If there is one Holy Grail of business school knowledge it is this: how do you teach leadership? Professors at the University of Texas at Dallas are trying to bring scientific rigour to the quest.

The Leadership Centre in the school of management has teamed up with the university's Center for Brain Health to develop a brain physical for executives in some of the world's top corporations - managers from Ericsson, the Swedish phone company, and Accor, the French hotels group, are pilot participants.