intuition -- make that "rapid cognition" -- is where it is at. Malcolm Gladwell's Blink is, of course, a great example of the turn in taste. It is about "the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. When you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions," the author writes. 
Another example of this right-brain, up economy school of thought is Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind.
Forget about Competing on Analytics. "The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind," Pink contends. "The era of 'left brain' dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which 'right brain' qualities -- inventiveness, empathy, meaning -- predominate. "
Where will it all lead? Or end? Left or right? Up or down? Chaos or discipline? 
The new line of books from HBS Press includes Hard Facts from Jeffery Pfeffer and Robert Sutton. In a recent article, they contend "evidence-based management" ultimately will triumph. As they see it, "The challenge is quite simply to ground decisions in the latest and best knowledge of what actually works. In some ways that is more difficult to do than in [other professions like] medicine. The evidence is weaker in business; almost anyone can (and many people do) claim to be a management expert; and a motley crew of sources ... are used to generate management advice. Still ... when managers act on better logic and strong evidence, their companies will beat the competition."
Well, that's pretty left brain, isn't it? Then again, take a look at the New York Times bestseller list. Topping the non-fiction list is a loveable little tale about a guy and his pet. Actually, it is described this way: "A newspaper columnist and his wife learn some life lessons from their neurotic dog." What about bestseller number two? Well that one argues that the world is neither left nor right. The world, argues the author, is flat.
