Your Brain at Work
Your Brain at Work is a podcast from the NeuroLeadership Institute that applies brain science to real-world leadership challenges. It features conversations with top researchers and industry leaders, sharing breakthroughs in neuroscience and strategies for improving workplace engagement, diversity, and human connection. The show bridges research and practice, offering insights from the lab that leaders can use to transform their organizations.
Episodes
Did We Break Performance Management? Here’s What Works Today
Proactive Accountability: Build a Culture that Gets things Done
Psychological Safety: A Team Essential
Growth Mindset: From Nice to Have to Urgent Imperative
What We Expected and What We Got: A Deep Dive on the Neural Side Effects of AI Use
The New Hybrid Learning: Reimagining People Development with AI
Leadership in the Age of AI
The Essential Human Skill: Metacognition in the Age of AI
AI Transformation: What 200+ Global HR Leaders Are Saying Now
A Blueprint for Leading High-Performing Teams
The Neuroscience of Learning in the AI Era
A discussion with Dave Ulrich and Matt Breitfelder
How a Legacy Company Reinvented Its Culture
A conversation with Diane Gherson, former CHRO of IBM, on the future of HR
AI and the Developing Brain: A Conversation with Researcher Dr. Zak Stein
The Human-AI Experience: A Conversation with Futurist Douglas Rushkoff
Your Brain On Music: A Conversation With Neuroscientist Dr. Indre Viskontas
Leading AI Transformation: The neuroscience of the heart of the challenge, and what to do about it
Reflections from Davos 2026
Turning Signals into Action: Data-driven insights that forecast 2026
Cultivating AI-Fluency: The Key to True Human-AI Partnership
Brain, know thyself
Trends in Leadership Development: Designing the Ultimate Leadership Strategy in 2026
The Biggest Insights from Summit 2025: What's Next for Leadership?
Performance management in an AI era
Help your organization adapt faster with a Growth Mindset
Leadership Reimagined: The Science of designing and delivering transformational leadership development
The Habits of AI Fluency
A 3 year roadmap for how AI can transform talent and learning
AI and the near future of talent management
Designing for insight: A brain-based approach for unforgettable events
Trends in Leadership Development: Reimagining how leaders are developed
Does AI signal the end to executive coaching?
Conversations That Inspire Accountability and Action
How to build an AI operating system that can make us smarter
The Science of Building Habits that Stick
The Science of Building Resilience in a Complex World
Trends in leadership now: The principles of high performance
Season Finale - 2026 Forecast: Preparing for the Future of Leadership
In the session, David and Emma will discuss the most significant challenges leaders faced this year—from overwhelming complexity to the constant pressure for innovation, all while navigating the questions of how and where to use AI. Discover how NLI's work, including our NeuroIntelligent Leadership Enhancing System (NILES), has evolved to help leaders overcome these challenges through seamless in
Trends in Leadership Development: Designing the Ultimate Leadership Strategy in 2026
In a world defined by accelerating change, overwhelm, and complexity, traditional models of leadership development are outdated. Now is the time to consider your 2026 strategy – one that moves from a series of disconnected events to a simple, scalable, and science-backed blueprint for real transformation.
The Future of Leadership AI: An Ecosystem of Coherent Insights
Leaders don’t just need AI, they need a leadership AI that creates an ecosystem of coherent insights that makes them smarter and more effective.
Join us for this week's Your Brain at Work, featuring NLI’s CEO and Co-Founder, Dr. David Rock, and VP of Solutions, Rachel Cardero, as they discuss how a leadership AI should be designed.
The future of leadership AI is both predictive and coherent. It
How NILES Can Make Leaders Smarter
Today’s leaders are constantly trying to keep up with the complexity of the organizational landscape, all while making smarter decisions and driving their teams towards innovation. Join us for the next edition of "Your Brain at Work Live," where Dr. Emma Sarro discusses how NILES, the NeuroLeadership Institute's AI leadership coach, is set to revolutionize how leaders face each of these challenges
The Real Science of Habits
In this episode of Your Brain at Work, we unlock the secrets to embedding effective and resilient habits. In today’s environment of accelerating change and overwhelming demands, building strong habits – those that become default under pressure – is more crucial than ever. Organizations need strategies that work quickly and scale easily, and are more helpful than telling people to rely on repetitio
Meet Coach NILES: A Next Generation Approach to Coaching Through AI
Meet the world’s smartest leadership coach, NILES, NLI’s Neuro Intelligent Leadership Enhancing System. Designed to make leaders smarter, faster.
In today's tricky environment, leaders are under pressure to do more with less, juggling multiple responsibilities with limited resources. What leaders need is an AI tailored to meet their specific challenges. One that provides in-the-moment support, of
Trends in Leadership Now: How to Keep Inspiring Great Work Amidst Challenges
Organizations are facing a complex landscape of challenges and potential crises, driven by rapid technological advancements, shifting economic conditions, and evolving global events. Frameworks such as VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) and the more recent BANI (brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible) are used to understand the challenges of navigating complex and
The Stuff of Thought: Critical Thinking in the Age of AI
AI agents are continuously evolving in ways that increase their potential to support our work. Not only can they synthesize long meetings and moments later provide you with key insights, ideas, and actions, they can also write your emails, plan an upcoming conversation, and make difficult decisions for you. However, does AI actually improve your ability to do these things, and is the output better
From Mandatory to Compelling: The Science of Filling the Room
Conventional wisdom suggests that if you want people to participate, you need to mandate it. However, this can easily backfire. What research suggests is that if you want people to participate and get the most out of this participation, you need to make it compelling.
Getting people to fully engage in learning, transformation or even just to attend an important organizational event is a central
The Neuroscience of Cognitive Bias
Uncertainty surrounds the future of DEI. Many organizations plan to continue their DEI work, yet they’re likely to face a number of challenges along the way. To be successful as we evolve our work, it's important to understand why DEI efforts became a priority in the first place, and whether they’re important enough for organizations to address in other packaging. What are the short- and long-term
The Neuroscience of Psychological Safety
Organizational survival in the midst of accelerating change and complexity depends on employees' sense-making, adapting, and taking risks. Psychological safety can effectively facilitate each of these processes. In fact, psychological safety is the critical foundation for high performance, as it acts as the accelerant for both employees and organizations to innovate and push boundaries. Join Drs.
Leadership Now: Leading Through Uncertainty and Change
During times of intense uncertainty and change, leaders are often called upon to navigate their team through challenges, provide clarity in the face of ambiguity, and make critical decisions under pressure. In the midst of the chaos, leadership development may be deprioritized, when in fact it is more important than ever. Skilled, well-equipped leaders can ignite their teams' performance and foste
The Neuroscience of Proactive Accountability
Join the next Your Brain at Work Live as Senior Director of Research, Dr. Emma Sarro and Global Head of Culture and Leadership, Matt Summers walk us through the current state of accountability, why it needs to be a priority for organizations to foster and NLI’s research-backed behavioral framework that supports each of the three essential habits of proactive accountability. They’ll describe the cr
The Science of Togetherness & Division
Join us for a deep dive into the foundational research of what drives humans to connect with each other, to feel a sense of togetherness, and in contrast, what creates division.
The Neuroscience of Difficult Conversations
Join us for an episode that dives into the core science that makes these conversations difficult on both sides, and how to use that science to improve them.
Trends in Leadership Now: A Discussion of Leadership Styles – and How to Develop a Style That Drives Performance
Leaders can generally be categorized into one of two types: servant and authoritarian. We'll discuss what drives people to develop into each type of leader, the differences in their belief systems, and importantly, how their brain processes differ. The NeuroLeadership Institute has spent the last 25 years leveraging neuroscience to understand how to develop better leaders, and we do so with organ
Your Brain on Laughter: The Essential Role That Humor Plays in the Workplace
Listen to a special episode of Your Brain at Work as David Rock interviews comedian Ben Gleib on the importance of bringing humor to the workplace and how to do it well. Humor is arguably one of the easiest ways to boost employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity, especially in times of uncertainty, stress, or crisis. Ben and David discuss the three proven tactics for safely bringing levi
The Right Way to Approach DEI Today
Getting leaders to engage in learning is one of the central changes for HR and talent functions. During times of intense change, this can often appear to be less important, when in fact it may be even more critical. Yet, how can we engage busy, goal focused leaders in deeper thinking when they already feel overwhelmed? In this timely conversation, explore insights from both the science and decade
The Science of Self Regulation in a Complex World
Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not the only one. With the rate of organizational change at an all time high, you’re having to work with more information than ever and under more pressure to perform. It’s nearly impossible to be effective in this type of cognitive overwhelm. On this episode of Your Brain at Work, Dr. David Rock and Dr. Emma Sarro will share how building habits of self regulation can
Changing the World in Africa: A Story of One Man’s Unusual Mission with Lessons for Us All
Join Dr. David Rock for a special episode of Your Brain at Work live as he interviews Damien Mander, an Iraq war veteran turned environmentalist and founder of Akashinga, an anti-poaching foundation. His story is a unique one that highlights a profound personal transformation when he traveled to Africa and was faced with the challenges of the world’s wildlife. He founded the International Anti-Poa
Leadership Now: Trends in Leadership Development Today, A Focus on Critical Thinking
In our next episode of Your Brain at Work Live, we are continuing our discussion around the leadership development trends of 2025 – this time focusing on the increased demand for critical thinking in the workplace. NLI’s Vice President of Consulting, Practices & Product, Rachel Cardero and Senior Director of Research, Dr Emma Sarro will discuss what’s behind the growing call by organizations for m
Where Do We Go From Here? Separating Fact From Fiction to Move DEI Forward
With all the ‘noise’ surrounding political pushback, legal challenges, and a volatile social climate, it's hard to separate what’s true from what’s trending.
Join DEI expert Janet M. Stovall, CDE, and legal scholar Kenji Yoshino next Friday the 31st at 1:00pm EST for a critical webinar that cuts through the noise and equips you with the essential truths for navigating this complex landscape.
The
Live from Davos: The Neuroscience of Change in the World
Join us for a special episode of Your Brain at Work, recording live from Davos, the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Geneva, Switzerland. This event brings together top leaders from across the globe and across disciplines, involving political, business and cultural leaders. Dr. David Rock, who will be in attendance, will share his reflections on the event, this year themed, “Collabor
The Challenges and Opportunities of AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the organizational landscape. Not only does it provide organizations with a means to cut costs and enhance the quality of services, it can also optimize processes, productivity, and efficiencies, at scale. Despite the breadth of opportunities, organizations are still struggling to reap the full potential of an AI-fueled workforce. This is because rea
Leadership Now: Trends in Leadership Development Today
Your Brain at Work Live is kicking off the year with a new season and a look at the latest trends to watch in leadership development, a spin off of David Rock’s latest article published in Fast Company. We closed out the year with the staggering realization that change around us is exponentially increasing – 33% in just last year alone. From the volatile state of hybrid work to AI transformations
Neuroscience of Proactive Accountability
Upended work conditions, increased pressure on organizations to perform and the exponential pace of change has put the spotlight on the need for accountability. Our own research has revealed that despite more than 90% of employees agreeing accountability is critical, 97% of managers and employees find it difficult to create. In many organizations, employees view accountability with fear, blame or
Turning Business Strategy into People Strategy
Join Dr. David Rock and recently retired Chief Learning Officer at Microsoft, Joe Whittinghill, on our next Your Brain at Work Live as they discuss the decade of work that NLI and Microsoft has done together in redefining the Microsoft culture, still in place today. In this long awaited episode, Joe will walk through the work Microsoft has done to ensure that the right talent is in place to achiev
What Employers Get Wrong About Connections at Work
Connection in the workplace is commonly thought of as a single dimension that prioritizes interpersonal relationships with co-workers.
A recent collaboration between NLI and Akamai Technologies exploring the science of connection reveals there's much more to clarify about connections at work — and that's exactly what we'll do during this learning event.
Culture Fundamentals Pt. II: From Civility to Respect
Positive behaviors, extra effort, and a sense of connection are important, but they aren't enough to guarantee a high-performing organization. That takes respect.
In the second act of our two-part series on Workplace Culture Fundamentals, we reconvene our panel to:
Clarify the distinction between civility and respect
Illuminate why respect makes cultures of inclusion possible
Provide practical h
Workplace Culture Fundamentals Pt. I: The Neuroscience of Civility
Join us for a transformative webinar that explores the neuroscience behind civility and its profound impact on business outcomes. Discover how prosocial behavior fosters a positive work environment, boosts employee engagement, and drives innovation. Learn practical strategies to cultivate a culture of respect, empathy, and understanding.
Through engaging discussions and real-world examples, we'll
Learning Experience Fundamentals Pt. III: The Neuroscience of Creativity and Insight
Have you ever wondered how brilliant ideas come to life? Why some people seem to effortlessly generate innovative solutions while others struggle? The answers may lie deep within the intricacies of the human brain. Neuroscience has made significant strides in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying creativity and insight — and in this episode of Your Brain at Work, Dr. David Rock and Dr. Ch
The Neuroscience of Creativity and Insight
Are you looking to foster a more effective and creative culture within your organization? Discover how neuroscience can revolutionize your approach to team building and problem-solving.
In this exclusive webinar, our expert panelists will delve into the latest research on the brain's role in creativity and innovation. Learn how to:
Stimulate your team's neural pathways to spark new ideas
Create
Learning Experience Fundamentals Pt. II: Learning Events that Make an Impact
In previous episodes of our podcast, we've discussed the importance of designing learning experiences with the brain in mind to maximize learning effectiveness. In doing so, we've shared what the NeuroLeadership Institute's research indicates are the four active ingredient for effective long-term learning and retention: attention, generation, emotion, and spacing, all four of which come together t
Enhance Effectiveness - The Power of Learning Audits
Are you maximizing the impact of your learning programs? Join us for a compelling Your Brain at Work Live webinar, where we'll explore the power, value, and impact of learning audits. Discover how these audits can revolutionize your approach to organizational learning and development.
Webinar Highlights:
Understand Learning Efficacy: Learn how audits provide critical insights into the effectiven
Design for Insight - The NeuroLeadership Summit
Join us for an enlightening webinar that delves into the art and science of brain-based event design for learning, intertwined with the rich history of the NeuroLeadership Summit. This session is a must-attend for event planners, educators, and anyone interested in crafting impactful learning experiences using neuroscience principles.
Webinar Highlights:
Brain-Based Design Principles: Learn how
Learning Experience Fundamentals Pt. I: Brain-Based Design
In the first of our three-part Learning Experience Fundamentals series, Dr. David Rock and Dr. Emma Sarro explore what it takes to build learning experiences that drive knowledge retention, behavior adoption and business transformation at scale.
Brain-Based Facilitation and Design: Organizational Learning Strategies That Stick
Join us for a thought-provoking webinar hosted by the NeuroLeadership Institute, featuring Dr. David Rock and Dr. Emma Sarro. Discover the groundbreaking science behind brain-based learning design and how to apply it to create more impactful and memorable training experiences.
In this engaging session, you'll learn:
Key principles of neuroscience-driven learning design
Strategies for effective f
How to Inspire Great Work Amidst Challenges
Is your team feeling overwhelmed by constant change? Are you struggling to keep your workforce focused and productive?
Join renowned neuroleadership experts Dr. David Rock and Dr. Emma Sarro for an insightful webinar on harnessing the power of the brain to drive exceptional team performance. Discover how to navigate business challenges and social disruption while fostering a high-performing, resi
Myths, Busted: Separating Fact from Fiction in Neuroscience
As AI becomes more integrated into our workplaces, it's crucial to address its impact on social connections. While AI streamlines processes, it can sometimes isolate team members, diminishing the human interactions that foster a sense of belonging and purpose.
In our upcoming webinar, we'll explore:
The challenges AI poses to workplace social connections
Effective strategies to enhance employe
Separating Fact from Fiction in Neuroscience
The preponderance of spurious factoids about the brain — and its impact on our everyday lives — might just prove that there's a major difference between information and insight. That misleading information can be costly, especially when those myths follow us into the workplace. That's why, on this episode of "Your Brain at Work", Dr. David Rock and Dr. Emma Sarro connect to expore — and expose — c
SCARF in 2024: Understanding How Individual Drivers Can Cultivate Team Success
In our dynamic, shifting, and often hybrid work environments, quality collaboration and motivation may require a more thoughtful and nuanced approach than ever before.
To help leaders stay ahead, the best approaches will likely draw on universal concepts, but in a way that can be uniquely — and efficiently — crafted to meet the needs of every individual.
This week on Your Brain at Work Live, j
FACTs for the AGES: How to Get Organizational L&D Right
Struggling to create impactful L&D programs that measurably improve organizational effectiveness? Neuroscience holds the key. Join our free webinar and discover the FACT and AGES models — powerful frameworks for crafting training that fosters knowledge retention and drives results.
• FACT (Fluency, Amount, Coherence, Timing): Learn how to structure content for optimal absorption and engagement.
