Wired to Work | Neuroscience, Psychology & Leadership

Why do we keep falling back into habits we know aren’t working for us?

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman talks with engineer, entrepreneur and manifestation coach Aparna Dubey about the patterns that keep us stuck, from overworking and constant busyness to distraction, multitasking and the belief that productivity equals worth.

Aparna explains her approach to manifestation as more than simply wishing for an outcome. She discusses attention, repeated thoughts and behaviours, nervous-system familiarity and the role she believes they play in determining what we notice and how we act. She also shares practical techniques she uses with clients, including activity and energy audits, visualization, journaling, somatic work and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) tapping.

In this episode:

• Why familiar patterns can be so difficult to change
• How busyness and overwork can become part of our identity
• Why focus can feel uncomfortable when we’re accustomed to constant stimulation
• Aparna’s four-part activity and energy audit for examining where your time actually goes
• Practical foundations for focus, including sleep, movement, nutrition and hydration
• Visualization, mindset and behaviour change
• What somatic practices and EFT tapping are and how Aparna uses them
• The difference between changing your own patterns and recognizing when the environment itself needs to change
• Why awareness creates an opportunity to make a different choice

About Aparna Dubey

Aparna is an engineer, serial entrepreneur and manifestation coach and the founder of The Logical Manifestor. Her work combines mindset, habit and somatic practices with her interpretation of neuroscience to help entrepreneurs work toward personal and business goals.

Find her website at: https://thelogicalmanifestor.com/

Wired to Work explores the science behind how we think, lead and perform.

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Chapters:

00:00 — Why Your Nervous System Keeps You Stuck
00:37 — Meet Aparna Dubey: The Logical Manifestor
01:56 — Is Manifestation Really “Woo-Woo”?
03:04 — What Manifestation Actually Means to Aparna
05:09 — Why We Repeat Familiar Patterns
09:17 — When Being Busy Becomes Part of Your Identity
10:18 — Changing Habits Through Somatic Work & EFT
12:41 — Is It You—or Does Your Environment Need to Change?
13:14 — The Activity & Energy Audit
15:56 — How to Improve Focus at Work
16:29 — How Hydration Affects Focus & Decision-Making
17:50 — Sleep, Movement & Better Brain Performance
18:20 — Why Your Physical Environment Matters
19:11 — Stop Trying to Focus on Everything
19:59 — Journaling & Meditation for Mental Clarity
22:07 — What to Do When You’re Overwhelmed at Work
24:02 — What Is Somatic Work?
27:08 — What Is EFT Tapping and How Does It Work?
30:00 — Breaking the Link Between Busyness and Self-Worth
31:54 — Rewiring Old Patterns Through Repetition
32:18 — Aparna’s Advice for Creating Change
33:31 — Where to Find Aparna

#neuroscience #leadership #performance

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with organizational design and culture change expert Erin Stadler to challenge some of the assumptions we’ve built around workplace culture, growth and change.

Because organizations are always changing. People join. People leave. Teams grow. Products evolve. Markets shift. And every one of those changes affects how an organization actually works.

So instead of asking how we can better manage change, Erin asks a different question: how do we build organizations that are designed for it?

Jess and Erin get into why company culture is about much more than a set of values, what happens to culture as organizations scale, why onboarding should be treated as a year-long experience, and how founders can unintentionally lose the very ways of working that made their company successful in the first place.

They also explore change fatigue, the pressure to protect what’s already working, and why the ability to continually adapt may be one of the most important things a leader can build.

As Erin puts it, business strategy tends to focus on markets, customers and financials. But there’s another strategic question we often leave out:

How do we work?

Because the thing you’re building isn’t just the product.

It’s the organization capable of building what comes next.

keywords

culture change, organizational design, systems thinking, change management, leadership, onboarding, organizational behavior, culture shift, founder insights, adaptive organizations

key  topics

The distinction between values, behaviors, and principles in culture
How to start building culture at the founder level
The importance of behaviors and principles in organizational change
Redesigning onboarding as a year-long experience
Managing expectations and energy during change
The role of systems thinking in organizational adaptability

 sound bites

"Workplaces that meet my preferences aren't always safe"
"Behavior is the principle we make decisions on"
"Managing change is like managing risk, not opportunity"

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Erin Stadler and the episode's focus
02:14 The importance of starting culture from scratch at the founder level
05:53 Key advice for founders on establishing culture early
07:19 The distinction between values and behaviors in culture design
11:30 The role of mindset and principles in organizational behaviors
16:46 Using psychoanalysis as a tool to understand organizational entity
20:20 The risk of scaling culture without clear principles
23:17 Redesigning onboarding as a year-long, co-created experience
30:32 The difference between managing change and creating opportunities
35:49 Shifting from change management to embracing uncertainty
41:32 The importance of framing and collective responsibility in change
47:27 Building a culture resilient to pivots and pivots as opportunities
52:09 Erin’s upcoming book on creating conditions for change

What happens when a brilliant employee is working in a system that fights the way their brain works?

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with entrepreneur and C-suite leader Remy Meraz for a candid conversation about neurodivergence, ADHD, dyslexia, masking, accountability, and what workplaces can do differently.

Remy was diagnosed with ADHD in her 30s and later discovered she was dyslexic; experiences that helped make sense of years of frustration, exhaustion, and feeling like certain things that seemed easy for everyone else took far more effort for her.

Together, Jess and Remy explore:

• What neurodivergence actually feels like at work
• Why masking can be exhausting
• How ADHD can show up as both strength and friction
• Why accommodations don’t have to mean designing a different workplace for every person

They also tackle a question that often gets avoided:

Where does workplace support end and personal accountability begin?

Because neurodivergence isn’t an excuse to opt out of expectations. But expecting every person to think, communicate and perform in exactly the same way isn’t good leadership either.

If you want to create workplaces with enough flexibility, clarity and humanity for different kinds of brains to succeed - this one's for you! 

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#WiredToWork #Neurodiversity #ADHD #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #FutureOfWork #Neurodivergent #InclusiveLeadership

Burnout. Thriving. Boundaries. Grief. Menopause.

These aren’t side conversations anymore. They’re shaping how people experience work — and what leaders need to understand about the humans inside their organizations.

In this special season finale of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman revisits five conversations that challenged assumptions, introduced new ideas, and raised questions that stuck with her long after the recording ended.

Featuring:

• Dr. Jo Burrell on the alarming burnout crisis among HR professionals — and why resilience can’t compensate for an unhealthy workplace
• Dr. Paul Zak on the neuroscience of thriving and what happens when we stop measuring how people say they feel and start looking at how they actually respond
• Ange Crockwell on boundaries, trauma-informed workplaces, and why protecting your own capacity isn’t selfish
• Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo on climate grief and the emotional impact of a changing world that people inevitably bring to work with them
• Tina Pomroy on menopause, the brain, and why this stage of life needs a very different narrative

If you’re thinking about leadership, workplace culture or simply what it means to be a human at work right now, these are the workplace conversations you can’t afford to ignore.

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#WiredToWork #FutureOfWork #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #Burnout #Menopause #WorkplaceWellbeing

HR is supposed to support everyone else.

But who is supporting HR?

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with clinical psychologist and Ultimate Resilience co-founder Dr. Jo Burrell to unpack some deeply concerning data about the mental health of HR professionals — and the workplace systems helping drive it.

Dr. Burrell’s research found extraordinarily high levels of burnout, anxiety and depression among HR professionals, with many reporting that they feel poorly supported despite being the very people organizations turn to when everyone else is struggling.

And that raises a bigger question:

Have we mistaken asking people to cope with broken systems for resilience?

Jess and Jo explore:

• Why HR has become the emotional shock absorber of modern workplaces
• What happens when leaders outsource every difficult people problem to HR
• Why HR professionals are being asked to handle grief, trauma and mental health issues they were never trained to manage
• How the “helper” identity can make it difficult for HR people to say no
• Why resilience cannot compensate for an unhealthy workplace
• The problem with one-off wellness initiatives and “lunch and learn” solutions
• Why organizations need to address the source of stress — not just teach employees to tolerate more of it
• What HR professionals can do to protect their own wellbeing without emotionally shutting down

Because you can be the healthiest, most resilient person in the world — but if your workload is impossible and your workplace is toxic, eventually the environment wins.

And if the people responsible for everyone else’s wellbeing are burning out themselves, that should concern every leader.

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#WiredToWork #HR #Burnout #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #MentalHealthAtWork #Resilience #FutureOfWork

What if creating a trauma-informed workplace actually led to higher performance—not lower expectations?

Many leaders worry that supporting employees through difficult circumstances means compromising accountability. Angela Crockwell, Executive Director of Thrive, argues the opposite.

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with Angela to unpack what trauma-informed leadership really means, why every workplace—not just healthcare or social services—should be thinking about it, and how leaders can create psychologically safe environments while still expecting excellence.

They explore:

• Why trauma is more common than most leaders realize
• The difference between being trauma-aware and trauma-informed
• How to create psychological safety without becoming a therapist
• Why strong boundaries are essential—not optional
• How curiosity can replace judgment in difficult conversations
• Why accountability and compassion can (and should) coexist
• Practical ways leaders can support people without lowering standards

Whether you lead a team of two or two thousand, this conversation will change the way you think about people, performance, and what it really means to create a healthy workplace.

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A stressful week is not the same as burnout.

Stress usually has an end point. Burnout develops when overwhelm becomes chronic, recovery disappears, and your brain and body no longer have the capacity to keep up with what is being asked of them.

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with burnout and resilience coach Cherri Forsyth to explore how burnout develops, what it looks like before someone reaches a breaking point, and why pushing through is not the same as being resilient.

They discuss:

• The difference between temporary stress and chronic burnout
• Why burnout can be difficult to recognize from the outside
• The early signs leaders and colleagues should notice
• How brain fog, exhaustion and detachment show up at work
• Why rest and recovery are essential to performance
• How workplace systems can contribute to burnout
• Why self-care has to mean more than an occasional bubble bath
• How leaders can support someone without trying to diagnose or fix them

Burnout is not a personal failure. And it is not simply a matter of learning to cope better.

Sometimes the person needs support. Sometimes the workload needs to change. Often, the system needs to be examined too.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Wired to Work:
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#Burnout #Stress #Leadership #WorkplaceWellbeing #MentalHealthAtWork #Resilience #WorkplaceCulture #WiredToWork

Most organizations invest heavily in workplace wellness and still end up with teams that feel flat, disengaged, and exhausted.

The problem may not be the programme. It may be what we're aiming for.

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman sits down with behavioural neuroscientist Dr. Paul Zak to explore what actually helps people and teams thrive—and how leaders can measure it in real time.

They discuss:

• Why wellness may be too low a bar
• What a thriving brain actually looks like
• How psychological safety can be measured rather than surveyed
• What neuroscience reveals about remote and in-person work
• Why autonomy and a clear sense of purpose matter so much
• How “train extensively, delegate generously” changes performance
• Why traditional engagement surveys only tell part of the story

After 30 years studying the neuroscience of human connection, trust, and performance, Dr. Zak offers a very different way to think about workplace wellbeing.

Because the goal shouldn't be helping people just get through the week.

It should be creating the conditions where they can actually thrive.

🎧 Watch or listen to Wired to Work with Jess Chapman wherever you get your podcasts:
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#WiredToWork #WorkplaceWellbeing #Leadership #Neuroscience #EmployeeEngagement #PsychologicalSafety #FutureOfWork

Most people are not at their best under pressure. Put a group of highly pressured people together, and unhealthy workplace behaviour can quickly become the norm.

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman is joined by leadership coach Kate Franklin to explore why workplace relationships become so difficult—and why a challenging boss is not necessarily a bad person.

They discuss how stress changes the way we communicate, why relational skills matter just as much as technical expertise, and how leaders can create the conditions for trust, honesty and high performance.

In this conversation:

• Why poor workplace behaviour has become normalized
• How pressure affects leaders and their teams
• Why relationships are a critical part of performance
• How to give honest feedback to your boss
• The difference between intention and impact
• Why complaints are more useful when turned into requests
• How leaders can discover the impact they are having
• Why caring about people and expecting strong results are not opposites
• How much agency we really have to improve difficult workplace relationships

Most difficult workplace relationships are not beyond repair. But improving them requires courage, curiosity and a willingness to remember that the person across from you is human too.

🎧 Listen to Wired to Work:
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Follow Kate Franklin:
LinkedIn: @Kate Franklin
Instagram: @coachkatefranklin

Subscribe for more honest conversations about leadership, workplace culture and how to make work work better for everyone.

#Leadership #WorkplaceRelationships #WorkplaceCulture #ManagingUp #LeadershipDevelopment #EmployeeEngagement #WiredToWork

Your brain is changing all the time, whether you realize it or not.

In this episode of Wired to Work, Jess Chapman breaks down one of the most important concepts in neuroscience: neuroplasticity. From habits and learning to performance and leadership, understanding how your brain forms and strengthens neural pathways can completely change the way you think about personal growth.

You’ll learn:

• Why “use it or lose it” is literally true for your brain
• How habits are created through repetition
• Why multitasking hurts learning
• The surprising role emotion plays in memory and behaviour
• Why practice—not just knowledge—is the key to lasting change

Whether you’re trying to build better habits, learn new skills, or help your team perform at their best, this episode explains the science in a way that’s practical and easy to apply.

Subscribe for more conversations about neuroscience, leadership, workplace psychology, and making work work better.

#Neuroplasticity #Habits #Neuroscience #Leadership #PersonalDevelopment #BrainScience #WiredToWork