Inside the Brains of Rebellious Leaders

Mark Twain called them "corn-pone opinions." Take a path that veers from the norm, and you'll hear from a chorus of naysayers. "That'll never work." "Don't rock the boat." "That's impossible." (Of course, once your idea has been proven to work, they claim to have known it all along.)

Bucking the herd isn't easy for a species designed to conform, so it takes a certain mindset to and a neuroscientist at Emory University in Atlanta. Berns has taken an unorthodox path himself, exploring the roots of motivation and reward in ultramarathoners, sushi chefs and S&M enthusiasts. He argues that innovation occurs in brains that are adept at not just creative insights, but also at overriding the fears that come along with them--such as facing flak from the peanut gallery.