A well regulated nervous system

I'm thinking a lot on the importance of a well regulated nervous system these days.

Maybe it's a frequency illusion, or the byproduct of algorithmic content personalization, or a function of some inner work, or maybe it's part of the ongoing pattern recognition I've been applying to the unsettling moment. Likely all of the above. I think it is an important lens to consider when we talk about transformation and change fatigue.

I started pondering this topic with some depth in February when I read this post about how culture is an energy system. I am now seeing every interaction as having both a cerebral and energetic component and I am now pondering the energetic side of the work transformation conversation(s).

Well before I was pondering my own neurodivergence, or had framed my insights based on the hemispheres of the brain - I was aware that sometimes I would have moments of clarity that hit me as fully formed insights vs. progressive discovery. I tended to understand this as intuition. Over time, I realized that access to these insights was a gift.

As I began to dig deep into this gift, I realized that I take in a lot more information than I can process verbally. For me, the high velocity/quantity capture likely has a few root causes 1) neurodivergence 2) childhood trauma (the need to defuse volatile personalities) 3) a childhood with an abundance of context switching.

I naturally gravitate to metacognition and often ponder what does it mean. Not just why do I have this gift, but how can I better leverage this to be a better person, help others more, create opportunity, reduce suffering?

How might this gift help me with my mission to Invent the Future.

I have learned that subtle non-verbal cues and energy inputs have to be processed differently to be able to access them for insight. There is a need to both investigate and let go, to give space for insights to emerge. The tricky part, is that when they do emerge, you need to be able to listen to them, and trust what they are telling you. For me, taking these ideas and turning them into language (to make them available to others) is difficult. This is why writing and podcasting is helpful, it often gives me the space and modality to give language to intuition.

As I reflect conversations happening around AI transformation, job change and workflow redesign, one thing I feel is missing is the concept of nervous system regulation. We are not helping people build the right skills to regulate their own nervous systems so that they can develop the agency to thrive in the Ambiguity Age.

Worse, we are starting to collectively listen to leaders who say things like "empathy is weakness" or "high performance teams don't have psychological safety" without having a nuanced conversation about how we all need to get out of our comfort zone and into the learning zone. It's impossible to get into a learning zone when you are dysregulated.

The reality is that nervous system regulation is not a one size fits all. Example, Amy gets dysregulated when the weather is bad. Meg gets dysregulated from noise. Environment matters as does an internal locus of control and of course, there is the Trevor Noah checklist.

When I think about the levers we need to accelerate to achieve our transformation goals I believe leaders need to focus on the following

• Define and communicate the strategy and the vision to meet the moment

• Create the right energy - building the foundation of trust and psychological safety to help people see the possibility and get them moving toward the future.

• Shape the path - Reduce the friction to doing the new things (and add friction to the old things)

Each of the above can and should leverage the well known transformation tools; communication strategies, change agents, alignment, success definition, etc. etc.

As I see it today, we are seriously under achieving with energy management. We are cultivating fear and stress, whiplashing people to do more without building the foundations for them to succeed, and offering job loss as the reward for automating work.

We can and should do better.

As leaders, we need to step up and take responsibility for building the cultural foundation to capture the opportunity. Not only do we need to get hands on with the tools, we must also set the tone from the top. We need to recognize that our energy matters.

If you are not prepared to role model energy regulation, if you are not equipped to establish the vision and strategy you should not be leading in this moment, the stakes are just too high. There has never been a more critical time for leadership and I salute all the leaders out there who are stepping up with curiosity and intellectual humility, you really are making an important dent in the universe.