Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg share more than their tech-world legacies—they’re all left-handed, along with other business icons like Steve Forbes, Oprah Winfrey, Lou Gerstner, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and Ratan Tata. Could left-handedness provide an innovative edge?
While popular belief often links left-handedness to creativity—since the left hand is controlled by the brain’s right hemisphere, a region associated with creativity—scientific consensus has remained elusive. Until now.
A groundbreaking study by Long Chen and June Woo Park, accounting professors at the Donald G. Costello College of Business, is the first rigorous scholarly investigation into the connection between handedness and business innovation.
Their research explores whether—and how—being left-handed might influence a leader’s approach to innovation. Though more studies are needed to draw firm conclusions, their work sheds light on the potential role of handedness in shaping creative business strategies.
As the business world seeks to understand the roots of innovation, this research could open new conversations about how traits like handedness may shape the minds of our most visionary leaders.
