Dr. Heather Collins | Unleashing Your Super Brain: Neuroscience Meets Leadership
In this engaging episode of The Last 10%, host Dallas Burnett interviews Dr. Heather Collins, a cognitive neuroscientist and keynote speaker, about unlocking the brain's hidden potential. Dr. Collins shares her journey from childhood curiosity to earning a PhD in psychological and brain sciences, and the frustrations and triumphs of translating complex brain research for public benefit. They discuss strategies for improving memory, forming productive habits, fostering positive thinking, and avoiding the pitfalls of overconfidence. Dr. Collins also recounts her exhilarating experience performing on stage with Madonna and offers insights on the power of curiosity in leadership. Tune in for a fascinating conversation filled with actionable advice for leaders, coaches, and anyone looking to enhance their cognitive abilities.
Book Dr. Collins to Speak at your next event: https://www.drheathercollins.com/
Connect with Dr. Collins on LinkedIn HERE.
Transcript
dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Hey, everybody.
Speaker:We're talking to Dr. Heather Collins today.
Speaker:What an amazing woman She is, a cognitive neuroscientist and a keynote speaker has
Speaker:some incredible stories about unlocking the brain's hidden potential and even
Speaker:sharing the stage with a pop music icon.
Speaker:She's also a great new friend of mine.
Speaker:You don't want to miss this incredible conversation.
Speaker:Welcome to the last 10%.
Speaker:Your host, Dallas Burnett, dives into incredible conversations that will inspire
Speaker:you to finish well and finish strong.
Speaker:Listen as guests share their journeys and valuable advice on living in the last 10%.
Speaker:If you are a leader, a coach, a business owner, or someone looking to
Speaker:level up, you are in the right place.
Speaker:Remember, you can give 90% effort and make it a long way, but it's finding
Speaker:out how to unlock the last 10%.
Speaker:That makes all the difference in your life, your relationships, and your work.
Speaker:Now here's Dallas.
Speaker:Welcome, welcome,
Speaker:I'm Dallas Burnett, sitting in my 1905 Koch brothers barber
Speaker:chair in Thrive Studios.
Speaker:But more importantly today we have a great guest, Dr. Heather Collins is a brilliant
Speaker:cognitive neuroscientist who helps people tap into their super brains to crush
Speaker:the last 10% in their work and lives.
Speaker:Plus, she's got some wild tails like performing with
Speaker:Madonna I'm already excited.
Speaker:Welcome to the show, Dr.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Thank you so much, Dallas.
Speaker:I'm happy to be here.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: this is something that
Speaker:we'll get into in a minute.
Speaker:'cause I'm really curious about Madonna you've got a tremendous background.
Speaker:Just variety.
Speaker:And so you're a PhD, , you've got postdoctoral fellowships, how do
Speaker:you get inspired a to do that first?
Speaker:neuroscientists, oh my gosh.
Speaker:What kind of brought you to that?
Speaker:And then how do you fit Keynote speaking into neuroscience?
Speaker:, how does that all fit together?
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: That's a great question.
Speaker:And as you and I have talked about, I'm an unlikely combination of things
Speaker:all rolled up into one package.
Speaker:I started out my curiosity about how people work when I was a kid, really
Speaker:just observing people and thinking, how do humans do what they do?
Speaker:How do we do what we do?
Speaker:And ended up majoring in cognitive psychology to try to
Speaker:figure out how the mind works.
Speaker:And cognitive psychology is the study of learning memory, thinking,
Speaker:decision making, problem solving, everything that involves your
Speaker:prefrontal cortex right here upfront.
Speaker:And this is the part of your brain that handles incredibly complex things
Speaker:that we do every day from deciding what you're gonna eat to breakfast,
Speaker:to planning your vacation, to deciding who your partner's gonna be.
Speaker:So I was really interested in that.
Speaker:And about that time, MRI research started to become more prevalent.
Speaker:And I thought, I've dug into the behavioral aspect of
Speaker:how people do what they do.
Speaker:What about the brain aspect?
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:Let's get down to the cellular level, what's actually happening in our
Speaker:brains to enable us to do everything we do every day to, walk, talk, eat,
Speaker:to have this conversation with you right now to decide how we handle an
Speaker:unexpected situation and to remember things that are really important to us.
Speaker:So one thing led to another, I ended up, as you said, earning my PhD in
Speaker:psychological and brain sciences.
Speaker:Cognitive neuroscience, completed postdoctoral
Speaker:fellowships and brain imaging.
Speaker:And I noticed something really interesting and now I'm gonna ask you a question.
Speaker:Dallas, do you pay your taxes
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yes.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: reluctantly?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yes.
Speaker:Reluctantly.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: None of us are happy about it, but we do it.
Speaker:And if you pay your taxes, you are paying for a lot of this
Speaker:brain research that happens.
Speaker:And the challenging thing about this research is these research scientists
Speaker:such as myself work really hard carefully craft these research studies, glean
Speaker:important insights and results, and then.
Speaker:These results get published in scientific journals to be
Speaker:consumed by other scientists.
Speaker:So I became increasingly frustrated with the missing part of that equation.
Speaker:And that's you.
Speaker:That's everybody who's paying for this research.
Speaker:You're not really getting a big return on investment out of that.
Speaker:And that's what led me to want to actually speak about the brain and how people
Speaker:can tap in and unlock their super brains is you're paying for this research.
Speaker:We all have brains.
Speaker:Our brains are incredibly complex, incredibly powerful.
Speaker:And you know, if you really want to get to that last 10%, if you wanna finish
Speaker:strong, if you wanna finish hard, you wanna finish faster, you really do have
Speaker:to tap in and unlock your super brain.
Speaker:And luckily, we can take information from all this great science that's been
Speaker:published and show you exactly how to do that with a few simple strategies.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Oh man.
Speaker:We're definitely gonna get into some of that.
Speaker:that's exciting.
Speaker:I'm already pumped.
Speaker:This is gonna be fun today.
Speaker:so first of all, we were talking before the show, and I asked you
Speaker:because you're into some heavy research like you just described.
Speaker:I said, how does one go from being in heavy involved in research to being
Speaker:like, , I'm gonna be the person on the stage just ready to share all this you
Speaker:were telling me a fun story about when all that started, so share that with our
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Uh, yeah.
Speaker:. A lot of my colleagues who are also in research and science
Speaker:do not like public speaking.
Speaker:Most of the, they're not alone.
Speaker:Most of the public dislikes, public speaking, in fact.
Speaker:Survey after survey shows that public speaking is the number one fear of
Speaker:people in the United States, and yet if you take me and throw me on a
Speaker:stage and have people fire questions at me, that's my happy place.
Speaker:That's where I wanna be.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: I love it.
Speaker:That's so great.
Speaker:That's so great.
Speaker:And you knew early on that, that you were comfortable on stage.
Speaker:how?
Speaker:How did that
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah, I grew up as a dancer, my grandma.
Speaker:when she was young, was put into tap classes, and that's because she had
Speaker:polio when she was two, and they thought this would help strengthen her leg.
Speaker:And she thought when I was a small child, maybe I would like to dance too.
Speaker:And she was right.
Speaker:She enrolled me in dance classes.
Speaker:I kept going, and that started when I was six.
Speaker:So from the time I was six, I really enjoyed being on stage and all throughout
Speaker:my childhood and, even into graduate school, I danced on a regular basis.
Speaker:I did tap jazz, ballet, Hawaiian Tahitian, and in college I was in a
Speaker:modern dance company for two years.
Speaker:And I still have my tap shoes and my portable tap floor and look for any
Speaker:opportunity to make a little noise with my feet and do a little dancing.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: That's so good.
Speaker:That is so good.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:So it was just a natural part of your growing up and you just got exposed
Speaker:to it and just fell in love with it.
Speaker:that's really exciting.
Speaker:You talk about tap into your.
Speaker:You know, your super brain and how people can move.
Speaker:From a neuroscience perspective, what are some things that you see that's so common
Speaker:that tend to trip people up what are some of the biggest pitfalls that you see?
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: That's a great question.
Speaker:I think there are several that happen.
Speaker:One is that people just don't realize their brain can help them
Speaker:do more better and do it faster.
Speaker:So a lot of people I talk to say, oh, I'm chugging along just fine.
Speaker:Why would I need to make my brain work better?
Speaker:My brain works just fine.
Speaker:And the idea is, yes, you can get through your daily life.
Speaker:Your brain is working just fine.
Speaker:But what if you could actually unlock that super brain potential and really help you
Speaker:get to the crux of your podcast, right?
Speaker:Get that last 10% done.
Speaker:That's so difficult.
Speaker:What if it didn't have to be so difficult?
Speaker:What if it could be easier?
Speaker:What if you could derive joy from it?
Speaker:I think another big challenge is, when, now don't tell anyone, but probably
Speaker:my sh just a secret between us.
Speaker:But if I have to pick a favorite area of brain research, it's definitely memory.
Speaker:And a lot of people say, oh, I have memory slips, or, I'm concerned that my
Speaker:memory's not as good as it used to be.
Speaker:And really the thing about memory is you get out of it exactly what you put in.
Speaker:So with a few simple strategies, you can make it more likely that you'll actually
Speaker:take something from the outside world, get it into your brain, and then be able
Speaker:to recall it later when you want to.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: So when you say that it's a strategy
Speaker:of intaking the information.
Speaker:Because like we all hear these commercials on television, like, improve your memory,
Speaker:buy this, uh, supplement for 29 99
Speaker:so you're saying though that it, it's more on how you're bringing the
Speaker:information in, or how does that work?
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: there are three things we can work on.
Speaker:ENC coding is taking information from the outside world and actually
Speaker:making sure it gets into your brain.
Speaker:And then we have storage.
Speaker:So when it's in there making sure it's being stored well.
Speaker:And then we have retrieval.
Speaker:And that is being able to take it from the inside of your brain out and
Speaker:being able to talk about it, discuss it, think about it whenever you want.
Speaker:And so there, there are ways to improve all of those.
Speaker:when we talk about storage, do you like blueberries?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Oh yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:love blueberries.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: have been shown in research studies to actually
Speaker:improve your hippocampal functioning.
Speaker:And that is, those blueberries have anthocyanins in them that
Speaker:specifically help your memory.
Speaker:So now if you're getting, you can get fresh blueberries.
Speaker:Frozen blueberries, if you're getting them in the.
Speaker:Pastry, a blueberry scone at the bakery.
Speaker:Those blueberries are probably not so active anymore, so try to stick
Speaker:with fresh or frozen if you can.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Blueberry donuts don't count
Speaker:listers of the last 10%.
Speaker:Blueberry donuts don't count.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: delicious.
Speaker:Who doesn't love a blueberry donut, but let's not quite call
Speaker:that a health food for your brain.
Speaker:And there,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: a brain
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: there certainly are retrieval strategies
Speaker:too that you can use to make it more likely that you're able to pull
Speaker:information out when you need it.
Speaker:One of the things I do focus on though is how do you get it in the first place?
Speaker:And that's because in everyday life, that's what slips us up.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Dallas, another hard question for you.
Speaker:Do you ever lose your keys?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yes.
Speaker:I actually do, yes, I do lose my keys.
Speaker:I will say, I limit the places that I can put them, so I lose them less.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Hey, that's a strategy and that's really smart.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: it's a strategy,
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: That's a strategy.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: I, if I don't put them in their proper
Speaker:place, then I'm all over the map.
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:I will
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah.
Speaker:And, and most people misplace their keys and they say, I have a terrible memory.
Speaker:I always forget where I put my keys.
Speaker:the secret is that's not actually a memory problem.
Speaker:That's an attention problem.
Speaker:So you can think of attention as the gateway to memory.
Speaker:So if you are not paying attention to something, it's not gonna make its way in.
Speaker:And if it doesn't make its way in, it can't make its way out.
Speaker:'cause it's never there in the first place.
Speaker:And one of the reasons that.
Speaker:Forgetting keys is such a universal experience is that oftentimes when we
Speaker:walk through the door of our home and we have our keys in one hand, we're not
Speaker:thinking about where we put our keys.
Speaker:That is, we're not paying attention to our keys,
Speaker:we're paying attention to other things.
Speaker:Maybe the dog is barking, maybe the kids or the spouse
Speaker:or the partner wants something.
Speaker:Maybe there's a loud noise and you're trying to figure
Speaker:out where it's coming from.
Speaker:Maybe you're thinking about what you're gonna cook for dinner, or you're
Speaker:thinking about that really stressful meeting you had at the end of the
Speaker:workday, and therefore we don't pay attention to where we put our keys.
Speaker:And you actually struck on the solution.
Speaker:And that is, this is something we don't necessarily want to pay attention
Speaker:to or need to pay attention to.
Speaker:We don't need that to make it into our memory if we can
Speaker:figure out another strategy.
Speaker:And that strategy is pick one place,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yeah.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: that place be as close to the
Speaker:door when you walk in as possible.
Speaker:you wanna do is 5, 6, 7, 8 times, you are going to have to pay attention and say to
Speaker:yourself, I'm putting my keys in the bowl on the counter next to the front door.
Speaker:But after you do that a few times, that'll actually become an automated behavior.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Well, there's so many things there.
Speaker:I think this's fascinating.
Speaker:I've never thought about.
Speaker:Memory as it relates to attention.
Speaker:It makes total sense.
Speaker:I've heard quotes like what you focus on is your, what you become or your reality.
Speaker:And it makes sense why if you're not focusing on your kids, you could be
Speaker:holding the groceries or trying to, you know, play with the kids or like
Speaker:you said, dog barking and just, it's not what's the main thing and therefore
Speaker:it just, where they fall is where they fall and you know, lose that,
Speaker:whether it's keys or anything else.
Speaker:But there was a study one time I read out, I think it was out of Duke, and
Speaker:it said something like 43% of all of our behavior throughout the whole day
Speaker:is essentially like that we're not engaging, in most of our behaviors are
Speaker:just pre-programmed that we're just going through, and it's like why you can
Speaker:drive to work that you've been driving to for five years and not even remember.
Speaker:because you've gone through that routine so many times that, or like
Speaker:when you hang the key up so many times you just don't even remember 'cause
Speaker:you're like, this is what I do with it.
Speaker:I think that's fascinating, but it's also, a bit terrifying because
Speaker:I feel like it's a recipe for making good routines in your life.
Speaker:Because ultimately if you're on autopilot almost half of the day, that's just, a lot
Speaker:of time that you're not thinking, . Do you find that in your research to be accurate
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: it's certainly an estimate and I'm not
Speaker:sure exactly about the number, but it does highlight a really important phenomenon
Speaker:that I think most people aren't aware of, which is exactly what you brought
Speaker:up, that so much of our time during the day is spent on autopilot thinking.
Speaker:And I would say that autopilot can be used for good or it can be used for evil.
Speaker:Your brain can be used for good or it can be used
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yes.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: for evil.
Speaker:So
Speaker:Benefit of autopilot thinking is that it does free up resources in your brain
Speaker:for you to think about other things.
Speaker:So if you take the same route to work every day, you don't necessarily
Speaker:need to be thinking very deeply about where you're going or exactly when to
Speaker:take a right turn or a left turn it.
Speaker:You don't need to think about it.
Speaker:Your brain already knows it.
Speaker:in essence, your brain has become an expert on this topic.
Speaker:And when a really interesting phenomenon happens, and that is, a lot of people
Speaker:think that, the more expert you are, the greater brain activation you have.
Speaker:In other words, the greater the brain resources you're using up.
Speaker:And it's actually the opposite.
Speaker:The more expert you are at something, the fewer brain resources you're using.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Ah,
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: That's because your brain
Speaker:engages in effortful processing.
Speaker:So you can think of anything that requires effort, requires more brain resources.
Speaker:Anything that doesn't require as much effort requires fewer brain resources.
Speaker:So when you're on autopilot driving to work, you're actually using
Speaker:fewer brain resources than if you were driving somewhere brand new.
Speaker:And that frees up your prefrontal cortex and your hippocampus and other areas of
Speaker:your brain to think about other things.
Speaker:So the benefit of this autopilot experience is that.
Speaker:Instead of thinking about where you're going on the way to work, you can
Speaker:think about these great meaningful conversations that you're having with
Speaker:people on your podcast or who you wanna have next, or what are some
Speaker:really interesting questions you could bring up to spice up the podcast.
Speaker:so that's the benefit of autopilot.
Speaker:Now there can be a cost to autopilot thinking as well.
Speaker:I recently spoke to, I was at South by Southwest two weeks ago, giving a
Speaker:presentation there, and I spoke to a woman there and she said that she's
Speaker:really frustrated that she feels like she's on autopilot most of the day.
Speaker:She gets ready for work, she goes to work, she does work, she comes home, and
Speaker:then she thinks, what did I do all day?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yeah.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: And
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Like a rut.
Speaker:She feels like she's in a
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: exactly.
Speaker:And that kind of daily autopilot thinking over a really long period of time can
Speaker:make you feel like you're in a rut, and that doesn't feel very good either.
Speaker:That feels very frustrating.
Speaker:And one of the things you can do in that situation is you can actually
Speaker:use an external resource to trigger yourself to jump out of autopilot.
Speaker:So start with your cell phone or a timer on your computer, or if you have a digital
Speaker:assistant, set a timer or an alarm there.
Speaker:And that way when that goes off, that's your cue to stop whatever you're doing
Speaker:and move aside and take a little time to think about something that you
Speaker:want to think about and really let your brain roam a little bit free.
Speaker:And when you allow yourself that time for your brain to roam free
Speaker:and engage in free thinking, it really does wonders for your brain.
Speaker:First of all, it actually.
Speaker:Takes, gives yourself a break from what you're doing, the task you're
Speaker:doing, and gives your brain time to refresh itself and renew its resources.
Speaker:And even though you're stepping away from it, your brain's actually still chugging
Speaker:on it, but it's in the background now.
Speaker:And you're refreshing your brain by activating all these brain
Speaker:regions that you weren't previously using by taking a few minutes to
Speaker:just engage in some free thinking.
Speaker:So it can give you renewal, it can give you refreshment.
Speaker:It can actually increase your productivity when you do go back to
Speaker:whatever task you're doing, because letting your brain chew on something
Speaker:in the background, it's a great way for your brain to figure out how to
Speaker:solve problems, how to tackle something with a new approach, or maybe how to
Speaker:shift that in a different direction.
Speaker:That's, better.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Ah, I love that.
Speaker:This is fascinating because what we've done, what we have is we created a
Speaker:coaching system that we integrate into organizations that helps
Speaker:new leaders or technical leaders, and any leader engage with their
Speaker:team members in a meaningful way.
Speaker:and with the hope of development over, over a long period of time.
Speaker:But the way that we started out our coaching sessions, which is once a
Speaker:month for 20 minutes-ish, depending, always asking three reflective questions
Speaker:that are definitely not yes, no, and definitely something that you probably
Speaker:haven't either thought about or you probably should think about, but it's,
Speaker:just very, self-reflective or, reflecting on the team or why you do what you do.
Speaker:I almost put that in the same category.
Speaker:Do you see that as a positive in terms of, would that offer some of the benefits?
Speaker:Because it's really forcing the person that's receiving this
Speaker:coaching to start their executive
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: start thinking not Yes, no, and engage in that
Speaker:kind of where would I go in the world if money was no object, what would I do?
Speaker:Do you feel like the benefits of what you just described when somebody takes a break
Speaker:from that daily grind and does that, would that be possible to translate, those same
Speaker:benefits to, you know, those reflective questions with a coach that you're
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Oh, absolutely.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:a really interesting things happen happens with reflective questions too.
Speaker:When you're specifically saying you, and it sounds like that's what you're doing.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yeah.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: when you say to somebody you, the
Speaker:really cool thing is you're tapping into this part of the brain deep in your
Speaker:brain that's activated for something called the self-reference effect,
Speaker:and that is this area of your brain's activated whenever you're thinking
Speaker:about something that's relevant to you.
Speaker:And in fact, I actually use this as a memory strategy for people too.
Speaker:If there's something that's really important that you need to remember and
Speaker:you wanna take control of your brain and actively work to make a memory out
Speaker:of something, maybe that's a family vacation, or you know you're gonna
Speaker:kill it or you just killed it at this work event, you can stop and think
Speaker:about me And your brain is selfish.
Speaker:Your brain loves you.
Speaker:Your brain's your biggest fan.
Speaker:And when you actually think about how something is related
Speaker:to you, you remember it better.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yeah.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: so when you are tapping into this
Speaker:self-reference network in the brand, and you're asking these
Speaker:leaders, how would you do this?
Speaker:How would you do that?
Speaker:It really taps into this network that they probably weren't using before because when
Speaker:they're thinking about their views on the team or the company or the organization,
Speaker:they're really thinking about it from a perspective of standing back from it.
Speaker:And not that it's them directly involved in it.
Speaker:So what you're doing is putting them in the middle.
Speaker:you're not saying, we're watching the circus and we have the popcorn.
Speaker:You're putting them in the middle of the circus as the ringleader.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: That's exactly
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: And so I think that's a great thing to do.
Speaker:Now, the fun thing is.
Speaker:Well, we know communicating with people is also good, right?
Speaker:Generally speaking, many brains are better than one brain.
Speaker:our brains like to be tickled.
Speaker:And when we talk with other people and they ask us questions we hadn't
Speaker:thought about before, that's novelty.
Speaker:And our brains seek out novelty.
Speaker:And that means when you're asking these leaders questions,
Speaker:they hadn't thought about that.
Speaker:I'm guessing you get a lot of, oh, I hadn't thought about it before.
Speaker:I didn't think about it that way.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Sure.
Speaker:A hundred
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: So that response in their face and
Speaker:their eyes dart around and they probably look a little bit excited.
Speaker:That's novelty seeking right there.
Speaker:And our brains love novelty seeking.
Speaker:And so it's like you're feeding the brain candy and it's gobbling it up,
Speaker:and that's a really great thing to do.
Speaker:you could also ask, bizarre questions.
Speaker:So I think as adults we lose a lot of the sense of play or creativity that
Speaker:a five-year-old has, for example.
Speaker:And our brains need that.
Speaker:Our brains need that kind of fuel.
Speaker:So you could even ask bizarre questions such as Dallas, if I were
Speaker:to introduce you to a giraffe, what questions would you have for it?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Well, I don't know.
Speaker:what's it like seeing the world from that high up every day?
Speaker:or is it really hard to run because I think they're fast.
Speaker:That is a very novel question.
Speaker:But it is fun.
Speaker:'cause I can't help but laugh when I think about talking to
Speaker:a giraffe, I love that idea.
Speaker:The bizarre idea.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:I've already, you've already given me some of to think about.
Speaker:Now the giraffe might make it into our coaching system.
Speaker:So I think there's two things I would love to hear your opinion on as a leader.
Speaker:when we're leading a team, we're trying to help people make good decisions on
Speaker:a regular basis and establish healthy habits, both at home and at work.
Speaker:that's, it's really hard sometimes to establish certain
Speaker:habits or to make things stick.
Speaker:is there things in your research that you've come across that would be, tools
Speaker:for people to help them, establish these or help make things stick more
Speaker:in their brain as it relates to habits?
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah, just as we think of habits as,
Speaker:I want to go to the gym and I wanna make that a good habit, or I want
Speaker:to eat a salad with dinner every night to make that a healthy habit.
Speaker:Your brain has habits too, and that's essentially what
Speaker:that autopilot thinking is.
Speaker:it's your brain engaging in habits.
Speaker:It's your brain saying, I've done this before.
Speaker:I know exactly how to do this, and I can do it.
Speaker:Quickly and effectively and efficiently without a lot of resources.
Speaker:And so the goal is you wanna create good neurobiological habits,
Speaker:just like you do health habits.
Speaker:And one of the things that helps with that is just like in your
Speaker:behavioral goals, uh, repetition.
Speaker:So if you try to do something a certain way every time,
Speaker:it's going to become habit.
Speaker:I think one challenge, as you know, with leadership and organizational
Speaker:team building and everything is that people might jump into meetings.
Speaker:They don't talk to each other, they don't foster communication.
Speaker:And we know that when we foster communication, that actually
Speaker:creates comradery in the brain.
Speaker:It makes your brain see these people as, people in your social
Speaker:group who you can trust and people who have reciprocated with you.
Speaker:How are you doing today?
Speaker:I'm great.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:How are you doing?
Speaker:And just that and being able to reciprocate is also an
Speaker:indicator to your brain.
Speaker:I can trust this person and I can work with this person.
Speaker:And one small habit that you can create for your teams and organizations
Speaker:is simply take five minutes at the beginning of every meeting
Speaker:and just ask how everyone's doing.
Speaker:and don't take, yeah, I'm okay.
Speaker:I'm fine.
Speaker:How are you really ask them, Hey, how are your kids doing?
Speaker:Or, I know you went to that festival last weekend, how was that?
Speaker:I know you've been growing a garden.
Speaker:How is that going?
Speaker:Are your vegetables coming in this year?
Speaker:How are the tomatoes and asking those specific questions that
Speaker:are not the surface level.
Speaker:How are you?
Speaker:Fine, thanks.
Speaker:You too.
Speaker:They're just, they're really just a little bit deeper than that.
Speaker:That actually warms up the room.
Speaker:That actually creates a sense of community, creates that sense of
Speaker:comradery in your brain and really makes it more likely that meeting will
Speaker:be, a. Communicative will be open in that communication, people will feel
Speaker:freer to say what they need to say.
Speaker:And we know that bad things happen in organizations when people feel like
Speaker:they can't speak freely, and it will create a more supportive atmosphere too.
Speaker:So just something as simple as that.
Speaker:And you, you might have to, for example, specifically set aside five minutes at
Speaker:the beginning of every meeting and tell people, here's what we're gonna do.
Speaker:I want, we're gonna do this at every meeting, but after a few meetings, that'll
Speaker:become a good positive habit too, for your organization and in everyone's brains.
Speaker:That'll become a good positive habit too.
Speaker:They'll say, we start this meeting by caring about each other.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: think that's a fascinating point.
Speaker:And I think that so many people will overlook these types of behaviors
Speaker:as something that doesn't matter.
Speaker:What matters is that we get to this thing, we solve this problem, this
Speaker:800 pound gorilla room, we're gonna do this, we're gonna wrangle this
Speaker:thing, we're gonna get it done.
Speaker:And while that is absolutely the goal, ultimately to make the goal successful
Speaker:and to get to that a whole lot easier, and like you said, more openly is it's
Speaker:the little things that you are saying.
Speaker:You can do a habit at the beginning of a meeting.
Speaker:if you, if I said it a different way, if you came to someone in a leadership
Speaker:position, you said, Hey, look, can tell you one thing that you need to do.
Speaker:If I could tell you a secret that you would do at the beginning of
Speaker:every meeting that would make your meeting 20 or 30% more productive.
Speaker:you do it?
Speaker:And they'd be like, yeah.
Speaker:But then you say, Hey, look, you need to open your meeting
Speaker:by just asking people here.
Speaker:Well, I mean, we don't have time for that.
Speaker:It's like, no, no, You have no idea.
Speaker:You don't have time not to
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah, you don't have time
Speaker:for a wasted meeting.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yes.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And so I feel like that's such a valuable piece of advice is to
Speaker:take the time to do little things.
Speaker:And to your point, I think that we want to create habits.
Speaker:If your meetings are habitually, not that way, I. Right now you need to
Speaker:be thinking about, like you said, how can we intentionally engage?
Speaker:Just like hanging up your keys and saying, I'm going to hang my keys up here, and
Speaker:you're intentionally hanging them up every time you, for the next five or six times.
Speaker:How can you do that when you engage in a meeting?
Speaker:And it might be that you literally, like you were saying, put it on
Speaker:the agenda the first five minutes.
Speaker:Maybe you don't put, be nice to people, but maybe you say warmup.
Speaker:Just the warmup.
Speaker:we're gonna have a warmup on the agenda and you put warmup on the agenda.
Speaker:It may not mean anything, but to anybody but you if you're leading the meeting.
Speaker:But at least you will see that and be able to be more intentional, whatever the
Speaker:word is, whether it's warmup or something else, to make sure that you're engaging
Speaker:with people for just five minutes before the meeting gets started so that you
Speaker:unlock people's brains and make it a space a little bit safer or more trusting
Speaker:an environment that's more trusting.
Speaker:So I, I think that's fantastic advice.
Speaker:I would love to, and we've got a couple other things I wanna get to, but I would
Speaker:love to also understand, 'cause leaders I think, deal with negativity a lot.
Speaker:a lot of times leaders are gonna be going through and do leading
Speaker:the charge through change.
Speaker:And change is a scary place for some people to live and
Speaker:be and operate in at work.
Speaker:we're going through a lot of, in the economy and all the, things that you're
Speaker:seeing in politics and everything.
Speaker:It's a lot of people's, just feeling like there's a lot of change.
Speaker:And so some of that can propagate negative thinking.
Speaker:And I know that some people have negative patterns that they are going through,
Speaker:like you're saying in, in their brain.
Speaker:So what advice or counsel can you give to our listeners and specifically leaders as
Speaker:they, if they struggle with this negative thinking, self thinking and that kind
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah, just like we talked about
Speaker:good neurobiological habits in your brain, there are bad neurobiological
Speaker:habits in your brain too.
Speaker:And when we say bad, we really mean things that are bad for your health, bad for
Speaker:your wellbeing and your mental health, bad for your job, bad for your home life,
Speaker:and your friends and your family, bad for your relationships, bad for everything.
Speaker:And negative thinking is one of those.
Speaker:And there, there was a, a simple study that a while ago that showed that people
Speaker:who were more optimistic live longer.
Speaker:do you wanna live longer?
Speaker:and it sounds really,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: out.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: really simple and reductive,
Speaker:but you know, that outlook on life makes a huge difference.
Speaker:And that's because when you have negative thinking as a bad habit,
Speaker:what's gonna happen is your brain is going to essentially be more
Speaker:likely to slip into fight or flight.
Speaker:So maybe there's a meeting coming up and you know they're talking about change.
Speaker:And you might think oh, this is gonna be terrible and you we're all
Speaker:gonna get laid off and this is gonna happen and that's gonna happen.
Speaker:It's gonna be awful.
Speaker:And your stomach balls up into a knot and you get sweaty palms and your
Speaker:heart starts racing and your brain releases a chem or a neuro, a chemical,
Speaker:a neurotransmitter called cortisol.
Speaker:It's a stress hormone and cortisol.
Speaker:Is, really taps in when bad things are happening to you.
Speaker:And
Speaker:cortisol levels mean that your ability to remember and
Speaker:perform are actually diminished.
Speaker:So the more stressed out and the more negative you are, the lower
Speaker:your performance is gonna be.
Speaker:cortisol is also responsible for putting on additional, fat
Speaker:layers around the midsection.
Speaker:So it's not great for your health either physically.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: I for your
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: And I think one thing is to just, and we don't
Speaker:wanna have the Pollyanna effect either.
Speaker:We don't want people to walk around being optimistic about everything,
Speaker:but what we want is just for people to see, just to see a little light at
Speaker:the end of the tunnel in a situation.
Speaker:And when you could just see that little light at the end of the tunnel
Speaker:and have a little bit of realistic positivity, that creates a good habit
Speaker:in your brain and that good habit, just like your bad habit is followed
Speaker:with maladaptive neurotransmitters.
Speaker:That good habit can be followed with good transmitters.
Speaker:So when you have that positive outlook and see positive things,
Speaker:you're more likely to experience joy.
Speaker:And those can be small joys, it can be small victories, it can be, I just got a
Speaker:new supply of my favorite pens in today.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:it could be even.
Speaker:Wow, that meeting wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Right,
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: But those will lead to an increase in
Speaker:the release of dopamine and serotonin and really reduced stress too.
Speaker:So I would say change is difficult.
Speaker:Change can be seen as threatening.
Speaker:Change can be seen as risky.
Speaker:One thing leaders need to do is, take the temperature of people on their
Speaker:teams and in their organizations and find out how accepting versus resistant
Speaker:they are to change and actually where they follow along that is going to
Speaker:directly speak to how their brand's gonna process that information.
Speaker:And that's really important for knowing which techniques to use to
Speaker:persuade people to engage in change.
Speaker:If you don't know whether their brain is turned on or turned off
Speaker:to change, you don't know how to speak to them and get them on board.
Speaker:So I think taking the temperature's a really big thing.
Speaker:I think another big thing is there are.
Speaker:Let's say if there's a round of layoffs coming, nobody feels
Speaker:good about that, and that's okay.
Speaker:Nobody should feel good about that.
Speaker:But I think
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Sure.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: the leadership showing that they are
Speaker:emotionally invested in this also is really important, so that it's important
Speaker:for leaders to share the pain and also to share why they're doing it.
Speaker:Research shows that people or Mar are more likely to go along with
Speaker:something if they simply know why.
Speaker:how many times do people tell us, yes, no, I'm not doing that.
Speaker:I don't, or something like that.
Speaker:Or just go do it.
Speaker:And they don't tell us why.
Speaker:And the thing is, our brains.
Speaker:Don't like mysteries.
Speaker:Our brains like answers and when, and so whether you know it or not, every
Speaker:time you talk to somebody, they wanna know why you're doing something or why
Speaker:you are asking them to do something.
Speaker:So if there's a round of layoffs coming, be sure to go in detail about why.
Speaker:Be sure to make yourself personally available, whether that's, several
Speaker:meetings in individual departments or whether that's a town hall via zoom.
Speaker:Make yourself personally available.
Speaker:And at more than one time when it comes to enacting change, people
Speaker:are usually in shock at first.
Speaker:And their questions and thoughts that are deeper than just their initial
Speaker:reaction are gonna come later.
Speaker:So you don't just need a, a. A one drop of, we're gonna have layoffs
Speaker:or there's gonna be a reorg.
Speaker:You need to actually follow that up because when you follow that up with
Speaker:additional opportunities to directly communicate with people, then you're
Speaker:letting them know that they are important, they are being seen, they're being heard,
Speaker:and that you care about them.
Speaker:When you take that simple step of showing people you care about them, they're
Speaker:more likely to be receptive to change.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: I love it.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And I think that's totally true, man.
Speaker:That's really good stuff.
Speaker:I think there was so many things you said there that, that captured my attention.
Speaker:Number one, it's not, you were not saying that you, everybody
Speaker:has to be optimistic all the time.
Speaker:Pollyanna, there's nothing wrong, nothing bad, but I do think it's what
Speaker:it's like what you were describing when you were describing it sounds
Speaker:to me like you're saying it, it's a, it's the truth without judgment.
Speaker:With a dash of hope, that light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker:I want, I wanna be honest about what's going on, but I
Speaker:can do that without judging.
Speaker:say this is the truth.
Speaker:And then dash of hope at the end, the little light at the
Speaker:tunnel, it's oh, that wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be.
Speaker:And that just keeps you on just the right side of optimism.
Speaker:Not Pollyanna, but not into negative space, cortisol, and all the
Speaker:negative things that come with it.
Speaker:So I think I love that.
Speaker:I love how you described that is from a I, I read the, a long time ago, this
Speaker:book called The Psychology of Influence, I think it was by Robert Kini, and
Speaker:he was talking exactly about what you
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: The
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: saying.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: one research scientist involved
Speaker:in persuasion and influence.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yeah.
Speaker:And I just remember his, there was something in his book, it's been a
Speaker:long time since I read it, but it was something like, they went up and
Speaker:asked students at a copy machine.
Speaker:This was back when, you had to make copies for class.
Speaker:I guess this was a while back, which is sad that I remember that.
Speaker:But, standing in line at a copier at a college, and they would, they
Speaker:said some people would just break in front of the person and other
Speaker:people's would, other people would say, Hey, can I go in front of you?
Speaker:I've gotta be late for class.
Speaker:the experience and the likelihood the person was like, okay with you getting
Speaker:in front of them was like way higher.
Speaker:If you told the reason why, and they said what was crazy was it didn't
Speaker:even matter what the reason why.
Speaker:Some of them, they would go and say, because I'm late for class
Speaker:or because I need to do this, my homework to get it done in time.
Speaker:And then other ones they would go and say.
Speaker:Because, I don't feel like waiting or, because, it would just be like
Speaker:random because, my mom's coming this weekend and it's not even has nothing
Speaker:to do with the copyright, and they still were more likely to let them in
Speaker:front just because they, they said a reason why, even if it was nonsensical.
Speaker:I always, that stuck with me is man, the power of why is a real thing.
Speaker:And so I thought that was just, that's just a great point that you laid
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: It's, it's a real thing.
Speaker:And that also brings up real quick another aspect of that, which is
Speaker:that we want to help other people.
Speaker:And when somebody says, Hey, do you, you know, would you let me go in front of you
Speaker:because I'm going to be late to class?
Speaker:That gives us an opportunity to help people.
Speaker:And remember, your brain is selfish.
Speaker:So when you help people, you get a little dopamine squirt and your
Speaker:brain says, I'm such a good person.
Speaker:I did such a good thing.
Speaker:This is what I did.
Speaker:I helped this person out.
Speaker:And we wanna help people.
Speaker:So the why helps with that too.
Speaker:if you tell people why something is happening, then their act of responding
Speaker:to you is them being helpful to you, and that's good for their brain.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The reciprocity.
Speaker:I find that fascinating that we're wired that way.
Speaker:Isn't that a w It's amazing that you just said that because like, when you
Speaker:think about it, we are selfish and in our selfishness, we're wired to
Speaker:be happy when we help other people.
Speaker:It's the wild isn't that the wildest paradox?
Speaker:like our brains are a little bit selfish, and yet we're wired to where
Speaker:we, we get a quote unquote paid with dopamine, mental pay with dopamine
Speaker:hits when we help someone else.
Speaker:So it's like this counterbalancing force where you would think, if we're selfish,
Speaker:we'd be like, no, I'm helping myself.
Speaker:I'm standing in front of the line and I'm gonna get what I want.
Speaker:But instead, we actually feel better when we help someone else.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: in the cave people days with our ancestors.
Speaker:That made a lot of sense because if you are hungry and I offer you some
Speaker:of my berries, I've gathered then according to the laws of reciprocity,
Speaker:which our brain does abide by, you owe me some berries, Dallas.
Speaker:So when I'm hungry or the next time you have some berries, you are
Speaker:going to come share them with me.
Speaker:So it's a little bit of an investment in our future too.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: It's an investment in our future.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If I pay it forward, it
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: That's right.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: what I pay forward comes back and
Speaker:that's, man, that's such a great thing.
Speaker:That's a great point.
Speaker:I want to take a break for a second and jump in because I, we went, we do dove
Speaker:straight into the conversation because it was, I was so excited about it.
Speaker:But I gotta get back to this deal because you actually performed with Madonna.
Speaker:You got to, you can't, we can't just leave that 'cause there's some listeners
Speaker:right now clawing the walls going, what?
Speaker:You better tell me about how that happened because I can't, you don't leave me
Speaker:hanging, I don't want to get comments at the show about not covering that.
Speaker:So tell us how in the world does one end up on stage with Madonna?
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: very carefully and through chance.
Speaker:So this was a number of years ago, and I am a huge Madonna fan.
Speaker:Always have been since I was a little kid.
Speaker:I would blast her music on my boombox and be in my room dancing and singing.
Speaker:And to me,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Material
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: was the ultimate force for confidence
Speaker:and for going after your dreams.
Speaker:And these are messages that just spoke right to me as a little girl.
Speaker:so I try to go to every one of her concerts I've been to, I go
Speaker:to multiple shows per concert.
Speaker:That's, I'm a big fan and I'm not alone.
Speaker:We have a little community of those of us that see each
Speaker:other on the floor at her shows
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Wow.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: and.
Speaker:Three tours ago, I was in Washington DC and we were, my husband and
Speaker:I were on the floor about six rows back out from the catwalk.
Speaker:And we were having a good time with everybody.
Speaker:and before the show, most people arrived pretty early, so we were
Speaker:walking around and saying hello and everybody and, met up with her
Speaker:manager, GA Oeri said hello to him.
Speaker:He remembered me.
Speaker:did I mention I go in costume?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Oh,
Speaker:are you co when you're going and you're going something that, like an
Speaker:outfit that she's worn on a previous
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: exactly it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So one of my favorite tours was the Confessions Tour in 2006.
Speaker:And after that tour, I, one of my coping strategies for dealing with writing my
Speaker:dissertation is that I would take breaks by making myself a replica of her costume.
Speaker:And it's, and the cool thing about her costume too is it's actually an homage to
Speaker:Abba and she sampled some Abba in that.
Speaker:So it's a white unitard with purple glittery stripes and white go-go boots
Speaker:that are platform and on the, and a white satin cape with disco balls on the inside.
Speaker:And it says Dancing Queen on the outside.
Speaker:and her manager knew who I was and had taken a couple pictures of me
Speaker:and put it up on her Facebook page.
Speaker:And so this is, I've gone for almost 20 years in this costume.
Speaker:This is my costume.
Speaker:And
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: is
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: so we're sitting, took some
Speaker:pictures of some people beforehand, sit there through the show.
Speaker:The show's amazing.
Speaker:And, oh, actually before the show, I was actually able to meet the
Speaker:woman who designed this costume.
Speaker:They introduced me to her.
Speaker:So that was a huge thrill for me.
Speaker:And that was just such an honor.
Speaker:The show goes on, the show's about three quarters of the way through.
Speaker:and we get into the last act.
Speaker:There are at this particular show, four acts, and we're hanging out,
Speaker:enjoying a good time, dancing, singing, and I get one of these tap on the
Speaker:shoulder and I was several people in.
Speaker:And so it had been one person tapping another person.
Speaker:And I look and they say, there's a guy out here that wants to talk with you.
Speaker:And so I make my way out to the aisle as Madonna's singing and performing.
Speaker:And there was a very official looking security guard and somebody
Speaker:with a microphone and a whole setup, and they said, would you
Speaker:like to go on stage with Madonna?
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Do I dress this way?
Speaker:Because I would
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: There's only one answer.
Speaker:And that answer is yes.
Speaker:And I said, yes, absolutely.
Speaker:And they said, okay, we're gonna need you to take your cape off.
Speaker:And I thought.
Speaker:I don't know about that.
Speaker:And I said, I'm gonna feel a little shy wearing just a white
Speaker:unitard in front of 18,000 people.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:And they said, we have no idea what's gonna happen, but there's a good
Speaker:chance she'll put her arm on your back.
Speaker:And I said, oh, she's gonna touch my back.
Speaker:Okay, I'll get over that.
Speaker:No problem.
Speaker:And I had no idea what was gonna happen.
Speaker:I had about one song, and then she pulled me up on stage with her and she started
Speaker:dancing and I did exactly what she was doing and did the same dance she was doing
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Oh my
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: and.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: All those years of dance training paid off.
Speaker:You just right in the moment, on the stage, you could dance
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yep.
Speaker:and she asked my name.
Speaker:She remembered my name.
Speaker:Three months later, she called me out in several other concerts, and to this day,
Speaker:she still remembers who I am and will gimme a little winker wave when she can.
Speaker:And yes, it was the culmination of all of my experiences.
Speaker:So my experience as a dancer and a speaker made me comfortable on stage.
Speaker:And I also tapped into my brain to leverage all of my neuroscience
Speaker:experience and training to figure out how to win that situation,
Speaker:because there was a really good chance that I could have fallen on my face in
Speaker:my six inch platform boots, or made a fool outta myself when she was dancing
Speaker:or not said the right thing when she'd spoke with me and talked with me on stage.
Speaker:But I leveraged exactly what I knew and that first thing I did
Speaker:is I said, I need to dampen down this fight or flight response.
Speaker:So I took a few,
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Because that's an intense,
Speaker:this is an intense
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: intense.
Speaker:It's the most intense moment in my life and still to this day.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: did you, but you were aware, so from
Speaker:a neuroscience perspective, you were aware and you were coming into that,
Speaker:what did you do to, how did you
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah.
Speaker:So I calmed myself down by taking several deep breaths and doing some
Speaker:stretching, and that reduced the cortisol in my system, took the stress hormones
Speaker:down, reduced my heart weight, heart made my palms a little less sweaty.
Speaker:All of that good stuff.
Speaker:And then that, that feeling we get when we're a little anxious and a
Speaker:little nervous, I flipped the switch on that, and rather than feeling
Speaker:anxious or nervous, I felt excited.
Speaker:So I took those internal bodily cues and reinterpreted them because the cue
Speaker:is there in your body, but your brain can reinterpret it however it wants.
Speaker:And so I turned that into excitement.
Speaker:I also leveraged what's called my Semantic memory network.
Speaker:This is the part of your memory that's like your brain's, Wikipedia,
Speaker:all the knowledge you know about everything in the whole world.
Speaker:And I knew a lot about Madonna, so I knew that she respects bold, confident people,
Speaker:and that's what I wanted to portray.
Speaker:I know that she's witty and that she's a badass, and that's
Speaker:also what I wanted to portray.
Speaker:And so I went up there with that in mind.
Speaker:I'm gonna be bold, I'm gonna be brave, and I'm gonna be confident.
Speaker:And that's how I was able to succeed on stage and relate to
Speaker:my favorite artist of all time.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Wow, man.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:I love how you described that and how intentional you were about that.
Speaker:That's, that's epic.
Speaker:That's epic being a on stage with, somebody you've just, seen your whole
Speaker:life and just admired the whole time.
Speaker:And then also just to be able to have the presence in the moment to do what you
Speaker:already know that you should be doing.
Speaker:I think there's, 'cause some people would just, again, dismiss the little things
Speaker:and say, I'm just gonna run up on stage.
Speaker:Oh my gosh, this is Madonna.
Speaker:And you're like, Nope, gonna own this moment and this is what I need to do.
Speaker:And you just go through your, your mental checklist.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: that's the benefit of being able to
Speaker:tap in and unlock your super brain, what your small neurobiological
Speaker:superpowers are, and those small superpowers add up to big effects.
Speaker:And I'm glad I did because I've actually given a TEDx talk on this, and
Speaker:I've given three TEDx talks and that YouTube with Madonna has more views
Speaker:than all of my TEDx talks combined.
Speaker:So it's a really good
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: serious?
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: just go up there and fall on my feet
Speaker:or fall on my face and flub it up.
Speaker:So I, it was worth carefully thinking about for those two and a half minutes.
Speaker:I had what I can do.
Speaker:And so a little intentional effort on how you can maximize a situation for
Speaker:your benefit really pays off in the end.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: I love that actually.
Speaker:We started the show going into details about, how to manage your.
Speaker:Your mind if you're in a bad space.
Speaker:But I want to kind of, as we go towards the close, I wanna really come full
Speaker:circle and go into talking about you.
Speaker:You, you've given multiple TEDx talks.
Speaker:You're talking about the super brain and your superpowers.
Speaker:Tapping into that, have listeners that are leaders, coaches, business
Speaker:owners, organizational owners.
Speaker:They're in nonprofits and all over the world.
Speaker:And so I would love for you to talk about anything that we haven't covered.
Speaker:That you think would be beneficial to coaches and leaders in organizations that
Speaker:would have to do with really tapping into their superpowers in that super brain.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah.
Speaker:I think a big thing that does relate to that Madonna experience is confidence.
Speaker:So confidence grows because of your memories, and this isn't
Speaker:something most people realize.
Speaker:So how?
Speaker:How do I know that I can take on a new challenge?
Speaker:Well, because I have a memory of dancing on stage with
Speaker:Madonna, and if I can do that.
Speaker:I can do this new challenge and confidence is something we can build and grow.
Speaker:So you can start with something small.
Speaker:Maybe you had a really good meeting with, somebody in your organization, and then
Speaker:you have to go have a big sales call about the same topic, or talk with the board
Speaker:about the same topic, or talk with a big, public audience about the same topic.
Speaker:You know, you can do that because you've already done it.
Speaker:You've had a small conversation and that conversation has shown
Speaker:you success and it's really important to make good memories.
Speaker:And when you have a small success, stop and anchor that memory and
Speaker:say, wow, I did a really good job.
Speaker:Give yourself a pat on the back.
Speaker:Take a moment to smile and relish the moment.
Speaker:And maybe that takes 30 seconds.
Speaker:Maybe that takes an hour.
Speaker:It takes for you whatever it takes.
Speaker:And that means you'll make a memory and that memory will spur
Speaker:confidence in other directions.
Speaker:And this is important for people in your team too.
Speaker:they might not realize that small victories build big memories
Speaker:and grow your confidence.
Speaker:And so when somebody does really well, let them know.
Speaker:Hey, you did such a great job with that.
Speaker:You really nailed that project.
Speaker:You really did an awesome job with that client.
Speaker:I want you to take a minute and celebrate yourself.
Speaker:I just think you did an amazing job.
Speaker:it could be with a small gift card.
Speaker:It could be verbal praise, it could be with an ice cream party.
Speaker:It could be, anything.
Speaker:but let them know so that they will make that memory.
Speaker:And when we have small successes, it's really important to celebrate because
Speaker:when you celebrate, you're tapping into your brain's reward circuitry.
Speaker:And when you tap into your brain's reward circuitry, it doesn't just
Speaker:make you feel good with your happy neurotransmitters and a little bit of
Speaker:a dopamine squirt, which we all love a good dopamine squirt, but that also taps
Speaker:into your brain's intrinsic motivation.
Speaker:So when you celebrate a small victory, your brain is gonna tell
Speaker:itself, oh, I did something good.
Speaker:I wanna go do that again.
Speaker:And that means you're gonna make it more likely for you or your
Speaker:team members to engage in whatever behaviors land to you that success.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: love that.
Speaker:And I love it for a lot of different reasons.
Speaker:Number one, I love celebrating, 'cause it's fun and let's do it.
Speaker:We should celebrate
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: that's one of the reasons in our
Speaker:coaching system, the last question is , what's one thing you wanna
Speaker:commit to get 1% better this month?
Speaker:we always tell the leaders, you now have a reason to celebrate
Speaker:with someone at least once a month.
Speaker:they accomplish this 1%, which could be like watching some YouTube videos
Speaker:on how to use Microsoft Teams.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be a big thing, but what's I'm excited to hear about is
Speaker:your explanation, from a neuroscience perspective of why that's so important.
Speaker:Because it's bringing it back to that person saying, congratulations,
Speaker:you did this great thing.
Speaker:Even if it was 1%,
Speaker:and I think that it's just so powerful.
Speaker:I think that's great advice.
Speaker:I think that's great advice , to, that leaders can use to, to unlock
Speaker:their superpowers Now one last thing I wanna talk to you about.
Speaker:'cause you made great comment, before the show and we would ask, what's
Speaker:some ad advice for people that are high performers and, different things like
Speaker:that and what would keep people from that.
Speaker:And you made a interesting comment about ego high performers not being
Speaker:a victim of their own ego in a sense.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah, so this is certainly, I'm not
Speaker:meaning to implicate every leader in this, but people who are high performers and
Speaker:people who are leaders usually were able to get to those positions because they're
Speaker:pretty confident in their abilities and they're pretty confident in their
Speaker:skills and their ability to do the job.
Speaker:And that's fantastic.
Speaker:We want confidence.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yeah.
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: But the challenge is when confidence
Speaker:breeds over to overconfidence and then ego takes over.
Speaker:And so when ego takes over, that means we can have what's
Speaker:called illusory confidence.
Speaker:We can be confident about everything we're doing, even if we have no reason to be.
Speaker:And when that happens.
Speaker:That's when losses come in.
Speaker:You might lose quality members of your organization because you're
Speaker:not seeing what they can offer.
Speaker:You might lose clients because you assume you already have them.
Speaker:When you don't, you might lose opportunities, lose profit,
Speaker:lose productivity because you're overly confident and that ego
Speaker:actually causes blind spots.
Speaker:And one of the things ego does that's really interesting is in the brain, it
Speaker:actually shuts off curiosity, because curiosity is the desire to know more
Speaker:and the desire to resolve an imbalance.
Speaker:And if you're very overconfident, then there's no imbalance.
Speaker:You're confident about so many things.
Speaker:And so I think a really important check to make sure they're not being
Speaker:driven by ego is to step back and engage in curiosity and curiosity.
Speaker:it's really cool.
Speaker:It activates this area of your brain called the anterior cingulate cortex,
Speaker:and it's really deep in your brain and it's a gateway in your brain.
Speaker:And this anterior cingulate cortex routes information to where it needs to go.
Speaker:So if you're overconfident, it's not going to be curious and it's
Speaker:gonna say, do the usual thing.
Speaker:And then you actually get into autopilot thinking.
Speaker:But if you stop and you ask questions, is this really the best way to do this?
Speaker:I know we've done this 20 times.
Speaker:Is there something we're not thinking about?
Speaker:Then your anterior cingulate routes that information somewhere else,
Speaker:and you get out of your autopilot thinking and you start thinking
Speaker:in new and interesting ways.
Speaker:And that essentially keeps your mind open and it keeps your eyes
Speaker:open to what's happening with people in your organization.
Speaker:What's happening to your business, what's happening with your clients,
Speaker:what's happening with your sales teams?
Speaker:By constantly engaging in curiosity, we're not only constantly learning
Speaker:and growing, but keeping our eyes open to the possibilities of the
Speaker:people, places, and things around us.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Ah, I love that.
Speaker:That is so good.
Speaker:Well said.
Speaker:And I think too, and I'm gonna go a step further and you said it could
Speaker:happen to any leader, but you're not talking about every leader.
Speaker:And I agree with that, but I would say too, specifically to leaders,
Speaker:and this is coming from a former.
Speaker:chemist, an engineer.
Speaker:So I can say this, I'm part of the crew.
Speaker:Anybody that are paid to have the right answer, right?
Speaker:like a lot of times this has been my personal experience, if I'm an engineer,
Speaker:if I'm a medical doctor, if I'm a lawyer or I'm just paid to be the person that
Speaker:people come and say, Hey, what is this?
Speaker:I feel like in those areas specifically, those, fields, it is even harder not
Speaker:to fall victim you've got to know this formula to make this work this way.
Speaker:And , you're supposed to have the answer.
Speaker:And I think that from your description, the healthy.
Speaker:Engineer, the healthy medical doctor.
Speaker:The healthy lawyer is coming at that saying, let me ask really
Speaker:great questions and not assume that I know because of this, and this.
Speaker:I'm listening to the person asking these great questions and I'm open
Speaker:and curious versus the person that's.
Speaker:It's definitely more closed-minded and it's I've filled up my bucket with
Speaker:all these inputs and then it has to be something I pull out of that bucket.
Speaker:And if it's not, I can't even see it.
Speaker:'cause I've assumed that's all there is.
Speaker:'cause it's what's in my head.
Speaker:And I, and it's so refreshing because you explain that so well.
Speaker:and it should be refreshing if you are an engineer or a medical doctor
Speaker:or a lawyer or a business owner.
Speaker:it doesn't, it's not just limited to those.
Speaker:I've just had those experiences in my own life working with, directly with
Speaker:engineers that we can, we, and I put myself in that category, get so caught
Speaker:up in the right answer that we lack the curiosity to actually get to the right
Speaker:answer, to the most effective answer.
Speaker:And so think you did a great job of explaining that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So thank you for that.
Speaker:And thank you for your wisdom today.
Speaker:And man, it's just been a pleasure.
Speaker:this.
Speaker:Just flown by.
Speaker:We just put an hour in the books.
Speaker:It's just boom.
Speaker:I could spend another
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah.
Speaker:we could do another three or four hours easily.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Yeah.
Speaker:We'll just have to have you back on the, you'll be our last
Speaker:10% resident neuroscientist.
Speaker:We'll have you on again.
Speaker:But, Dr. Collins, we just appreciate you being on here and, and sharing
Speaker:your wisdom with our listeners.
Speaker:I know they enjoyed it, and I want to ask you two things.
Speaker:We wanna let people know where to find you in case they wanna have
Speaker:you and as a speaker at one of their events, and connect with you.
Speaker:So please let people know how they can connect
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yeah, you can connect with me on my
Speaker:website, which is dr heather collins.com and I'm also on LinkedIn, so that's a
Speaker:great way to connect with me also, and we can keep the conversation going.
Speaker:Just search for Dr. Heather Collins and look for my face.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Fantastic.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:Oh, that's, and the last thing we always ask the guests on the last
Speaker:10% who, and I think I know the answer, but who would they like to
Speaker:hear as a guest on the last 10%?
Speaker:So Dr. Collins, who would you like to hear us get, as a
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: I would love to hear.
Speaker:It's no surprise Madonna again.
Speaker:She.
Speaker:She is just such a fountain of bravery and wisdom, especially when
Speaker:it comes for inspiring young people and really pushing the boundaries.
Speaker:And she reminds us that playing it safe is no way to be the queen
Speaker:of pop or the queen of anything.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Hmm.
Speaker:Yes, I would agree with that.
Speaker:we will, I will reach out and say, listen, the guest that you know, that
Speaker:comes to a lot of your shows, and as a neuroscientist has said, you gotta be on.
Speaker:So we'll see.
Speaker:We'll see if, we'll see if she takes our request.
Speaker:That would be, that'd be amazing actually.
Speaker:That'd be great.
Speaker:And, we'll definitely give you a call if they get back, our people
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Yes, please.
Speaker:dallas-burnett_31_03-28-2025_104438: Well thank you again.
Speaker:Dr. Collins, thank you for being a guest, sharing your wisdom,
Speaker:your insights, and, and we just appreciate you being on the last
Speaker:squadcaster-2ca3_1_03-28-2025_104436: Thank you, Dallas.
Speaker:I appreciate it.
Speaker:This was wonderful.
Speaker:Thank you all for listening.
