Jun 27, 2026 · 41 min · 12 segments
Why do even the best change strategies so often fall short? In Episode 260 of The Mindset Game® podcast, Vered Kogan speaks with Dr. Barbara Trautlein, author of Change Intelligence, founder of…
Barbara TrautleinGuest
Vered KoganHost
Well, many of the people listening, thank you for showing that, are feeling some of that now, whether they're in a steel mill that might be closed or just in a job, in a business that may be in danger in some way.
Well, as you well know, because you are very knowledgeable and empowered and you train people in the neuroscience of leadership and the neuroscience of change.
And we know, I'm an organizational psychologist by training, and we know that to our brain, change equals pain.
Same neuroreceptors fire when we're experiencing changes when we feel physical pain.
And so what's the implication of that? What happens is that all the good stuff that feeds our brain, the oxygen, the glucose gets sucked down past our necks.
Change makes us less smart because all the good stuff, again, goes to that fight, blight, et cetera, responses.
So what do we do then? So what's the implication for our brain? Well, we go to our well-learned, dominant, habituated patterns, behaviors that made us successful in the past, and we don't even do those well.
Just when we need our cognitive capability to think clearly and creatively, invent new solutions, pivot, innovate, we literally get blinders on.
And so that's what I say that in the stress of change, when our IQ goes down, building CQ change intelligence, that's what I talk about.
It's literally how we're wired as human beings, why we thrive as a species, survive as individuals.
However, it's maybe not the most adaptive response to our present day workplace challenges.
As they tell us in emotional intelligence, right, separate that knee jerk reaction from a more adaptive response.
Well, many of the people listening, thank you for showing that, are feeling some of that now, whether they're in a steel mill that might be closed or just in a job, in a business that may be in danger in some way.
Well, as you well know, because you are very knowledgeable and empowered and you train people in the neuroscience of leadership and the neuroscience of change.
And we know, I'm an organizational psychologist by training, and we know that to our brain, change equals pain.
Same neuroreceptors fire when we're experiencing changes when we feel physical pain.
And so what's the implication of that? What happens is that all the good stuff that feeds our brain, the oxygen, the glucose gets sucked down past our necks.
Change makes us less smart because all the good stuff, again, goes to that fight, blight, et cetera, responses.
So what do we do then? So what's the implication for our brain? Well, we go to our well-learned, dominant, habituated patterns, behaviors that made us successful in the past, and we don't even do those well.
Just when we need our cognitive capability to think clearly and creatively, invent new solutions, pivot, innovate, we literally get blinders on.
And so that's what I say that in the stress of change, when our IQ goes down, building CQ change intelligence, that's what I talk about.
It's literally how we're wired as human beings, why we thrive as a species, survive as individuals.
However, it's maybe not the most adaptive response to our present day workplace challenges.
As they tell us in emotional intelligence, right, separate that knee jerk reaction from a more adaptive response.
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