March 1, 2025 • 32 mins
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In this third and final episode of our mini-series on how to become a Human-AI Coach, Dr. Jon Finn dives into the critical role of creating Brain State Intelligent Cultures in organizations.
Building on concepts from his book Train Your Brain for the AI Revolution, Dr. Finn explores why businesses are struggling to extract value from AI investments—not because of the technology itself, but because of cognitive overload in their people.
He explains how organizations can succeed by focusing on Brain State optimization, and why a Brain State Intelligent Culture will be the key to thriving in the AI era.
Drawing parallels to Lean Six Sigma, Dr. Finn presents a systematic approach for organizations to cultivate high-performing cultures where both humans and AI tools work together seamlessly.
Listen as he outlines the nine essential factors for creating this transformation and how businesses can position themselves as pioneers in this new era of cognitive performance.
Don’t miss this crucial episode to understand how you can lead the charge in creating organizations that are not just AI-driven, but human-centered—and how becoming a Human-AI Coach can help individuals and organizations unlock their full potential.
Tune in now!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello Habit Mechanics .
It's Dr John Finn here.
I hope you're having a greatweek so far.
So this is part three of ourhow to Become a Human AI Coach
mini-series, where we're going abit deeper into some of the
later chapters in our new bookTrain your Brain for the AI
(00:24):
Revolution the proven four, fourstep system to become
irreplaceable, no tech skillsrequired.
And our overarching point inthis little mini series, but
also in the book, is, if we wantto capitalise on the amazing
(00:46):
opportunities that ai revolutionholds or can potentially
deliver for us individually andcollectively, we need to move
away from this tech-centricapproach and have a more human
centric approach to it.
It's not the tools themselvesthat are going to make the
(01:06):
difference.
It's how humans are able to usethem and actually how humans
are able to continue developingthem.
And that's what we've beentalking about in the first two
parts of of this mini series,and we've been spotlighting the
role of human AI coaches.
When we train people to becomehuman AI coaches, we call it
(01:30):
becoming a certified handmechanic AI edge coach and this
I think that that professionwill become the most important
profession for our species, ifit isn't already, and hopefully
what you've seen in the last twoparts is that, although
(01:53):
cognitive performance mightsound a little bit intangible,
what human AI coaches do is verytangible, is very impactful.
Tangible is very impactful andis vital if individuals and
(02:14):
organizations want to becomesuccessful.
And in part three we can kindof zoom out a little bit here
and think about this at anorganizational level.
The chapter I'm going to sharewith you is called, so it's
chapter 28, and it'sunderstanding brain states at
scale, creating brain stateintelligent cultures.
There's a few things I want toget into here.
First of all, big, compellingsets of data show that 74% of
(02:39):
companies are failing I'm justreading this out are failing to
extract meaningful value fromtheir ai investments, and new
research from um, bcg and theworld economic forum shows the
(03:00):
the primary reason for thatfailure is not the technology,
it's people.
That is the barrier and it'snot people's fault.
It's just that people arementally fatigued and they're
cognitively overloaded.
So we're not going to get thegrowth in our economies that we
(03:20):
desperately need if we want tohave the countries that we want,
that we want to have and theschools and the education
systems and get the pay risesthat we want if our businesses
can't grow and the main thingthat's currently holding
businesses back from growing isthat they're not able to
capitalise on this new AItechnology because people are,
(03:41):
frankly, burnt out, they'retired, they're fatigued, they're
overloaded, and the way that wecan just break that down into
simple terms is that people'sbrain states balance is not good
.
They're not doing enoughrecharge, they're sucked into
too much medium charge.
That means they can't get intohigh chargecharge brain states.
(04:01):
So if businesses want tosucceed, they're going to have
to help their people to improvetheir cognitive performance,
improve how they manage brainstates, and that means they have
to address this at the culturallevel.
And I know that word culture cansometimes feel intangible, and
(04:24):
for me, understanding languageis always easiest when we go
back to the genesis of thingslike what?
Where does that word come from?
Well, culture just is from theword cultivate, which is a latin
word which is to do withagriculture.
Right, it's to do with farmingand cultivating the land so you
can grow your crops, and thethat word has been borrowed into
(04:51):
hr or human performance fieldsto explain the culture in a, an
organization and a team in aparticular group of people.
So the culture should cultivatethe behaviors that are most
(05:12):
helpful for that group of people.
And the way that I think aboutthis is that, if we just take a
business, for example, think ofit like a farm and we've got
these people on our farm andwe're trying to grow them and
(05:33):
we're trying just because itcreates a really vivid visual
we're trying to grow them andwe're trying to help them to
flourish, we're trying tonourish them and nurture them to
be able to do that.
But actually, if we want to getthis right, we need to go a
level deeper.
It's not the people that areactually trying to grow, it's
(05:53):
our habits, because habits drivewhat we think and what we do.
So think about on the farm.
We've got these habits that areplanted in the soil and the
culture the sun, the rain, theweather conditions, the soil
type, the treatments that weapply to the crop, if you like,
(06:16):
the crop of habits.
That's what a culture does.
So if cultures are toxic, youknow they're killing the habits
and actually they're nurturingthe wrong behaviours, the wrong
habits.
So I think that's just a reallysimple way to think about what
(06:39):
a culture is.
So If we then think about thelanguage of this chapter, which
is very deliberate understandingbrain states at scale, creating
brain state intelligentcultures.
What does that mean?
It means that we createcultures that help everybody to
understand their brain states,to become more intelligent about
(07:01):
them.
So, those who are familiar withthe Habit Mechanic book, we
talk about habit mechanicintelligence and, if we were
going to go a step deeper thanthat, actually everything in the
habit mechanic approach isbuilt on brain state
intelligence.
So, first, understanding howour brain works and then
understanding that it'sliterally like a battery and it
has these three core operatingstates and I think, the
(07:26):
businesses of the future thatthat succeed, that offer great
places to work, where people areengaged and they're healthy and
they're happy and they're doinggreat work and there's a great
mutual relationship between uh,the individual, the people and
the organization whereeveryone's winning that they
(07:47):
will primarily focus on creatingcultures that optimize brain
state intelligence, so peopleunderstand brain state
intelligence individually andcollectively.
And then there are experts inthe organization.
There are human AI coaches atthe individual level, but there
(08:10):
are also human AI trainers whoare training up teams.
There are human AI consultantswho are working at a strategic
level, and they're all, ofcourse, things that we do and we
train other people to do.
And I think that a reallyinteresting parallel of where
(08:35):
human ai sorry, brain stateintelligence cultures fit is how
Six Sigma or Lean Sigma 6operated, probably 20, 30 years
ago, where it emerged in themanufacturing sectors, where
(09:00):
essentially what happened wasthat having fancy manufacturing
machines weren't a competitiveadvantage anymore if we wanted
to delight our customers.
What we had to do is make notjust make products more cheaply
(09:20):
using these big fancy machines,but we had to do it really
efficiently and effectively.
And where lean sigma 6 came inwas it created some efficient
and effective processes ofmaking sure that businesses
could create products thatdelighted their customers faster
.
And of course, a company liketoyota was a good example of
(09:42):
that.
They just created theseproducts at a good price.
That people wanted cars thatdidn't really break down.
They were known to be reliablebecause they had this great
Sigma 6 type process, which Ithink they called something a
little bit different.
And then we had people likeJack Welsh, the famous CEO of GE
, being a real champion of that.
(10:05):
One of the reasons why 6 Sigmawas so interesting was because
they had this very structuredtraining program throughout
organizations where they hadthis belt system.
So, like learning martial arts,you would progress in your
(10:25):
skills and your understandingthrough this gradation system,
and that's exactly what we'vecreated for our Habit Mechanic
AI Edge model, where we cangrade people.
We can give people differentbelts for different levels of
competency, because weunderstand that if businesses
(10:46):
want to make this reallysuccessful, they need to
properly invest the time andmoney into upskilling their
people in this.
It can't be piecemeal, it needsto be robust.
And if we just go back to thoseso the 74% of businesses are
(11:07):
failing to capitalize on thebenefits of AI.
The few that businesses that arewhere are they investing all
their money?
It's not in the tech, it's intheir people.
They're.
They're investing at leasttwo-thirds of the of their AI
focused investments into people.
The reason those companies aredoing well is because actually,
(11:28):
they're more tech-orientatedcompanies and they've been using
AI, as everyone is currentlycalling it, in one way or
another for probably over 15years now on average.
So they've had a lot longer todevelop workforces that have the
time to really understand howto get the most out of these
(11:52):
tools and systems, whereas theones that are, I think, the
businesses that are failing.
They're thinking the AI toolsare magical in themselves and
they're not the people need tobe able to use them.
So, yeah, so I think that brainstate intelligent cultures are
(12:15):
going to be the cultures thatwin, that create workplaces
where people are healthy, happy,engaged and businesses that are
successful, and I think thathuman ai coaches will be central
to making that happen insideorganizations, but we'll also
have human AI trainers andpeople working at a more
(12:41):
strategic level and, of course,we train people to do all of
those things, and you can do itin a really structured way by
following our belt system.
But I think enough of that, solet's go to the chapter.
So, again, this is chapter 28,and remember, you can, if you
(13:03):
want to listen to this in thefull context of train your brain
for the AI revolution our newbook.
If you want to listen to thisin the full context of Train
your Brain for the AI Revolutionour new book, you can do that
inside the Hampton MechanicUniversity app and you can also
listen to the audiobook on mostmainstream audiobook platforms
right now.
(13:24):
So here's the chapter, chapter28.
Understanding Brain States atScale Creating Brain State
Intelligent Cultures.
As we conclude our explorationof brain states and AI
integration, let's step back andexamine a transformative
(13:45):
opportunity that feworganizations have yet
recognized.
Throughout this book, we'vefocused on optimizing your
individual cognitive performance.
In doing so, we've revealedsomething profound about
happiness in the AI era.
It's not just about usingtechnology to get more done.
(14:07):
It's about using itstrategically to create the
right mix of recharge routinework and high impact, high value
work that allows you to do yourjob and live your life in a way
that leads to lastingsatisfaction.
Now let's understand how thesesame principles can
(14:28):
revolutionise entireorganisations by unleashing
healthy, happy andhigh-performing workforces.
As artificial intelligencetransforms business, a powerful
opportunity is emerging.
Organisations can dramaticallyimprove performance by aligning
work patterns with how humanbrains naturally function.
(14:52):
This quickly creates measurableimprovements by helping teams
to complete key projects over200% faster.
This is only possible whenorganizations optimize how their
people perform alongsidepowerful AI tools.
This optimization comes throughcreating what we call brain
(15:16):
state intelligent cultures,which is our Six Sigma for human
performance in the AI era.
But to successfully createthese winning cultures, we need
to first consider the barriers,the current state of play.
Ai is transforming business atan unprecedented pace.
According to the World EconomicForum's recent Future of Jobs
(15:41):
report, 86% of companies expectAI to revolutionise their
operations.
Yet this transformation bringsserious challenges.
Successful AI adoption isn'tjust about deploying new
technology.
It requires a fundamental shiftin how humans and AI
(16:02):
collaborate.
Many organisationsunderestimate the cognitive toll
this shift takes on theirworkforce.
The cognitive demands of rapidtechnological change and our
increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
are pushing employees to theircognitive limits, leading to a
(16:23):
cascade of business risks.
Employee engagement nosedivesunder relentless cognitive
strain.
Mental fatigue surges asworkers struggle to keep up with
constant technological change.
Learning capacity collapsesunder information overload,
stalling critical projects.
(16:44):
Team effectiveness deterioratesas digital overload fragments
communication and collaboration.
Innovation grinds to a haltwhen employees can't maintain
deep, focused thinking.
Workplace wellbeing suffers,driving higher staff turnover
(17:06):
and making it harder to retaintop talent.
Staff turnover and making itharder to retain top talent.
If businesses fail to addressthese cognitive challenges, the
consequences will be severeDeclining productivity, stalled
innovation and an exodus ofskilled employees.
The future of work isn't justabout adopting AI.
It's about ensuring humans canthrive alongside it.
(17:31):
These challenges becomeparticularly acute during major
organisational transformations.
As an example of thedifficulties businesses face
during major transitions, let'sconsider mergers and
acquisitions.
Companies spend more than $2trillion annually on M&A deals,
(17:53):
yet 70 to 90% fail to meetexpectations.
While traditional analysisblames factors like poor
strategic fit or incorrectvaluations, a deeper truth
emerges Combining cultures,systems and AI technologies
creates overwhelming cognitivedemands that most organisations
(18:17):
aren't equipped to handle.
Without optimising brain states, even the most strategically
sound transformations can failas people struggle to maintain
the focused thinking needed toimplement complex change.
These observations aren't justtheoretical.
They're built on my 25 years ofdeveloping a fundamentally
(18:42):
different approach to helpingindividuals, teams and leaders
optimise their cognitiveperformance during challenging
transitions.
Through working with over20,000 people and completing my
PhD in this area, I've seenthese challenges firsthand.
But I've also seen somethingelse when organisations
(19:05):
understand how to optimise brainstates, extraordinary
transformations become possiblethe power of first principles
thinking To appreciate what'spossible.
Consider how sports sciencetransformed physical athletic
performance 25 years ago.
I worked on the front lines ofthis revolution, watching as
(19:30):
teams abandoned traditionaltraining approaches in favour of
methods based on how the humanbody actually functions.
The transformation wasn't aboutworking harder.
It was about aligning trainingwith the body's fundamental
mechanics.
Today we face a similaropportunity with cognitive
(19:52):
performance through brain stateoptimisation.
As I've shown throughout thisbook, over the past 25 years
we've developed a deep,proprietary understanding of how
to translate cutting-edgeinsights from neuroscience and
behavioural science intopractical organizational change.
Just as sports scientistscreated systems that teams could
(20:17):
implement in their dailytraining, we've developed
methodologies that helpbusinesses seamlessly integrate
brain science into their dailypractices.
This systematic approach allowsorganizations to create
cultures where optimal cognitiveperformance becomes natural
(20:38):
rather than forced.
And just as sports sciencecreated a new standard for
athletic excellence, thisintegration of human cognitive
optimization with technologicalcapability creates something
unprecedented in organisationalperformance what we call
brain-state intelligent cultures.
(20:59):
The result isn't just betterperformance.
It's the kind of environmentwhere both people and technology
can work together at their bestthe Holy Grail Brain state
intelligent cultures.
I believe that teams andorganisations that create these
cultures will thrive in the AIera, and therefore creating one
(21:24):
should be every business'snumber one goal.
In these environments,technology enhances rather than
overwhelms human capabilities,and sustainable high performance
emerges from aligning work withhow brains actually function.
A brain state intelligentculture transforms performance
(21:46):
across every level of yourorganisation, from young
professionals to middle managers, senior leaders to teams.
Every group gains uniquebenefits from optimising their
brain states.
Let's explore the specificadvantages for each Young
professionals become productiverevenue drivers faster by
(22:09):
mastering complex skills and AItools in months instead of years
.
Build long-term, sustainablehigh performance by managing
stress effectively, increasingtheir impact.
Stay engaged and grow withinthe company, improving retention
and maximising long-termpotential.
(22:31):
Middle managers Drive faster AIadoption and ROI by confidently
leading change and turningresistance into measurable
productivity gains.
Deliver on strategicinitiatives while maintaining
team performance, balancingcompeting demands without
burnout.
Create high-performing teamsthat consistently hit targets by
(22:56):
optimising both personal andcollective productivity.
Senior leaders Make sharperstrategic decisions for
longer-using, science-backedstrategies from elite athletes
maintaining peak cognitivefunction throughout their
(23:17):
careers.
Drive successful AItransformation by mastering the
human factors that accelerateadoption and maximise ROI.
Create lasting cultural changethat turns resistance into
enthusiasm, fostering sustainedhigh performance across the
organisation.
Teams Deliver complex projectsover 200% faster by optimising
(23:44):
collective brain function forbreakthrough performance.
Brain function for breakthroughperformance.
Maintain peak productivityduring AI transformation by
aligning work patterns withnatural energy cycles,
preventing costly burnout.
Drive faster innovation andproblem solving by enabling
seamless collaboration acrossgenerations and skill levels.
(24:07):
These individual and teamimprovements combine to create
powerful organisational outcomesreduce burnout, lower staff
turnover, enhanced innovation,better talent retention and
improved customer solutions.
Most importantly, they createenvironments where people
(24:29):
genuinely want to stay and growbecause they can consistently
perform at their best withoutsacrificing well-being.
This creates a powerfulcompetitive advantage.
But achieving thistransformation isn't a matter of
chance.
It requires a systematicunderstanding of how lasting
(24:49):
change happens in organisations.
The nine essential elements Justas Six Sigma transformed
manufacturing and qualitymanagement in the industrial era
, brain state intelligence willrevolutionise human performance
in the AI era.
While Six Sigma optimisedproduction processes, our nine
(25:13):
interconnected factors optimisesomething even more fundamental
how human brains functionalongside AI technology.
Creating this brain statetransformation requires
understanding these nine factorsthat behavioural science shows
drive sustainable change.
These factors work togetherlike an orchestra.
(25:35):
Each instrument matters, butthe real magic happens when they
play in harmony.
Here are the nine factors fromour proprietary system.
I first introduced these inchapter 23.
1.
Brain State OptimizationCreating Environments when
People Can Maintain OptimalCognitive States.
(25:59):
2.
Habit Mechanic Mindset–Cultivating Belief in Continuous
Improvement.
3.
Tiny change factor makingtransformation manageable.
4.
Personal motivation connectingsmall changes to bigger personal
(26:20):
and professional goals.
5.
Personal knowledge and skillsbuilding individual capabilities
.
Personal knowledge and skillsBuilding individual capabilities
.
6.
Community knowledge Developingshared practices.
7.
Social influence Leveragingnatural behaviour spread.
(26:41):
8.
Rewards and penalties Aligningincentive systems with desired
behaviours.
9.
External triggers Designingsupportive environments that
remind people how to be theirbest.
(27:01):
Building systematic change.
Creating a brain stateintelligent culture requires
careful integration of all ninefactors into daily
organisational practices.
This isn't about implementingisolated initiatives.
It's about building reinforcingcycles where each improvement
strengthens the others.
Organisations that master thissystematic approach will achieve
(27:24):
breakthrough results, just asSix Sigma became the gold
standard for manufacturingexcellence.
Looking forward, the AIrevolution presents every
organisation with a choiceOptimise how your people work
alongside these powerful toolsor risk falling behind those who
do.
(27:45):
Leading organisations arealready building brain state
intelligent cultures, settingnew standards for what's
possible when human potentialand technological capability
work in harmony.
The question isn't whether yourorganisation will need to make
this transition.
The question is will you beamong the pioneers who lead this
(28:08):
change and create aninsurmountable lead, or will you
get left behind?
I hope you.
I hope you found the chapter andthe the mini series on how to
become a human ai coachinteresting and hopefully
inspirational.
I know the idea of becoming acoach is very attractive to many
(28:33):
people, but for differentreasons, people don't go there
with it.
But I just think that the AIrevolution represents a
particularly interesting pointin history where there's going
to be a bigger demand thanpossibly any other time in
(28:55):
history for not just coaches,but people that can help others
to optimize their cognitiveperformance, in other words, a
human ai becoming a human aicoach.
So if you are interested intraining to become a human,
human ai coach, get in touch.
We can help you to do that.
If you're interested in whatthis might look like in your
(29:17):
business, get in touch.
We can have a conversationabout that.
And then, of course, we willcontinue to talk about train
your brain for the ai revolutionand everything connected to
that in coming podcasts.
This period of history isnothing to be scared about.
The key always is is to controlthe controllables, and the
(29:42):
thing that we can all control isgetting better at managing our
own brain states.
And if it's appealing to youand you like that, you can also
start to practice helping othersto get better at managing their
brain states.
And if it's appealing to youand you like that, you can also
start to practice helping othersto get better at managing their
brain states, and you can builda thriving business out of that
, or you can just help others inthe business that you're
currently working to improvetheir their cognitive
(30:03):
performance.
So that's all from me for now.
If you're like me, you'llprobably re-listen to the three
episodes, because that's what Ilike to do, just to make sure
that I'm absorbing everything.
But again, remember, if youwant to listen to the full book
Train your Brain for the AIRevolution, you can do that for
(30:24):
free inside the Hammond MechanicUniversity app and it's
available on most mainstreamaudiobook platforms.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Hello Habit Mechanics .
It's Dr John Finn here.
I hope you're having a greatweek so far.
So this is part three of ourhow to Become a Human AI Coach
mini-series, where we're going abit deeper into some of the
later chapters in our new bookTrain your Brain for the AI
(00:24):
Revolution the proven four, fourstep system to become
irreplaceable, no tech skillsrequired.
And our overarching point inthis little mini series, but
also in the book, is, if we wantto capitalise on the amazing
(00:46):
opportunities that ai revolutionholds or can potentially
deliver for us individually andcollectively, we need to move
away from this tech-centricapproach and have a more human
centric approach to it.
It's not the tools themselvesthat are going to make the
(01:06):
difference.
It's how humans are able to usethem and actually how humans
are able to continue developingthem.
And that's what we've beentalking about in the first two
parts of of this mini series,and we've been spotlighting the
role of human AI coaches.
When we train people to becomehuman AI coaches, we call it
(01:30):
becoming a certified handmechanic AI edge coach and this
I think that that professionwill become the most important
profession for our species, ifit isn't already, and hopefully
what you've seen in the last twoparts is that, although
(01:53):
cognitive performance mightsound a little bit intangible,
what human AI coaches do is verytangible, is very impactful.
Tangible is very impactful andis vital if individuals and
(02:14):
organizations want to becomesuccessful.
And in part three we can kindof zoom out a little bit here
and think about this at anorganizational level.
The chapter I'm going to sharewith you is called, so it's
chapter 28, and it'sunderstanding brain states at
scale, creating brain stateintelligent cultures.
There's a few things I want toget into here.
First of all, big, compellingsets of data show that 74% of
(02:39):
companies are failing I'm justreading this out are failing to
extract meaningful value fromtheir ai investments, and new
research from um, bcg and theworld economic forum shows the
(03:00):
the primary reason for thatfailure is not the technology,
it's people.
That is the barrier and it'snot people's fault.
It's just that people arementally fatigued and they're
cognitively overloaded.
So we're not going to get thegrowth in our economies that we
(03:20):
desperately need if we want tohave the countries that we want,
that we want to have and theschools and the education
systems and get the pay risesthat we want if our businesses
can't grow and the main thingthat's currently holding
businesses back from growing isthat they're not able to
capitalise on this new AItechnology because people are,
(03:41):
frankly, burnt out, they'retired, they're fatigued, they're
overloaded, and the way that wecan just break that down into
simple terms is that people'sbrain states balance is not good
.
They're not doing enoughrecharge, they're sucked into
too much medium charge.
That means they can't get intohigh chargecharge brain states.
(04:01):
So if businesses want tosucceed, they're going to have
to help their people to improvetheir cognitive performance,
improve how they manage brainstates, and that means they have
to address this at the culturallevel.
And I know that word culture cansometimes feel intangible, and
(04:24):
for me, understanding languageis always easiest when we go
back to the genesis of thingslike what?
Where does that word come from?
Well, culture just is from theword cultivate, which is a latin
word which is to do withagriculture.
Right, it's to do with farmingand cultivating the land so you
can grow your crops, and thethat word has been borrowed into
(04:51):
hr or human performance fieldsto explain the culture in a, an
organization and a team in aparticular group of people.
So the culture should cultivatethe behaviors that are most
(05:12):
helpful for that group of people.
And the way that I think aboutthis is that, if we just take a
business, for example, think ofit like a farm and we've got
these people on our farm andwe're trying to grow them and
(05:33):
we're trying just because itcreates a really vivid visual
we're trying to grow them andwe're trying to help them to
flourish, we're trying tonourish them and nurture them to
be able to do that.
But actually, if we want to getthis right, we need to go a
level deeper.
It's not the people that areactually trying to grow, it's
(05:53):
our habits, because habits drivewhat we think and what we do.
So think about on the farm.
We've got these habits that areplanted in the soil and the
culture the sun, the rain, theweather conditions, the soil
type, the treatments that weapply to the crop, if you like,
(06:16):
the crop of habits.
That's what a culture does.
So if cultures are toxic, youknow they're killing the habits
and actually they're nurturingthe wrong behaviours, the wrong
habits.
So I think that's just a reallysimple way to think about what
(06:39):
a culture is.
So If we then think about thelanguage of this chapter, which
is very deliberate understandingbrain states at scale, creating
brain state intelligentcultures.
What does that mean?
It means that we createcultures that help everybody to
understand their brain states,to become more intelligent about
(07:01):
them.
So, those who are familiar withthe Habit Mechanic book, we
talk about habit mechanicintelligence and, if we were
going to go a step deeper thanthat, actually everything in the
habit mechanic approach isbuilt on brain state
intelligence.
So, first, understanding howour brain works and then
understanding that it'sliterally like a battery and it
has these three core operatingstates and I think, the
(07:26):
businesses of the future thatthat succeed, that offer great
places to work, where people areengaged and they're healthy and
they're happy and they're doinggreat work and there's a great
mutual relationship between uh,the individual, the people and
the organization whereeveryone's winning that they
(07:47):
will primarily focus on creatingcultures that optimize brain
state intelligence, so peopleunderstand brain state
intelligence individually andcollectively.
And then there are experts inthe organization.
There are human AI coaches atthe individual level, but there
(08:10):
are also human AI trainers whoare training up teams.
There are human AI consultantswho are working at a strategic
level, and they're all, ofcourse, things that we do and we
train other people to do.
And I think that a reallyinteresting parallel of where
(08:35):
human ai sorry, brain stateintelligence cultures fit is how
Six Sigma or Lean Sigma 6operated, probably 20, 30 years
ago, where it emerged in themanufacturing sectors, where
(09:00):
essentially what happened wasthat having fancy manufacturing
machines weren't a competitiveadvantage anymore if we wanted
to delight our customers.
What we had to do is make notjust make products more cheaply
(09:20):
using these big fancy machines,but we had to do it really
efficiently and effectively.
And where lean sigma 6 came inwas it created some efficient
and effective processes ofmaking sure that businesses
could create products thatdelighted their customers faster
.
And of course, a company liketoyota was a good example of
(09:42):
that.
They just created theseproducts at a good price.
That people wanted cars thatdidn't really break down.
They were known to be reliablebecause they had this great
Sigma 6 type process, which Ithink they called something a
little bit different.
And then we had people likeJack Welsh, the famous CEO of GE
, being a real champion of that.
(10:05):
One of the reasons why 6 Sigmawas so interesting was because
they had this very structuredtraining program throughout
organizations where they hadthis belt system.
So, like learning martial arts,you would progress in your
(10:25):
skills and your understandingthrough this gradation system,
and that's exactly what we'vecreated for our Habit Mechanic
AI Edge model, where we cangrade people.
We can give people differentbelts for different levels of
competency, because weunderstand that if businesses
(10:46):
want to make this reallysuccessful, they need to
properly invest the time andmoney into upskilling their
people in this.
It can't be piecemeal, it needsto be robust.
And if we just go back to thoseso the 74% of businesses are
(11:07):
failing to capitalize on thebenefits of AI.
The few that businesses that arewhere are they investing all
their money?
It's not in the tech, it's intheir people.
They're.
They're investing at leasttwo-thirds of the of their AI
focused investments into people.
The reason those companies aredoing well is because actually,
(11:28):
they're more tech-orientatedcompanies and they've been using
AI, as everyone is currentlycalling it, in one way or
another for probably over 15years now on average.
So they've had a lot longer todevelop workforces that have the
time to really understand howto get the most out of these
(11:52):
tools and systems, whereas theones that are, I think, the
businesses that are failing.
They're thinking the AI toolsare magical in themselves and
they're not the people need tobe able to use them.
So, yeah, so I think that brainstate intelligent cultures are
(12:15):
going to be the cultures thatwin, that create workplaces
where people are healthy, happy,engaged and businesses that are
successful, and I think thathuman ai coaches will be central
to making that happen insideorganizations, but we'll also
have human AI trainers andpeople working at a more
(12:41):
strategic level and, of course,we train people to do all of
those things, and you can do itin a really structured way by
following our belt system.
But I think enough of that, solet's go to the chapter.
So, again, this is chapter 28,and remember, you can, if you
(13:03):
want to listen to this in thefull context of train your brain
for the AI revolution our newbook.
If you want to listen to thisin the full context of Train
your Brain for the AI Revolutionour new book, you can do that
inside the Hampton MechanicUniversity app and you can also
listen to the audiobook on mostmainstream audiobook platforms
right now.
(13:24):
So here's the chapter, chapter28.
Understanding Brain States atScale Creating Brain State
Intelligent Cultures.
As we conclude our explorationof brain states and AI
integration, let's step back andexamine a transformative
(13:45):
opportunity that feworganizations have yet
recognized.
Throughout this book, we'vefocused on optimizing your
individual cognitive performance.
In doing so, we've revealedsomething profound about
happiness in the AI era.
It's not just about usingtechnology to get more done.
(14:07):
It's about using itstrategically to create the
right mix of recharge routinework and high impact, high value
work that allows you to do yourjob and live your life in a way
that leads to lastingsatisfaction.
Now let's understand how thesesame principles can
(14:28):
revolutionise entireorganisations by unleashing
healthy, happy andhigh-performing workforces.
As artificial intelligencetransforms business, a powerful
opportunity is emerging.
Organisations can dramaticallyimprove performance by aligning
work patterns with how humanbrains naturally function.
(14:52):
This quickly creates measurableimprovements by helping teams
to complete key projects over200% faster.
This is only possible whenorganizations optimize how their
people perform alongsidepowerful AI tools.
This optimization comes throughcreating what we call brain
(15:16):
state intelligent cultures,which is our Six Sigma for human
performance in the AI era.
But to successfully createthese winning cultures, we need
to first consider the barriers,the current state of play.
Ai is transforming business atan unprecedented pace.
According to the World EconomicForum's recent Future of Jobs
(15:41):
report, 86% of companies expectAI to revolutionise their
operations.
Yet this transformation bringsserious challenges.
Successful AI adoption isn'tjust about deploying new
technology.
It requires a fundamental shiftin how humans and AI
(16:02):
collaborate.
Many organisationsunderestimate the cognitive toll
this shift takes on theirworkforce.
The cognitive demands of rapidtechnological change and our
increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
are pushing employees to theircognitive limits, leading to a
(16:23):
cascade of business risks.
Employee engagement nosedivesunder relentless cognitive
strain.
Mental fatigue surges asworkers struggle to keep up with
constant technological change.
Learning capacity collapsesunder information overload,
stalling critical projects.
(16:44):
Team effectiveness deterioratesas digital overload fragments
communication and collaboration.
Innovation grinds to a haltwhen employees can't maintain
deep, focused thinking.
Workplace wellbeing suffers,driving higher staff turnover
(17:06):
and making it harder to retaintop talent.
Staff turnover and making itharder to retain top talent.
If businesses fail to addressthese cognitive challenges, the
consequences will be severeDeclining productivity, stalled
innovation and an exodus ofskilled employees.
The future of work isn't justabout adopting AI.
It's about ensuring humans canthrive alongside it.
(17:31):
These challenges becomeparticularly acute during major
organisational transformations.
As an example of thedifficulties businesses face
during major transitions, let'sconsider mergers and
acquisitions.
Companies spend more than $2trillion annually on M&A deals,
(17:53):
yet 70 to 90% fail to meetexpectations.
While traditional analysisblames factors like poor
strategic fit or incorrectvaluations, a deeper truth
emerges Combining cultures,systems and AI technologies
creates overwhelming cognitivedemands that most organisations
(18:17):
aren't equipped to handle.
Without optimising brain states, even the most strategically
sound transformations can failas people struggle to maintain
the focused thinking needed toimplement complex change.
These observations aren't justtheoretical.
They're built on my 25 years ofdeveloping a fundamentally
(18:42):
different approach to helpingindividuals, teams and leaders
optimise their cognitiveperformance during challenging
transitions.
Through working with over20,000 people and completing my
PhD in this area, I've seenthese challenges firsthand.
But I've also seen somethingelse when organisations
(19:05):
understand how to optimise brainstates, extraordinary
transformations become possiblethe power of first principles
thinking To appreciate what'spossible.
Consider how sports sciencetransformed physical athletic
performance 25 years ago.
I worked on the front lines ofthis revolution, watching as
(19:30):
teams abandoned traditionaltraining approaches in favour of
methods based on how the humanbody actually functions.
The transformation wasn't aboutworking harder.
It was about aligning trainingwith the body's fundamental
mechanics.
Today we face a similaropportunity with cognitive
(19:52):
performance through brain stateoptimisation.
As I've shown throughout thisbook, over the past 25 years
we've developed a deep,proprietary understanding of how
to translate cutting-edgeinsights from neuroscience and
behavioural science intopractical organizational change.
Just as sports scientistscreated systems that teams could
(20:17):
implement in their dailytraining, we've developed
methodologies that helpbusinesses seamlessly integrate
brain science into their dailypractices.
This systematic approach allowsorganizations to create
cultures where optimal cognitiveperformance becomes natural
(20:38):
rather than forced.
And just as sports sciencecreated a new standard for
athletic excellence, thisintegration of human cognitive
optimization with technologicalcapability creates something
unprecedented in organisationalperformance what we call
brain-state intelligent cultures.
(20:59):
The result isn't just betterperformance.
It's the kind of environmentwhere both people and technology
can work together at their bestthe Holy Grail Brain state
intelligent cultures.
I believe that teams andorganisations that create these
cultures will thrive in the AIera, and therefore creating one
(21:24):
should be every business'snumber one goal.
In these environments,technology enhances rather than
overwhelms human capabilities,and sustainable high performance
emerges from aligning work withhow brains actually function.
A brain state intelligentculture transforms performance
(21:46):
across every level of yourorganisation, from young
professionals to middle managers, senior leaders to teams.
Every group gains uniquebenefits from optimising their
brain states.
Let's explore the specificadvantages for each Young
professionals become productiverevenue drivers faster by
(22:09):
mastering complex skills and AItools in months instead of years
.
Build long-term, sustainablehigh performance by managing
stress effectively, increasingtheir impact.
Stay engaged and grow withinthe company, improving retention
and maximising long-termpotential.
(22:31):
Middle managers Drive faster AIadoption and ROI by confidently
leading change and turningresistance into measurable
productivity gains.
Deliver on strategicinitiatives while maintaining
team performance, balancingcompeting demands without
burnout.
Create high-performing teamsthat consistently hit targets by
(22:56):
optimising both personal andcollective productivity.
Senior leaders Make sharperstrategic decisions for
longer-using, science-backedstrategies from elite athletes
maintaining peak cognitivefunction throughout their
(23:17):
careers.
Drive successful AItransformation by mastering the
human factors that accelerateadoption and maximise ROI.
Create lasting cultural changethat turns resistance into
enthusiasm, fostering sustainedhigh performance across the
organisation.
Teams Deliver complex projectsover 200% faster by optimising
(23:44):
collective brain function forbreakthrough performance.
Brain function for breakthroughperformance.
Maintain peak productivityduring AI transformation by
aligning work patterns withnatural energy cycles,
preventing costly burnout.
Drive faster innovation andproblem solving by enabling
seamless collaboration acrossgenerations and skill levels.
(24:07):
These individual and teamimprovements combine to create
powerful organisational outcomesreduce burnout, lower staff
turnover, enhanced innovation,better talent retention and
improved customer solutions.
Most importantly, they createenvironments where people
(24:29):
genuinely want to stay and growbecause they can consistently
perform at their best withoutsacrificing well-being.
This creates a powerfulcompetitive advantage.
But achieving thistransformation isn't a matter of
chance.
It requires a systematicunderstanding of how lasting
(24:49):
change happens in organisations.
The nine essential elements Justas Six Sigma transformed
manufacturing and qualitymanagement in the industrial era
, brain state intelligence willrevolutionise human performance
in the AI era.
While Six Sigma optimisedproduction processes, our nine
(25:13):
interconnected factors optimisesomething even more fundamental
how human brains functionalongside AI technology.
Creating this brain statetransformation requires
understanding these nine factorsthat behavioural science shows
drive sustainable change.
These factors work togetherlike an orchestra.
(25:35):
Each instrument matters, butthe real magic happens when they
play in harmony.
Here are the nine factors fromour proprietary system.
I first introduced these inchapter 23.
1.
Brain State OptimizationCreating Environments when
People Can Maintain OptimalCognitive States.
(25:59):
2.
Habit Mechanic Mindset–Cultivating Belief in Continuous
Improvement.
3.
Tiny change factor makingtransformation manageable.
4.
Personal motivation connectingsmall changes to bigger personal
(26:20):
and professional goals.
5.
Personal knowledge and skillsbuilding individual capabilities
.
Personal knowledge and skillsBuilding individual capabilities
.
6.
Community knowledge Developingshared practices.
7.
Social influence Leveragingnatural behaviour spread.
(26:41):
8.
Rewards and penalties Aligningincentive systems with desired
behaviours.
9.
External triggers Designingsupportive environments that
remind people how to be theirbest.
(27:01):
Building systematic change.
Creating a brain stateintelligent culture requires
careful integration of all ninefactors into daily
organisational practices.
This isn't about implementingisolated initiatives.
It's about building reinforcingcycles where each improvement
strengthens the others.
Organisations that master thissystematic approach will achieve
(27:24):
breakthrough results, just asSix Sigma became the gold
standard for manufacturingexcellence.
Looking forward, the AIrevolution presents every
organisation with a choiceOptimise how your people work
alongside these powerful toolsor risk falling behind those who
do.
(27:45):
Leading organisations arealready building brain state
intelligent cultures, settingnew standards for what's
possible when human potentialand technological capability
work in harmony.
The question isn't whether yourorganisation will need to make
this transition.
The question is will you beamong the pioneers who lead this
(28:08):
change and create aninsurmountable lead, or will you
get left behind?
I hope you.
I hope you found the chapter andthe the mini series on how to
become a human ai coachinteresting and hopefully
inspirational.
I know the idea of becoming acoach is very attractive to many
(28:33):
people, but for differentreasons, people don't go there
with it.
But I just think that the AIrevolution represents a
particularly interesting pointin history where there's going
to be a bigger demand thanpossibly any other time in
(28:55):
history for not just coaches,but people that can help others
to optimize their cognitiveperformance, in other words, a
human ai becoming a human aicoach.
So if you are interested intraining to become a human,
human ai coach, get in touch.
We can help you to do that.
If you're interested in whatthis might look like in your
(29:17):
business, get in touch.
We can have a conversationabout that.
And then, of course, we willcontinue to talk about train
your brain for the ai revolutionand everything connected to
that in coming podcasts.
This period of history isnothing to be scared about.
The key always is is to controlthe controllables, and the
(29:42):
thing that we can all control isgetting better at managing our
own brain states.
And if it's appealing to youand you like that, you can also
start to practice helping othersto get better at managing their
brain states.
And if it's appealing to youand you like that, you can also
start to practice helping othersto get better at managing their
brain states, and you can builda thriving business out of that
, or you can just help others inthe business that you're
currently working to improvetheir their cognitive
(30:03):
performance.
So that's all from me for now.
If you're like me, you'llprobably re-listen to the three
episodes, because that's what Ilike to do, just to make sure
that I'm absorbing everything.
But again, remember, if youwant to listen to the full book
Train your Brain for the AIRevolution, you can do that for
(30:24):
free inside the Hammond MechanicUniversity app and it's
available on most mainstreamaudiobook platforms.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
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