It Looks Like Magic. It's Not | The Neuroscience of Trust | Susanne Jacobs

Welcome, Kiel.

Thank you.

So you've had a really interesting story. Can we take it from the top? Can you tell us, when did you get into kitesurfing and how have you got to where you are today?

Yeah, so I started becoming— I became an instructor pretty much the moment I started kitesurfing. It was part of a program we had in school. That's when I was 18. And for the following 6 years, I've been teaching here in Tarifa as a kitesurfing instructor. Then I had something happen in my life, something personal gave me a chance to have a look at what I really wanted. And then I decided pretty much within a week that I wanted to be a pro kiter, or I wanted to give it a try. So basically for 6, 7 years, I've been a kitesurfing and skiing instructor. I saved up a bunch of money. I'd never really partied. I didn't drink. I I always wanted to live like an athlete. So I basically calculated that I would have a year to train and that within this year I need to be picked up by a sponsor that's going to provide me with some sort of a salary or travel budget or something like that. And yeah, luckily when I was down to the last $1,000, I think a sponsor picked me up and yeah, that's—

That's awesome.

It kind of spiraled up from there.

Thanks. And when you made— when you decided to make that decision, how did you decide to change your life? What did you implement or do?

Yeah, so basically I put all of my eggs in one basket. I bought a quite crappy van, converted into a camper van to save costs, and fully dedicated the year to training as much as I could. Um, trying to learn as much as I could, um, and really live and breathe kitesurfing from, yeah, uh, from the beginning of every day, waking up to it, doing it all day, and falling asleep to it. I couldn't really— we couldn't really have a conversation at the table where it wasn't about kitesurfing. Luckily now I'm, I'm, I'm a bit more relaxed and we can talk about other stuff. But back then it, it was the only thing that was on my mind. It was the only thing I could really Yeah, could really do.

And when you think, because obviously some of the tricks that you do are phenomenal and it looks like they're incredibly scary and there's a great amount of risk involved with that. How do you approach risk and what is your mindset as you approach trying to do something like that?

Yeah, so I think a good example is that when I came to Tarifa and I saw some of the local guys training here, They had really good level, and for about 4 or 5 months, all I wanted is to get to that level. So my goal was to ride with the confidence they had because they never seemed to crash a trick. I was crashing almost every trick, which is fine because there was no pressure. I could crash as much as I wanted. Nobody knew who I was, and nobody really knew what my goal was, so I was free to push as hard as I could. But then when I got to this level where I could do what they could do, and I think it was the first session where my hair stayed dry for about an hour, and then I got, I got nervous because I was thinking, now I'm at the level where they are, and if I get comfortable now, then this is where I'll stay. And I had to readjust. I had to readjust my goal because it I don't want to say from the start of this journey, my goal wasn't to be a world champion. My goal was to try and become a professional kitesurfer. And then when I felt like it was within reach or I actually had a chance, the goal was to win a first competition. And then when you win a first competition, the goal changed again to saying, now I want to be a world champion because now I want to be considered as the the best in the world, and the goals kept changing. So basically it was all about trying to be comfortable being uncomfortable, not ever try to be in the comfort zone and just stay there, because then that would be it. I wanted to, you know, continue to grow.

And it's really interesting what you said about in the beginning nobody knew you, and so it was, it was easy for you to go into the water, crash loads, because it didn't matter. There was no kind of people's eyes watching you. How does— how has that changed now? And do you think that you need— it's kind of like a different level of mindset that you need to think about?

It's something that, that's definitely a bit of a struggle now because I get to the beach and some people will say like, oh, we can't wait to see you kite, we've been waiting all day. And then I don't want to crash because 'Cause I wanna make them proud, you know? But at the same time, I have to constantly be uncomfortable. So I need to push the level for myself in order to keep learning and keep progressing. 'Cause in the sport right now, there's a lot of young kids that are overtaking me left and right, and I cannot be comfortable. So I have to, you know, keep pushing it and keep crashing, even though now my name means something. shouldn't make a difference.

So yeah, and let's talk about goal setting as well, because you mentioned that in the beginning it wasn't your intentional goal to become a world champion. How do you think about goals and progression?

Yeah, I was just saying, I think the reason why I feel so at home in Tarifa is because when I explained the goal, nobody asked me what it would be like, where I would be in 10 years. Which is the normal question in Holland. Like, everyone in my family will ask me this question. And I think it's— I focus right now. I have a goal that I have for this year, or I have a goal for the next competition, but I can't focus on way too far ahead because I want to go step by step. I want to make sure that I set a really high bar right now. But when I get to it, to know that that's not the finish line, so that that finish line keeps moving towards different goals, so that I'm always on top of the game, and to make sure that I'm not in a good position right now, but I'll be in a good position next year and the year after that.

Okay, yeah, and so are you saying that a lot of it is more about the process, the discipline that goes into it, rather than focusing on A specific thing? Go on.

Yeah, I mean, it's, you're working towards the goal. That's obvious. But it's the path towards the goal that you need to, even though it's not comfortable or even though it's a real challenge, that's what you, that's what I try to embrace and what I try to take the most away from is to what happens on the way there. And because It doesn't matter because when you get there, we're going to make a new finish line. So it's not about, you know, only looking at where you're at at the very end, but just enjoying the process of having the struggle and having the discomfort and taking the crashes and this kind of stuff. It's like, it feels a bit weird sometimes, but you enjoy not succeeding because once you do, you're on to the next thing. So you, yeah, you're constantly a bit like in discomfort, I would say.

That's really interesting. What we're talking a lot about at this event is frameworks and frameworks for excellence. Can you tell us a little bit about what your day-to-day looks like in terms of discipline?

Yeah, it's funny, especially this year that I was trying to become a pro, I would kite Probably, if the wind would allow, probably 6 to 7 hours a day. So I had my van parked up at the spot. I would sleep there. And then I'd wake up in the morning, have a quick breakfast, kite for 2 hours, eat something, go to sleep for an hour, wake up, go kite again for 2, 3 hours, eat something, go to sleep. And people were saying, man, you're crazy. But to me, I mean, the biggest hobby in my life. Still it is. Like, I really enjoy kitesurfing. And when I say I'm going to go training, I feel like I'm making a joke because I'm going to go and have fun. And I enjoy what I do so much that it doesn't feel like I'm super disciplined. And when I was— even when I was 16, I wouldn't go party. I would work out in the evening because I really wanted to. And I was always thinking if this could one day be part of my job, that would be amazing. So I think if it really feels like you have to be super motivated or disciplined to do something, then it's not like your passion fully. Because for me, it doesn't feel like I'm training so hard or I'm struggling so hard. I get to be out there for 6 hours a day and I get to call that my job. And that was always my dream.

Okay. One of the things that we've also been speaking about at this event is when you are in a role which requires a lot of pressure, and it's really intense, like the role of a CEO or a founder, one of the most critical things to the success of that person in that role is often their support network. It's something which CEOs and founders, we found, often struggle with actually managing their time and things like that because they're so, so relentlessly focused on their business. But the support network, what we're finding, is something that's so incredibly important in terms of managing mindset and things like that. Can you tell us a little bit about your support network? Is that something that you actively work on?

I'm— I have to say I'm very lucky to have parents and an entire family full of physical therapists. I think I picked the exact right job. So I always have them They really love to come all over the— come around and follow me all over the world to see how we're doing. My girlfriend is also a pro kiter, so we support each other as well. When there is a competition, let's say you ride a heat, it takes 10 minutes and you get your 3 highest scores that determine if you win a heat or not. So you have communication with each other. So I'll ask her, what trick do I need to do? And she'll know exactly what I need to do. And it works the other way around as well. Sometimes can be very, very stressful because I can be running around to caddy her, we call it, for 10 minutes, and then I have to run back to get my gear because my heat's up next. But yeah, that's been, that's been huge. And I make sure that everywhere I go, I have either a good personal trainer or physio or someone that can help me out progressing and taking care of my body because I'm really I'm bad at that part. I like to kite, kite, kite, kite, kite, don't think about anything, and then when I get to bed at night, I'm hungry and nauseous and sick. And so I need, I need people around me to, yeah, to take care of me a bit.

That's awesome. And then one final question is, how do you deal with adversity? Can you give us an example of something that has happened in your life that was Really, really bad and the kind of steps you— or mindset you had when you went to deal with it.

Yeah, so I mean, we deal with injuries. I think I have a very basic way of dealing with injuries. I mean, I get to be upset for a little bit. Usually I give myself a time frame, so I say for an hour I'm going to be grumpy, then I'm going to make a plan, and then we get to work. I had a knee injury about 3 months ago now, and I did exactly that. And it's, it's a very nice approach because you control everything you can, but you don't try to control the things you can't. It's the same with an injury. It's the same with competition. I mean, we have a judging sport, so I do my job and then it's up to the judges to see if they agree with me. So I can't control that part, but I can control this part. So I'm going to play to the rules as much as I can. Or I'm going to be able— I'm going to do whatever I can for this injury. But if it needs time to heal, it needs time to heal. So I make sure that I tend to— I control the controllables and I let go of the things that I can't with a very positive approach.

Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Giel? Yes, Jamie.

What's your final goal?

That would get— I think that would get pretty technical. There's one other kiter here in the audience, so I don't know if I want to tell him. No, there's definitely tricks right now that I would love to work towards. Just the level got incredibly high, and there's very technical riders, and there's riders that Ride with a lot of risk. I ride with a lot of risk, so that means that my tricks get very risky and I need very precise conditions for it. So I'll need about wind strength 10. It's like a proper storm. And then, yeah, I came up with a trick that's called the double kite loop. So in kitesurfing, you had a trick where the kite looped in front of you one time, and I was the first one to say, Why not make it go around twice? And the risk is very high on that. So if I would have to go for a trick that hasn't been done before, it would have to do something with 3 loops and a board off and some rotations to make it— yeah, to make it a dream trick, I would say.

Yeah. So is that why it's a difficult thing to do? Why do you think that is?

Yeah, so that's, that's a very good question. Sometimes you surprise yourself and you've envisioned it for so long that you go out, you do it, and you land it instantly. I love those moments. Unfortunately, they don't happen a lot. But it's also, it's, it's very weather-related, which is something you don't control again. So now it's possible we don't have wind for 2 weeks. So if I want to train, I have to fly somewhere or do something. In order to be able to do something. But if we get weak wind for a week straight and it's good wind, you need to be ready for that week, and you need to be able to train as much as you can in that week. So it's, uh, it's tricky because then I want to learn a new trick, but I need a certain amount of wind, and I get a completely different amount of wind. So it's, uh, it's mentally, it's, it seems very fun and very I think, like, in a way easy because you're not worrying about anything else but just doing tricks and being sponsored. But it's very mental. The whole mental aspect is, I think, a lot bigger than people expect because you don't— you control so little. So if it's not windy, I'll go to the gym and I'll do things that I can do. But then you get wind and it's not exactly what you wanted, or it's more than you wanted, and you have to work on something else. So Yeah, I think that's, uh, for everyone, that's the biggest challenge for sure.

Yeah. I had a question on visualization.

Yes.

How actively do you practice visualization, and what does that look like for you, and what sort of impact, to your point about that trick, does that typically have?

Yeah, no, um, visualization is huge, and not just for a trick. I think also, if you don't envision yourself on the stage holding the trophy, I really don't think it's going to happen. So not just for a trick, but just whatever you're trying to achieve. If you don't see yourself doing it, if you don't believe that, you know, that is— it should be— I think a goal should be almost unrealistic. That's when you know, when you really start to doubt, like, okay, am I now living in a fairy tale? I think that's when you know you have the right goal. And then, yeah, with certain tricks, I've been, especially just before going to sleep, I'm very good at staying awake, going with my eyes closed in bed, like thinking about how that would look and how that would go. And definitely, if you do it a lot, it definitely helps. Yeah.

That's huge. Yeah?

All right, so we have to dig into the personal thing. It's okay. So I was together with my ex-girlfriend for about 3 years. She was a little older than me, so she wanted to get married, she wanted to get kids, and I thought, okay, you know what, I'm, you know, I'm not ready, but I'll make it work. So I decided to, to become the manager for a kite school, and that was going to be my life. And then from one day to the other, she decided not that, not that attractive of a guy, I think.

And then Yeah.

Basically, from one day to the other, my whole idea of what my future is going to look like kind of crumbled away and kind of made me hit rock bottom, let's say. And within a couple of days, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. And I think it's because I was able for this moment to think only about what I wanted instead of, you know, the whole idea of being together, creating a family, stuff like that. And then I didn't really have to think about it for a long time because I think deep inside I always knew, but I just didn't give myself the chance to go for it. And that's also why I started really late. And I'm still in touch with her. She's super nice, and she says she wants 10% of everything I achieve because thanks to her, I decided to go this path. But yeah, once that happened, pretty quickly it was clear exactly what I wanted and I had one moment where I doubted it. I think I was half a year into training, and back then the best kiter I could imagine was Janek, was his name. And I saw him train here in Balneário, and he was doing a front rotation trick with a kite loop and an extra front rotation. And I was unpacking my kite, and I remember looking at him and just thinking, like, what am I doing here? On a kite? Honestly, like, this makes no sense. The way he does it, how easy he makes it look, I don't think I'll ever be able to make that trick look that good. Right now, that trick I can do on any day with my eyes closed, let's say. But what was the craziest part is that at that moment I thought I will never be as good as he is. I called my mom as a 24, 25-year-old, you know, boy all of a sudden, and I told her like, I just saw him kite and This is ridiculous. And my mom just said, you gave yourself a year, it's half a year, so you can call me after 6 months. And she hung up. And about a year later, I have a competition here in Tarifa, and I finished the final riding against Yannick, and one of my better friends, a pro kiter as well, came out— when I came out of the water, he said, I genuinely don't know who won. And that was like, you know, a moment where you say whatever feels like it's out of reach, as long as you just keep working on the short goals, you have no idea what you're going to be able to achieve. Because that trick right now, honestly, is for a lot of people is an easy trick.

Thank you so much. I'm going to have to have a big round of applause for Gilles. Thank you so much. And I'm gonna invite to the stage the next person who is also excellent in her own right. Suzanne Jacobs is actually a Revallesco specialist in organizational behavior and leadership. But what's most interesting about Suzanne, I think, is that Suzanne has spent over a decade in studying neurobiology and human performance. And Suzanne is named one of the top 100 thought leaders in the world.

Thank you.

by Trust Across America.

Thank you, Gail. Thank you, Emily. And thank you actually for just being here. It's been absolutely fantastic. I've been incredibly inspired by so many. So today I want to just take you through my take on this, sort of the new— embracing the new era in this new industrial era. And I want to be able to relate it back to everything Gail has said, so thank you very much. My potted history: I am an ex-ballet dancer, long time ago, so I understand what it takes to be— and I never was elite, but I was good, I was very good— and the pressure and the performance and the dedication. Now, I retrained as an accountant Still don't know why, but I did. And I had a fantastic corporate career, and I really enjoyed it. But throughout my entire time there, and, you know, was very lucky to have a very serious role within one of the Big Four accountancy firms, I led very large teams across geographic borders, across M&As, restructuring, corporate hokey-cokey of insourcing, outsourcing. And really what I was was not an accountant, I was a leader. And what I always wanted to understand, and what always surprised me coming from ballet and understanding how to get performance, and obviously mental and physical performance, it wasn't being translated in the workplace. And I wanted to understand how to create the conditions that actually allowed everybody who worked with me, everybody I relied on, their amazing talents, to be able to genuinely thrive. Now, this presentation, that word thrive, you'll hear a few other words as well that you will hear often. But what I want to be able to bring you, and what my research was in, and what I, I wanted to do, I was hungry to understand, was not just the word But what is it? Why does it matter? And most importantly, how do I do it? And as a theme all the way through this event is that there is a framework. What, Giel, what you achieved, it looks like magic. It's not. It's a process. It takes time. And it takes relentless focus. So I want to be able to relate back to that. Now, what's fascinated me in my research and my time I left the corporate world just over a decade ago and went into— back into academia, into research, looked at the human operating system. Because I knew that whilst I had these amazing engagement results, I was still leading blindly.

I—

and by the way, I think a lot of the engagement reviews that we do every year with those surveys actually don't give us what we need. They're not as insightful as we need them to be. I was leading blindly. I may have got good scores, but I didn't know how, and where I needed to improve, I didn't know how. So I gave myself a question, and I went back into academia. And what I realized is that the absolute DNA of the human operating system was being scuppered by the environment in which the corporate world manifested itself, how we'd created it. Look, we're in a really, really difficult time. We all know that. You heard that from previous presentations, so I'm not going to harp on about that. We also know that we're in a productivity paradox. Our productivity is declining, and yet technology obviously is increasing. We're in a precipice of emerging technologies, all of which you have heard, but we are still using outdated leadership methodology. And actually what's fascinating to me is that some of that leadership methodology goes back to the first industrial era. We're in the fourth. And that first industrial era is when Frederick Taylor— I'm sure you've all heard of it— wrote his Science of Management. And where Henry Ford was purported to say, you know, why is it that every time I get a pair of hands I get a brain attached? We've got to change the playbook. We've got to create something new in how we actually support the human operating system. Because you are unbelievably amazing. We all are. We are still the most complex thing known to us. You breathe in and out about 23,000 times a day. Your heart beats 120,000 times a day. Your nerve signals travel through 46 miles of nerve cabling at around 274 kilometers an hour. And all of this and so much more operated by your central operating system residing in complete darkness inside and between your ears. We know more, we still only scratch the surface when it comes to neurobiology and neurochemistry and neuroscience, but we do know much more about what this operating system needs to be able to help us truly thrive and truly perform. And yet so much of what we do works contrary to our biology. The World Economic Forum— and they do this about every 4 years— releases its top 10 skills for the workplace. I'm sure none of these are of surprise to you. I've added focus because I firmly believe— and I'm going to talk a little bit more about that— that actually in this overwhelming information, data-driven environment, we have got to be able to cut out the noise. So I've added that one because, you know, who am I to tell the World Economic Forum they didn't have enough? But the one thing that you probably realize in all of these things— and this is the difference, this is the rub— they are all human. They are all inherently human skills. Now, for me, in this precipice of emerging technologies and everything we've spoken about, is we need to embrace this. It changes the parameters. It changes everything that we're doing. And we need to have that new leadership playbook. Because the only way you can get to these skills and unlock is to ensure that you create the conditions that this operating system and design requires. But we're not given physiology or biology lessons or neuroscience lessons when we become leaders. And I realized— and actually one of my epiphany moments when I decided to make a shift back into academia to really understand this— is that I was given more information about how to ensure that my computer didn't overheat, and it needed a plug socket. And through personal experience, that you don't drop coffee on it and expect it to work. But I knew very, very, very little about the operating systems of all of those individuals that I was relying on. So I'm going to talk to you next about one of the most— in fact, the top pieces that we need to understand, and that's our environment. And we call it culture. There you go, there's a word. We hear it a lot. What is it? Well, we are social creatures. We imitate, we copy, we absorb. And we are actually subject to what's sometimes called the morphogenetic field. And just like this beautiful murmuration of starlings, we absorb and assimilate what's around us. We don't even know that we're doing it. And in fact, around 70% of all our behavior and our performance and how we show up and how we interact is based around the ecosystem in which we find ourselves in. So we place this back into the workplace. What's the environment that we are working and living and breathing in? Now, of this 70%, there is a very important number because you as senior leaders, as CEOs, and every single one of your leaders has a 75% influence within that 70% on the engagement variance of your teams. Now, I doubt not there's one of you in here that understands the importance of an engaged team. So for me, I started thinking about the fact that actually, really, maybe we should be thinking about what our role really is. So I've been slightly flippant here and thought about the fact that actually Chief Ecosystem Officer or Chief Environmental Officer— because actually at the crux of it, we can only create the conditions where people can come into to be able to thrive and to perform and to connect. So that's culture. It is the silent pattern shaper of your organization, and it will just happen. It will work exactly as it was designed, but not necessarily by you. It will help us fail, or it will help us thrive. But what we can do is we can become conscious architects of the culture, the experience, the ecosystem that we have in the workplace. So how do we do it? Well, this is where I want to introduce you to a framework. Now, I want to— I'm going to go through each of these, but one of the things that is very critical here is that these 4 dimensions of human performance and human leadership, and in fact can be applied in any form or context where there is a human being and they need to perform. This entire framework is actually a significantly large curriculum. Underneath each one of these are evidence-based— and I'm extremely fussy, they have to be evidence-based tools and techniques. So this is the how. This is the applicable, practical tools that your leaders, yourself, and even all of your teams can learn and understand to be able to create the conditions for optimal thriving. So I'm going to take you through each one of them. And the first one is trust, and it's always first. What is trust? We hear trust, we talk about trust. Well, in this context, it is a neurological brain-safe state. It contains the all-important psychological safety, but it goes a lot further. And it is not magic. It is a formula. It is a recipe that can be applied through evidence-based and practical tools. But trust itself is absolutely the foundation. Oh, nope, gone the wrong way, gone the wrong way. There we go. It is the performance currency. When your brain interprets its environment— and of course we're talking about the workplace— as safe, it will switch on your reward mechanism. Now that's chemical. You will flood your body with fantastic chemicals— serotonin, oxytocin, dopamine. Some of them you may have heard about. They have health-giving properties, but they also spark intrinsic motivation. And at only that point do you get engagement, performance, connection, well-being, health outcomes. And of course, the outcome of those is the results and success of your organization. So we've got to go back. We've heard a lot about root cause. We've got to start here at trust. Now don't take my word for it. Trust itself has been studied and researched, and I'm going to give you a few stats just to back it up. I'm very happy to share anything just to be able to show you exactly what that evidence is. But to create a state of real trust, brain safety, organisations that do that— and this is Paul Zak's work, he's probably one of the leading researchers— they have 74% less stress, 106% more energy. We've talked about energy here. 76%— sorry, higher productivity, 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement, and we'll talk about engagement in just a moment, and 40% less burnout. These figures are really, really significant. This is the driving force of human performance, the baseline and the foundation. And this is the culture, the experience, the ecosystem that you are looking to be able to create. But we're getting it wrong again and again. Trust or distrust permeates our organizations, and the behaviors you see are They are from everything from ego-fueled power plays to siloed working to isolated decision-making to ill health and stress. And what we also know from the figures and where we're getting it wrong is that actually our stress levels are rising. Now, there are many reasons for this, but actually part of— the major part is workplace stress. But let me just get it clear. When I talked about engagement, when we talk about disengagement, we are not talking about your worst employees. We're not talking about those that are actively seeking to destroy or to leave or to quit. I mean, you've heard of probably quiet quitting. This is a sort of a level of low-level complacency that individuals aren't Even aware of. The environment is dampening their intrinsic motivation. So unintentionally and unconsciously, they are withholding loyalty. They're withholding energy. They come into work, they do their job, they go through the motions, and they go back home again. And our engagement levels have dropped again, and they have been dropping significantly over the last 5 to 6 years. So in the UK, we are now one of the lowest in the entirety of Europe. In the US, there's only about a quarter of employees that are said to be engaged. And Gallup, who I follow very closely because their research is superb, equates the complacency effect of disengagement to 18% to 34% of annual salary. They know that it— There's about 37% greater absenteeism in disengaged or complacent individuals. And this links directly, actually, to a level of stress that they're experiencing. And there's 15% lower profitability. Personally, I think that's edging on the side of caution. So we are getting it wrong, and we need to change it. But it's not magic. As I said, there is a formula. We know exactly what the brain equates to as brain safe. Now, in addition to your food and your shelter and all of those wonderful things that you need for physical survival, there are 7 elements. There's a recipe of 7 elements of which, if you apply to yourselves and for your team and in that environment, you will create a trust culture. And one of those elements, and that Gail spoke about so eloquently is about purpose. It's about that North Star. It's about— and we've heard it so many times throughout these last couple of days. Now, one of the things that I really want to be able to emphasize here is that purpose needs to have an emotional attachment. It is not your KPIs. It is not your annual growth figure. It is not your targets. This is all about actually that unwavering emotional attachment to what your organization stands for and how you create it. And as we heard from Ben, what is the narrative? What is the story that aligns your entire team together? Now, it has a significant impact in the organization, and we underlook it and we under— we underestimate its power in the organization. But when we also deliver it onto our and picking up on what Gail has said, it's goals have short-term deadlines. Purpose is unmovable, it's unwavering. And when we live personally on purpose and with purpose, it actually equates to around 7 years of extra life. It's incredibly significant. This is— if anybody's looked at this, this is the Blue Zones research, which is almost 50 years old now. with National Geographic and the adventurer Dan Buettner. So purpose is so incredibly important when we're actually talking about elite performance. Now, conscious compassion is the next one along, and I've got a question for you. So raise of hands, or not, if you answer this question: has anyone here never felt stressed or anxious?

No.

Good. Diagnosis normal. Now that is really, really, really important in cognitive techniques and tools. Normalisation of distress or stress itself and anxiety, the human condition if you like, as we often call it, is a tool in and of itself. But you experience significant pressure, uncertainty, ambiguity, change, as you grow, as you scale. You will suffer some setbacks, adversity. We heard everything that Gil said there, and he allowed himself some time to be grumpy. Absolutely. It is not the event, it is not what happens, it's our response that truly matters. And that leadership amplification effect that I spoke about, that 75% influence on the engagement variability in your teams comes directly from you. So how you respond to a setback, how you communicate— and our emotions are contagious— will significantly affect how your team will affect— will respond to that adversity. But in this environment is resilience. We heard Simon talk about that yesterday. It's emotional regulation. emotional literacy. We can learn how to do this. You are all resilient. You wouldn't be here if you weren't. But about only 25% of resilience has a genetic loading. The rest of it is all learnt. And you can teach it, and you can strengthen it, and you can bolster it to be able to navigate, and all your teams to be able to navigate through adversity. To be able to manage threat and and danger, and to be able to navigate through that. So I just want to do a quick exercise. I'm hoping this is going to work. I want to show how quickly we can bring threat into any situation. So can I ask you, and if you're not perhaps with people that you're close to, or maybe turn around, can you just turn to somebody next to you or behind you, and between the two of you can decide who's A and who's B?

A.

Okay, A's in the room. A's in the room, I promise it's all fine, it's easy. A's in the room, I just want you to just chat about something that you are interested in, you're passionate about, something that You know, just inspires you. Now, it can be work, it can be your kids, it can be anything. This is not about sharing stuff you don't want to share. Just talk about— I mean, even being here. Just chat about your experiences, whatever it may be. Bees, good old active listening. I want you to just sit and listen, converse, ask questions, have a conversation. Be there. Go.

Hi.

I'm going to get you to stop there. I always feel a bit mean stopping this experiment, and it is an experiment. It's been used in research a great deal. So, in A's, I want you— this is going to be second round time, but I want A's, I want you to do exactly what you're doing. You can change the subject if you want to, but just talk, just converse, continue with it. But B's— Oh, God.

Oh.

Now you can get out your phone. I want the best acting. The only thing I'm not going to allow you to do is get up and walk out the room. So get out your phone, turn your back, do whatever. Bit of best acting, okay? So go. So that's actually called the still face experiment. But actually, one of the most important things here is the fact that actually I didn't give you secret instructions. You just— and thank you very much for that acting, Bea, that was fantastic. But I just want to ask a couple of questions. A, how did it feel first time round?

Great.

Yeah? What was great?

Well, we immediately found common ground and had a proper conversation.

Common ground. Yeah, yeah. And actually, common ground in the recipe of trust is incredibly powerful, actually, because it means your brain says, I get you, you get me, ah, you're safe. So it's an interesting one. So common ground, it felt great. What else, A's? What else did you experience? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yes, definitely. What else did it feel like? Just being absolutely listened to. Loved. Loved. There is not enough love. Yes, important. That's really— that and that itself is really important because actually—

It made me feel so good.

Yeah, because we are all looking to be seen for who we are, to be recognized and to be valued. Bs, how much did you learn about the other person?

No.

Yeah? Okay. Second time round. A, tell me what happened to the conversation. It wasn't a conversation. It wasn't a conversation. Tell me what happened, Erin. Emily started leaving a voice note to someone else. That was good, I like that, well done!

That was great.

What else? Anybody else? What else happened to the conversation, A's? What did you experience? Switched off, yeah. What did you feel? What were the emotions associated with? With switching off. Anxiety? Yeah, absolutely. Insecurity? Yeah, okay, hold on to that a minute, I'm going to come back to that. B's, how much did you learn in that second time round or hear?

No.

No, no, no, absolutely. Look, it was a bit of fun. So it's an age-old experiment, but it's actually a demonstration of how quickly we inject threat. Now, if I relate this back, I'm not going to ask anybody to put their hands up and confess, but, you know, how often do you ever see, perhaps in a meeting, when devices come out? Or on conference calls when the video screen is switched off? So we've got to be really, really careful about how we show up and how we interact. Because, as I said, I didn't give you secret instructions. But what I did do, and what bees you did to the other person is you switched on their threat mechanism. You switched their neurochemistry just like that. Now you're in danger. Now you're in threat. Now the anxiety starts. And depending on how you feel, you'd either want to sort of run away or, you know, the freeze or flight and vital— or fight or flight system starts getting switched on. And it's that quick. And that's the difference. You remember—

Yes.

Remember the diagram that Simon put on yesterday? today, with the limbic system and the neocortex or the prefrontal cortex here. So your rational brain sits here. Your ability to think, problem solve, it's all in here. But that gets switched off as soon as your middle brain or your limbic system notices threat. If I put you in an fMRI scanner, I would see glucose, blood supply being removed from your prefrontal cortex. Because you are supposed to get out of the way of danger. You're supposed to run away, you're supposed to fight, you're supposed to defend. But what we see in our corporate environments is defense behaviors, and it happens that quickly. And just to add to that, if in any situation that happens and it continues to happen, and particularly with that leadership amplification effect, you can encode And what that means is that you then sit in the threat files of that other person. When you picked up that phone, or you continued doing something, or you switched off your screen, if you were not there and they felt you were not there, they felt that undervalue, they felt that anxiety and that threat mechanism, that is then encoded. So they may just see an email float in from you, and the threats— the threat system starts again. So really, we've got to really think about it. But as I say, all of the tools in here, the art of communication is in here, the art of connection, collaboration, and that self-regulation piece. It can be taught. The next one I want to talk about is, and we've spoken about this a lot, is focus and focused drive. Now, Gail, I mean, I mean, I go to the gym Occasionally. I mean, amazing, that level of focus. And yes, okay, a lot of us are not going to be able to achieve that or even perhaps want to. We don't have the passion that he does in that particular field. But in our organization, how much of the stuff you are doing is noise? How much time— and this is just a very simple framework— how much time are Attention and energy, and they are different things. We have 168 hours in the week, as you said, we can all use that. But how is your attention, your energy consumed? Now, when I work with senior leaders and CEOs, we go through this, and it's a bit like going to a nutritionist, and they ask you about your diet, and you create a diary. Starting to understand how you are consuming your time, energy, and attention versus the value you are bringing. Geoffrey Moore said it yesterday brilliantly in terms of high-value individuals doing low-level, low-value tasks. How many of your tasks are here? How many of them are $20 tasks versus $20,000 tasks at the top? How much is what I call pseudo-control tick inboxing, continuing with your emails, back-to-back meetings? How much of it is truly creating value? Now, the rub here is you have got to know what your priorities are, and you've got to start there. Those 3 to 5 top valuables, as I call them, those priorities that actually are truly driving your business. And what we know is that you and every single member of your across your organization needs to be spending at least 80% of their time in what I call the value lane, producing and contributing their innate skills and talents in a culture of safety to be able to prioritize the priorities. So I'm not going to focus a lot more on that because we have spoken a great deal about it. But I think it's demonstrated that wherever there is human performance, you have to get rid of the noise and you have to focus on what is most valuable. But you have to know what is most valuable to start with. And actually, as Simon said in his presentation yesterday, working out for yourself what is most valuable and putting time, energy, and attention to it can significantly shift life satisfaction. But what I want to focus on is actually your cognitive energy. So we are designed to pulse with our energy and our cognitive attention. And I want you to imagine that you've actually got a fuel tank in your brain. And that fuel tank is subject to a biological rhythm, sometimes called an ultradian rhythm, or sometimes called the waking-rest-activity cycle. You all have it, we all have it, and we cannot cheat it. But we try to. And a lot of what we do in organizations tries to cheat it as well. So you're— so imagine you've got a full fuel tank, you come into work or you start work, and you have different attentional networks in your brain. And the 2 that I've got here are the task-focused network, sometimes called the central executive network, and here you get stuff done. You're using up that fuel tank. You're learning, you're taking on new information. You're reading that report, whatever it might be. But your fuel tank gets used up. Now, this shows like a sort of a perfect curve. It's not. The bandwidth between task and needing to recharge because you're now working on fumes will change depending on the emotional intensity of what you're doing, the complexity of what you're doing, how new it is. If something is, as they say, I can do it with my eyes closed, You'll have a far greater bandwidth. Your fuel tank will continue much longer. But whether you like it or not— actually, let me ask, how many of you here have had that experience when you have been reading a book, reading a page, a report, and you realize that you've read the same line twice, 3 times? Yeah, or me, like a whole page and didn't actually take anything in. Now, assuming you're not bored, Because that is actually a factor. You are now working on fumes. So that's a classic signal. And a lot of this is about learning your own signals and what happens to you and your own biology when you start to run on fumes. Now, whether you like it or not, your brain is going to take a break. It moves into what's called the default mode network. And I'm going to talk a bit more about this incredible space that we need to leverage in a moment. But we have to pulse. How many of you take breaks? A normal day, how many of you take breaks throughout your day? Great, well done. How many of you take between 10 and 15 breaks? Yes, thank you, Charlie. Well done. She's like, that's interesting. It's like, oh, I probably do. Is that okay? Yes, we have to pulse. And the harder something is, the more emotional something is, how pressurized it is, the more you have to pulse with your energy. The key here is what Giel demonstrated is that he was— he actually— Only 5 minutes? Gosh, I thought we had more than that. Okay, I'm going to have to wrap up then quite quickly. So what Giel demonstrated is that— and no athlete ever would build in, you know, relentless pursuit of something without actually being able to bring in management of breaks and energy. And he said obviously the physical aspect of him not doing that. What we do if we do not pulse with our energy throughout the day— and now I deliberately didn't ask you how long a break was, this can be just a couple of minutes— what happens is you get a cognitive gap. This is really important. Now you might try to push on through with a sugary snack or the coffee, and that will work for a smidgen, but that That's right. That's right. That's the line there. If you haven't taken a break and if you get home and you are just really fatigued, you know, don't even bother asking my name. You're— the quality of your decision-making is the equivalent of having a couple of glasses of wine. It just doesn't feel as good. So it's really, really significant. We have got— we cannot cheat our biology. We have to take our foot off the pedal in order to go faster. Now, I said I'd promise to Let's talk about the default mode. Now, yes, this is a place of recharge and refuel. It could be just a couple of minutes of cloud watching, coffee sipping, you know, time. It is not a break where you put down the report and pick up your emails or your social media. That's another cognitive task. It has to be, you know, close your eyes, put the pen down, go for a walk. Do not let your mind do anything. If I, again, if I put you in a scanner, I would see that blood supply coming back into that prefrontal cortex. And now you can go back to work. Just those micro-moments. Yes, sometimes you need longer, of course you do. But actually, the micro-moments are really about the way of pulsing. But this is a really magic space. Here, it's not just about recharge. Your brainwaves change and they change quite significantly. It is only here that you take learning that you've taken on board and the task and you turn it into wisdom. Because it's here— yeah.

Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. You just said something interesting.

I think there is, in the break, in the rest, you said turn your brain off. So, so it's not, it's not about turn your brain off. This is about not picking up another cognitive task. What about when you're thinking about other things, does that still count as a break? If you're off— actually, this is— that's a really good point, so I'm going to come to exactly that point. Your brain never ever stops working, but if you pick up and don't allow your brain to just recharge, then you never fill that fuel tank back up again. But picking up on your point is that your brain, as I say, never ever ever stops working. Even when you're asleep, it never ever stops working. stops working. And what it does in those different brainwaves that you then are in, in the default mode, is that you turn learning into wisdom. Let me just ask very quickly, where are you when you get your best ideas?

Shower. Running.

Yeah. Anybody when you're just sat at your desk and looking at the screen? Now, that's not to say you won't get some ideas occasionally, but actually that's the default mode. Now, for what it is What works for you— running, exercising, walking the dog, in the shower— that's personal in terms of how it works for you. But we have to leverage this. We need to be able to do this because actually not only does that, it also is a problem solver. So when your brain is not working, you're actively thinking about 1,000 things, this is where you get the moments of insight. And actually you can see it when somebody gets a moment of insight and a problem is solved. They go, oh, oh, there it is. So it's innovation, it's problem-solving. This is a really magic space. And I said originally in those top 10 skills, focus was one of the most important aspects. Well, here is what I term cognitive advantage. And an organization that actually is able to— I'm going to bypass this one— is able to really tap into individual and collective brainpower will win out in this new amazing era of work. But we've got to create those conditions. This relentless back-to-back meetings, you know, Slack, email, WhatsApp all circling around us, all of these things that we do and we don't allow ourselves breaks. And often it can feel countercultural and counterintuitive to take your foot off the pedal. But the more you have, the more you need to be able to do those micro-breaks. And finally, I want to talk to you about systems connection. And again, I'm not going to go a great deal on this actually, because Geoffrey put it beautifully yesterday. This morning Pete did that beautiful piece around the engine and the components of it. Systems connection— and I am a huge fan of systems leadership— this is about working on the business. Not just in the business. It's about being able to see every single cog, the interplay, the interdependency. And you want you and the entirety of your SLT, and ideally all of your team, understanding the butterfly effect of every decision they make. To be able to look at the system and to be able to work it back. If there's a problem, where's the root cause? To be able to visualize— and I do use a lot of imaginal rehearsal Somebody asked about it earlier. And Gil actually shows us how a whole system, his entire team— I'm very lucky he's got all those physiotherapists— but his entire body, his entire team, this is the entire system. You have to work on it all. And there is a framework in order to be able to do it. You cannot split out your operations, your people, your product service, your strategic goals, all held together by the linchpin of purpose and your values. You can't split out any one of those. As Peter Senge— actually, if anybody's read The Fifth Discipline, it's still one of my favorite books. It's pretty old now. But actually, in terms of system leadership, I love this quote: You have to work on the whole thing. You have to be able to be in control of all of the components and how they work. So then you can actually, rather than unintended consequences of decisions and decisions made in isolation. And I still work with so many leaders who are consumed in the weeds and those decisions that are isolated and siloed teams that actually have disastrous effect throughout the system. So you get unintended consequences. Instead, what we're looking for is to leverage emergent properties through the system. So we can do work better. We can create the conditions where the human operating system can thrive, really thrive, because we are working with our physiology, our neuroscience, and our biology. It's about applying the frameworks, because as we move forward and we start to resource humans in this new era of work, we can create excellence as standard because you are using evidence-based frameworks and methodology. And just like Giel, you can work through that process. Yes, it takes time, it takes huge insight, it takes a lot of application, but it can be done and it's evidenced. So thank you very much.

Thank you.