Not since the end of the Cold War has there been so much talk of Left vs Right.  In this case, however it is not Rush Limbaugh or Karl Marx who are leading the debates, and it is not just economics or politics that is up for discussion, but the brain itself.  More accurately, the provocative arguments these days focus on the inherent differences between Left Brain and Right Brain thinking — and how these differences affect the way we do business.

We have Daniel Pink, formerly the chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore, to thank for dominating cocktail party discussions of late, and your reactions to his theories might well depend on which camp you fall into yourself – Left Brain Thinker – or Right Brain Thinker.  His book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future “charts the rise of right-brain thinking in modern economies”.  It not only made the New York Times bestseller list but was also a BusinessWeek bestseller, a sign perhaps of the seriousness with which the business world is looking at such issues.

During my MBA school training, and subsequent experience on Bay Street, it was ingrained in me that left-brain directed thinking governed the world of commerce – a world where there are clear right and wrong answers, a world where the business person can be rewarded handsomely for coming up with – the best investment – the right strategy – the smartest tax maneuver.  But is there another different, but equally or (dare I say it) more rewarding – way of approaching business and money?

Right-brain directed thinking sees the world more in terms of “context”, where a variety of things can be looked at simultaneously.  For instance, we can look at making money and financial decisions in the context of the authentic life we want to live and the values we want to uphold. And, simultaneously, we can view the financial choices we make in terms of the impact we are having on the world around us and on future generations. In this way of thinking, things are not seen as simply black and white, or in terms of buy and sell, and profit and loss. Instead, things are more layered with a wide range of considerations and implications — where quick, linear solutions are not necessarily the best ones.

We have so many financial choices these days – there is an almost infinite variety of investment products and services to choose from. (In fact, there is so much information on the internet that there is nothing that your financial advisor has access to that you don’t.) The key is to make all this information and decision-making power relevant to your life so that you make the best decisions possible to be a productive member of society, to earn a decent living and most importantly, to be happy.

Whether you are a Left-Brain analytical thinker, or a Right-Brain contextual thinker it is up to each of us to ask ourselves – what do I do with this resource called money to be satisfied and to lead a meaningful life?  Being financially informed and educated, making money, building wealth, saving tax, paying off debt – all this is great — but let’s not forget why we’re doing it in the first place.  It is all about context! – Karin Mizgala

Karin Mizgala is a Vancouver-based fee-for-service financial planner with an MBA and a degree in psychology. She’s the President of LifeDesign Financial and co-founder of the Women’s Financial Learning Centre.