Misha Byrne is a SingularityU Portugal expert in Neuroscience & Performance. He is a social-cognitive neuroscientist with a background in researching the brain mechanisms behind how we monitor and improve our own performance.

Now a full-time behavioral strategist and ‘behavior hacker’, he is Head of Consulting at The Future Academy X (Munich) and Partner at NeuroPower Group (Australia). He helps business leaders accelerate digitalization and AI-adoption by using brain insights to: make it easier for people to adapt to new technologies; boost performance of critical teams; and design better, more human-centered companies, products and communities.

Misha’s current work focuses on putting science, soul and common sense into the Future of Work and harnessing technology, diversity, and collaboration to build high-performance cultures.

The ‘fear of change’ is not just a throwaway phrase. The brain associates change with threat and, as such, the mind and body then automatically go into threat response mode. Our response to change starts in the brain; most of us look for some degree of safety, certainty and predictability in our lives.

We tend to avoid anything that will activate a threat response in the brain, which is what happens when we perceive that our job, our daily routine, or our livelihood is at risk. Not knowing what will happen tomorrow causes most people to expend neural energy on the threat response rather than in more productive pursuits.

In this talk, we will explore the neuroscience of why change can feel uncomfortable, even when you want it to happen, and introduce neuroscience-based self-management and team-management techniques that can help teams better adapt to exponential change.