Who we are

Ned Herrmann, the creator of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI®), founded Herrmann International in 1981. The company's headquarters is in Lake Lure, North Carolina, USA, expanding a network of institutes world wide through the Americas, Europe, Africa and Australasia. This network of practitioners is licensed by Herrmann International to administer the HBDI® and to consult with clients on thinking style strategies. Herrmann International Africa Holdings represents Herrmann International on the African continent including Madagascar.

What is HBDI®?

Herrmann International's sole mission is to help clients gain greater insights into how people prefer to think, learn and communicate, so they may harness the power of thinking styles for real-work application.

In a diverse cognitive environment, a message sent is not necessarily a message received. Some people respond well to facts, figures, and statistics. Others prefer anecdotes. Still others digest graphic presentations most easily. Information must be delivered in the preferred "language" of the recipient if it is to be received at all.

Thinking styles are so fundamental, one can easily overlook their profound influence on leadership development, team effectiveness, communication and conflict resolution, innovation, cultural change and organizational learning.

Preference must not be confused with skills or abilities. For instance you may prefer to approach problems intuitively but in fact may be better trained to approach them analytically. Preferences are not rigid; most people can draw on a mixture of approaches. We often stretch outside the borders of our preferred operating modes if the conditions are right and the stakes are high enough.

Cognitive preferences also reveal themselves in work styles and decision-making activities. Some people prefer to work together in solving problems, whereas others prefer to gather, absorb, and process information by themselves. Each type does its best work under different conditions.

But all the assessment and training in the world means nothing unless new understanding brings different actions. If you want an innovative organization, you need to employ, work with and promote people who make you uncomfortable. You need to understand your own thinking preference so that you can complement your weakness and exploit your strengths. The HBDI® will help you understand yourself and will help others understand themselves and put your company's whole brain to work.

The HBDI® will help facilitators design in-house training interventions deliberately designed, covering the full spectrum of approaches and perspectives in the organization, whether the organization is a team, a work group, or the entire company - and assist them to understand the principle that cognitively diverse people must respect the thinking styles of others.
It must be noted that the HBDI® is a diagnostic instrument that measures only one aspect of personality namely preference in thinking styles and communication. It does not measure ability, or intelligence, courage, or integrity, and does not predict performance.

What we offer

By means of the HBDI® and Whole Brain® application we help people and organizations to gain greater insights into how people prefer to think, learn and communicate and through our customized training interventions we enable participants to harness the power of their thinking for improved productivity, creativity and fulfillment.

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