Have you ever watched a talented employee just stop trying? They know what to do. They have the skills. And still, nothing. What you are witnessing is not a character flaw. It is a brain event. And until now, most of us have had no name for it.

Dr. Kyra Bobinet is a public health physician, scientist, and behavioral designer who has spent her career closing what she calls the know-do gap: the space between knowing what you should do and actually doing it. She has identified the specific brain region responsible for killing motivation, generating negative self-talk, and driving everything from procrastination to addiction. It is called the habenula. It is the size of a pea. And it is running more of your team's behavior than you realize.

In this conversation we go deep on the neuroscience of motivation and disengagement, what triggers the habenula (and what that is) to shut people down at work, why GLP-1 medications are actually addiction drugs that work through this same brain region, how Gen Z's particular history with social media and loneliness makes them especially vulnerable to habenula overload, and what managers can actually do about it. Dr. Bobinet also shares the iterative mindset framework she has published in peer-reviewed research, which is available as a free tool at her website.

• What the habenula is and why it is the master control switch for motivation and negative self-talk
• How trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and social media overload create a hypersensitive habenula
• Why 1 in 3 Americans are using alcohol, cannabis, or nicotine during the workday and what that tells us about workplace stress
• The surprising reason GLP-1s like Ozempic reduce cravings for alcohol, nicotine, and nail-biting (not just food)
• Why 67% of Gen Z report loneliness and what that means for their performance at work
• The iterative mindset: why you cannot fail if you are experimenting, and how managers can use this to support struggling employees
• A real workplace ritual that Dr. Bobinet uses to protect motivation and build retention on her team

00:01 Introduction and guest bio: Dr. Kyra Bobinet, public health physician and behavioral designer

01:06 Origin story: patients who swear they'll change and then don't, and the know-do gap

03:04 The habenula: what it is, how it kills motivation, and why it drives negative self-talk

07:00 Habenula vs. amygdala: the prediction machine vs. the fear response

09:10 Trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and the hypersensitive habenula

11:46 Substances at work: the stat, the self-medication cycle, and the habenula's role in addiction and cravings

15:47 GLP-1s and the habenula: why they reduce cravings far beyond weight loss

19:53 Loneliness, belonging, and why 67% of Gen Z report feeling lonely

24:04 What happens in the brain when someone stops making progress at work

29:13 Building small wins into the workday and the iterative mindset framework

37:07 Gen Z, social media overload, and what managers are getting wrong about disengagement

45:10 Workplace rituals that protect motivation, plus the third/third/third hiring rule

49:37 Why 30-day resets backfire and what to do instead: the planner, the doer, and the free tool at drkyrabobinet.com

Subscribe to the podcast for weekly content, and visit tessbrigham.com to learn more.

Follow for weekly episodes, and be sure to visit tessbrigham.com to learn more about Tess's work as a licensed therapist and certified coach.

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There is a fear spreading through management right now that nobody is naming out loud. Managers are scared to give feedback to their Gen Z employees. And because it stays unspoken, it is quietly destroying performance culture inside organizations everywhere.

In this episode, I walk through exactly why this is happening, what it's costing you, and what works when it comes to delivering feedback to a younger workforce. This is not a Gen Z problem, and it is not a manager problem. It is a product of a generation raised with a very specific relationship to evaluation, criticism, and their own sense of worth colliding with a management culture that was never trained to work with that reality.

I draw on Carol Dweck's research on fixed vs. growth mindset, Dr. Kristin Neff's work on self-compassion and external performance feedback, organizational researcher Edgar Schein's concept of humble inquiry, and Sheila Heen's research from Thanks for the Feedback to explain what is actually happening in those feedback conversations when they go sideways. Then I give you concrete, specific tools to make them go differently.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why a significant portion of Gen Z was never given direct developmental feedback before they entered your organization
• The neurological leap that turns a comment about a deliverable into an identity threat
• Three specific things that go wrong in most feedback conversations with Gen Z
• A 20-second framing technique that changes the entire dynamic before you say a single word of feedback
• Why Gen Z does not leave managers who give honest feedback, and who they actually leave

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS:

00:01 The fear managers won't say out loud

00:40 The millennial manager story: one feedback conversation that went wrong and what happened next

02:01 The deep mismatch in expectations, emotional history, and how Gen Z was wired to receive feedback

02:10 Carol Dweck: growth mindset and the conditions required to develop it

03:20 How self-esteem culture, protective parenting, and social media shaped Gen Z's relationship with evaluation

03:44 Dr. Kristin Neff: self-compassion research and what happens when worth is tied to external feedback

04:08 The leap: how this report missed the mark becomes you are inadequate

04:41 Many Gen Z employees have never received direct developmental feedback before

05:00 Three specific things going wrong in feedback conversations right now

05:00 Problem 1: feedback is about identity, not behavior

05:45 Problem 2: no relational foundation exists before the feedback lands (Edgar Schein, humble inquiry)

06:25 Problem 3: expectations were never set clearly upfront

07:04 One concrete shift: the 20-second framing technique

07:50 Sheila Heen: asking for a smaller piece to give employees agency

08:30 The real truth about what Gen Z actually needs from a manager

Download my FREE Gen Z Playbook: https://www.tessbrigham.com/#retention

Follow for weekly episodes, and be sure to visit tessbrigham.com to learn more about Tess's work as a licensed therapist and certified coach.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are our educational systems actually built for the people who need them most? For students who are also parents, caregivers, veterans, and full-time workers, the traditional model of higher education was never designed with them in mind. And in the Black community, where those layers of responsibility are often even more pronounced. The gap between who the system was built for and who it needs to serve has real consequences.

In this conversation I sit down with Dr. Alvin McLean, clinical psychologist and dean of psychology at National University, and Cherina Shaw, PhD candidate in psychology, doula, mother of six, and homeschool parent.

We cover a lot of ground in this one, from why psychology training pipelines produce so few Black therapists, to what culturally responsive care actually looks like in practice, to one of the most important insights I have heard about worldview and how it shapes the kind of advice a person can actually receive. We also talk about where integrated physical and mental healthcare is headed and why it matters more than most people realize.

This conversation is for HR leaders, healthcare providers, therapists in training, and anyone thinking about what it means to really see the people they are trying to help.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• What is actually driving the shortage of Black therapists and what flexible institutions like National University are doing about it
• What "culturally responsive care" looks like in daily clinical practice
• Why collective worldview is not the same as personal preference and why missing that distinction derails treatment
• Why humility, not expertise, is the most important thing a healthcare provider or leader can bring to any conversation
• How integrated physical and mental healthcare is already reducing costs and improving outcomes

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS:

00:37 Dr. McLean on why he focused his career on Black mental health

04:10 Cherina's path to a psychology PhD

07:50 Why psychology programs produce so few Black therapists and what the system gets wrong

08:09 HBCUs, state-by-state licensing, and the structural gap in the pipeline

11:16 National University's flexible model and why 70% of their students are people of color

13:22 Starting the pipeline earlier: building toward psychology careers at the elementary level

14:36 The problem with taking one multicultural competency class and calling it done

16:00 How the doctoral program at National University structures a full year of multicultural training

17:27 Implicit bias training in hospitals and why it matters for patient outcomes

18:59 Gen Z and therapy: more acceptance, but are they doing the work?

20:44 The Amazon generation and the demand for instant results

21:41 Young Black men being open about emotions on reality TV and what that signals

22:24 The gap between checking the therapy box and real internal change

23:25 The future of integrated physical and mental healthcare

25:38 Why integrated care is gaining momentum: cost data and long-term outcomes

26:11 How technology is reshaping mental health needs across generations

27:14 Intentional technology use and reclaiming mental downtime

30:38 What does culturally responsive care actually look like in practice?

31:03 Preparation, listening, partnership over task completion

33:02 Collective worldview: why prioritizing yourself can feel like betrayal

35:02 How to recognize a collective worldview through observation and conversation

38:13 Humility as the foundation of culturally competent care

39:14 Imposter syndrome, the pressure to have all the answers, and learning to let go of it

41:23 Acknowledging intersecting identities in coaching and clinical work

43:41 Prison reform: rehabilitation, for-profit prisons, and what actually works

44:50 Peer support specialists and preparing people to return to community

51:05 Final takeaways from both guests

51:25 Healing is incremental, ongoing, and that is okay

52:25 Collaborative care and leading with humility

Follow for weekly episodes, and be sure to visit tessbrigham.com to learn more about Tess's work as a licensed therapist and certified coach.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.