Highlights in this update include news on the NeuroLeadership Summits, update on my book Quiet Leadership, recent research and resources about the brain, and more about building coaching cultures including a short video clip. Enjoy the new connections.

NeuroLeadership Summits 2008
The NeuroLeadership Summits are a rare opportunity for senior executives, learning and change professionals to take the impact they have to a new level.

These events will help people:
• Improve the effectiveness of any change or learning initiative
• Understand how to engage leaders in learning about themselves, thus becoming better at the 'people side of things', by utilizing neuroscience research
• Develop a better understanding of human functioning to improve your own performance
• Be at the very cutting edge of research in human performance, learning directly from the leading scientists of our times

The basic plan for the Sydney and NYC Summits are now complete. We have gathered an amazing group of leading scientists, along with top leadership practioners. The Summits will cover five main areas of focus in common to both Neuroscience and Leadership development:
1. How we know ourselves
2. How we make decisions and solve problems
3. How we stay cool under pressure
4. How we get on with others
5. How we drive change

Some of the specific topics we are planning to cover include:

• Neuroleadership as a discipline
• Educating people about the brain
• The neuroscience of mindfulness and self-awareness
• The anatomy of innovation
• Creating 101 change with the brain in mind
• The brain-basis of leadership competencies
• The neuroscience of corporate culture

You can view a bigger description of the program here.
There is also now an audio interview with me about the program and the objectives of the summit, listen to it here.

Quiet Leadership update
I was back in NYC recently and connected with my publisher. It’s exciting to know that people are reading Quiet Leadership in their native language so far in China, Korea, Brazil and Indonesia. The book is now in paperback which is helping more people get hold of it. Over 40,000 people have bought the book so far in it’s first 2 years.

Lately people have been writing to me from many corners of the world, moved by the impact the book had on them. Anyone from coaches, school principles, teachers and administrators, people working with marriage therapy, to ministers of various religions, educators, leadership consultants, and parents. The common theme is the book helped them put words on an issue that seems to be at the heart of being human: our need to come to our own answers and make our own connections, rather than being told what to do. As I work on my next book I am discovering just how fundamental this need is: scientists are discovering that the perception of choice and autonomy has a dramatic impact on one’s stress levels. Yet we are all attuned to automatically give others advice, and managers especially are prone to being directive. If you want to learn more about the new science emerging as I research my new book, take a listen to one of the free audio events here.

If the book has had an impact on you, please send me a note, I love to hear from people. And if you’re feeling extra generous, tell the world by making a comment on my page at amazon.com

Updates on brain research and related topics
I have had the honor to interview a wide range of scientists in the last few months while writing a new book about the brain at work. The two biggest 'aha!'s for me have come from research on mindfulness, and on emotional regulation. There is a whole set of ideas emerging around the neuroscience of mindfulness, with scientists including Jeffrey Schwartz, as well as Daniel Siegel, Kirk Brown, Mark Williams and others doing some exciting research. We're starting to see the underlying physiology behind why mindfulness has such an impact on health, and why it's a central thread across so many fields. There will be lots on this at the NeuroLeadership Summits.

It was exciting to see SHRM, the largest organization of human resource professionals in the world, start to take seriously the idea of integrating brain research at work. Their recent cover story 'The brain at work' is one of the best written pieces on how neuroscience can be applied in the workplace now.

I was recently featured on the Voice of America radio show talking about the NeuroLeadership Summit and the overall neuroleadership field.

There was an interesting conference on the brain in education recently in Boston, looks like a great event to learn more about.

Some breakthrough new research is just out on status and the brain.

Neuroscience in business schools
In March I was back in Italy at CIMBA, working again with MBA students. We spent a day diving into the neuroscience of mindfulness and emotional regulation. It was very rewarding to see the impact of these ideas on young students of these ideas, and how hungry young people are to learn about their brain overall.

In mid June I am giving a two-day workshop at George Washington University in Washington DC on the Neuroscience of Leadership. I am looking forward to having two whole days to take people deeper into the science. This program is open to the public.

I recently gave a lecture to alumni of the Oxford University - HEC Masters in Change Program, delivered live by video link from Sydney to the UK. Despite being on the other side of the world, the idea of framing their experiences around change in neuroscience terms impacted the group deeply.

Also in July I am giving a breakfast seminar for the Australian Institute of Management. It's on July 28, I will put the link up when it's online.

The Neuroscience of Innovation
In April I was in NYC to give a keynote to new leaders at American Express worldwide, on the neuroscience of innovation. Innovation to me is driven by the number of insights that individuals have each day, each week, each year. One way to increase the number of insights people have is to teach leaders about the brain, and about insight itself. It was exciting to witness future leaders discovering underlying science to something that otherwise can seem so mysterious. Mark Jung Beeman is one of the leading scientists in this area, and he recently released a new paper showing the specific impact that positive emotions have on increasing the number of insights that occur, called 'A brain mechanism for facilitation of insight by positive affect', which will be published shortly.

Building coaching cultures
I have been on the road in April - May for the Conference Board, presenting a series of one day events across the US about building coaching cultures, with a colleague Chris Coffey. There's a short video below of me talking about these events.



It has been fascinating to spend time across the country talking to different learning professionals at so many organizations and hearing the same issues. The research shows that everyone thinks everyone else should have access to good coaching, yet less than 1% of employees do. To give everyone an external coach is not possible - we need to develop internal resources in organizations. It's been exciting to explore strategies and share case studies of how organizations can internalize coaching, even across major organizations spread around the globe. One of the most interesting projects we heard about involves a technology firm where over 3,000 leaders from over 60 countries are learning to be better coaches, along with over 500 internal coaching engagements happening each year.

I have recently been working more in Asia, with a large bank and government department, on the building coaching cultures. Also my organization started working closely with the Australian Taxation Office, and the NHS in the UK, both very wide scale projects to change culture over time. These are organisations you might think are conservative, yet they are seeing the importance of building a coaching culture. It's great to see these ideas beginning to get wider acceptance.