In this keynote‑style talk, Dr. Shiny Unsal, creator of Neuroshine Technology and UCLA Extension professor, addresses how leaders can navigate the COVID‑19 crisis. She presents two core insights. The first centers on emotional intelligence, emphasizing hope, resilience, and courage as the mental foundation that shapes a leader’s ability to manage stress, uncertainty, and to set an optimistic tone for teams, partners, and stakeholders. She introduces the "shiny mind" concept – a practice of interrupting fear, doubt, and negative thinking to cultivate a clear, hopeful mindset that can be contagious. The second insight focuses on future vision: leaders must pause, clarify their goals, and steer conversations toward purposeful, action‑oriented topics rather than blame or complaint. By combining a hopeful, resilient mindset with a compelling vision, leaders can inspire and magnetically attract others, whether in business, family, or social contexts. The talk includes historical references (Napoleon’s quote on hope), pandemic unemployment statistics, and a call to share the message and continue personal development.
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It combines the power of the mind with the wisdom of your heart, and it just helps you to unlock your potential. Put your hands together for Gary Vaynerchuk! Hey everyone, welcome to my Shiny Minds Show. My name is Shiny Unsal. I am the creator of Neuroshine Technology and a professor of leadership communication strategies at UCLA Extension. Today I want to talk to you about leadership in times of crisis and what truly matters for all. You know, we are experiencing a very truly interesting time in our lives, and this time in history is definitely going to be remembered forever. And as we are facing these times, how are we facing ourselves as a leader? That is the conversation that I want to have with you today. And as a professor of leadership communication strategy, strategies. Since 2012, I have been teaching different topics and different perspectives about leadership, and today I wanted to take this opportunity and to share two insights that I have. Only two because they are the most important, if you ask my opinion, and especially in times of crisis like we are facing with coronavirus today, it is important to remember that it's all about the mindset before anything else, because mindset is related with health. And health is correlated, directly related with what we think, how we think about it, what emotions that we experience. And for that, I am going to bring to you someone from history. You'll join me in welcoming Napoleon Bonaparte, ladies and gentlemen. He said, "A leader is a dealer in hope." What does that mean? Well, obviously we are facing very, very uncertain times, chaos, chaotic crisis. People are losing jobs. Only in United States, the unemployment was around 200,000 people. Right now, in only one month into the crisis of coronavirus pandemic, actually a better word, the unemployment number as of today is 3.3 million people. So it's more than 10x in only a month, which is a lot. So it makes us think, What is going on in the world and where is this world going? I mean, it's gonna end, but how is it gonna end? And truly, how it's gonna end depends on us, especially us as leaders. So if you consider yourself as a leader, and I'm just like assuming that you do because that's why you're watching this video, right? If you are a leader, here is the first question I want you to ask yourself. How are you handling this uncertainty? With hope or without hope? Because that is the very fundamental perspective and insight that I would love to share, because hope is not only necessary and critical for your wellbeing, but also for the wellbeing of your employees, your colleagues, your business partners, your vendors, your clients, your shareholders, whoever that you work with. It is important for you to step up to a new level of leadership and remember everything begins with your emotional intelligence. So that is my number 1 insight. Emotional intelligence also stands, you know, for like EQ. It is, especially today, it is about hope, it's about courage, it's about resilience. If you're hearing what I'm hearing, there is like sirens going on right now at the background. That is a part of the chaos we're experiencing. It's happening every day. And how do you handle it? Do you have resilience? Resilience stands for your ability to come back up after you fall down. It's not like— this time is teaching us that it's not about not falling at all. It's about how fast you come back up after you fall, and that is about resilience. If you have the resilience, if you have the ability to manage the levels of stress, then manage the levels of uncertainty and the levels of chaos, and everybody asking you questions, everybody like coming to you because they're looking up to you, because you are the leader, because you have something to share, you have something to say, and the way you manage yourself, your own emotions, your emotions is going to set the tone of your teams, your clients, your business partners, your shareholders. I got the goosebumps when I'm talking about these things because it's true. So especially in very volatile times like this, like coronavirus is hitting us, it's important to focus on hope, resilience, and courage. We can talk about so many other emotions. We can talk about so many ways to improve your emotional intelligence, But what I see in the world today, right now, my insight is that if you can tap into your levels of hope, the way you give hope to yourself, the way you use your brain, the way you order your neurons, your neurons, order is in. You're going to keep me hopeful. You're going to keep me positive and optimistic because we need it more than ever now. So if you're able to do that, then you're able to give that to others. And especially with courage, if you're able to give yourself the courage, like, I got this, right? Hashtag, I got this. Then this is going to be contagious. Just like coronavirus, you will be able to spread the virus of positive thinking. The positive thinking in terms of hope, resilience, and courage. That is what the world needs from you right now. As a leader, you need to step up and you need to manage those fear, doubt, worry, and all that negative thinking patterns, and you need to interrupt them and you need to step into what I call your shiny mind, because with shiny minds, we can actually get rid of all the fear, all the doubt, all the worry, and that is exactly what is needed from you right now. With your emotional intelligence, when you are able to tap into your shiny mind, When you're able to bring up, like, get that clarity, get that courage, get that hope and resilience inside of you and share it with your team as a leader, then you are doing well. In, in terms of crisis, this is how you show up as a leader, and this is what the world needs very much from you. That was my first insight. Second insight, future vision. More than ever before, your team and people around you is looking at you for answers. Maybe you don't have a business. You don't need to have a business to be a leader. Maybe you're a mom, right? Maybe your kids are looking at you for answers, or maybe you are a very good friend. You are such a good friend, you have that high level of coaching skills, and you're able to provide insights, you're able to provide your opinion, your perspective in so powerful ways that people look up to you and people come to you for advice. And maybe you're a good friend and just like a social leader. And even for that, you need your emotional intelligence that we talked about, and you need your vision, your future vision. Where are you going? Where is everybody going? What are you telling people? Are you inviting them to conversations that are not going anywhere? Or are you inviting them to conversations that you are talking about your goals and dreams and plans and actions? What is your conversation about? I want you to think about it. So literally, like, pause this video if you need to and think about your conversations today. What are you talking about? Are you complaining? Are you, like, blaming some people, some countries, some country managers, economy? Whatever. Maybe you're doing that and you're not aware. So it is time for you to become aware and pause and literally think. And here's how thinking looks like. Okay, I mean it. I'm just demonstrating it to you because this very activity of pausing and and literally spending time inside your brain is not happening in the world. Literally, my friend, it's not happening in the world. We are not using our brain power. This is the machine. If you really know how to use this machine, you're gonna be unstoppable, and you're going to create such a compelling future vision that everybody is going to be be magnetically drawn into you if you're able to tap into the power of your brain. And please do that. Please take the time. You are a leader. Leaders are readers. Leaders are thinkers. Leaders are trendsetters, future shapers. They are go-getters. They are the leaders of whole planet, and the world needs them. The world needs you. So I would love to remind you something from a very, very, very historic name that you see right here. So here's how I'm going to end it with: Do humane, do not worry, the wise are not perplexed. And the courageous have no fear. So it's your time, my friends, to really step into the next level of your leadership and to remember that life is a beautiful game that you can play on your own terms, successfully and joyfully. And it's your time to unlock your true potential and to become who you are meant to be. Do you know why? Because the ones who win the game of life and make their difference as a leader, they have love and they have shiny minds. I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. If you like this video, please share with your friends. You might be helping someone who really needs to hear this. And subscribe to my channel to become more and achieve more.
