What does it really take to build a leadership brand that people trust - even when you're not in the room? In this episode, Richard Reid sits down with Skot Waldron, keynote speaker, executive coach, and author of "Unlocked: A 52-Week Guide for the Intentional Leader". Skot shares how his journey from graphic design and global branding led him to uncover a powerful truth: your leadership brand is built not in boardrooms, but in the millions of micro-moments that make up everyday life.

Skot challenges listeners to ask themselves: "Who is going to talk about you in 20 or 30 years?" It's a question that cuts through the noise of task lists and deadlines to reveal what truly matters in leadership - how you make people feel. From psychological safety and loyalty to intentionality under stress, this conversation is packed with insights that will shift how you think about showing up as a leader, every single day.

Key Takeaways

Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room. Every handshake, corridor conversation, and email is a micro-impression - either a deposit or a withdrawal from your brand account.

Authenticity, consistency, and differentiation are the three pillars of a strong leadership brand. Under stress, your true character is revealed - so do the pre-work before the pressure hits.

Loyalty is earned through sustained effort, not grand gestures. Companies that invested in their people before COVID weathered the storm far better than those who scrambled when it hit.

Ask five people five words they'd use to describe you. The patterns in their answers reveal your real brand - not the one you imagine you have.

Gratitude is a leadership superpower. Expressing genuine appreciation for others is nearly impossible without shifting focus away from yourself - and it builds lasting brand equity.

Episode Highlights

From Design to Culture: Skot reveals how working at a global branding agency exposed him to the chaos that internal dysfunction causes - and how that led him to pivot entirely into leadership culture development.

The Brand Account: Every micro-interaction is either a deposit or withdrawal. Skot explains why smell, tone, eye contact, and small moments matter far more than big presentations.

Stress Reveals Character: When we're stressed, we become "accidental" rather than intentional. Richard and Skot explore how emotional regulation is central to consistent leadership branding.

Psychological Safety in Action: A powerful story about a leader letting go of a long-serving employee - and how doing the relationship work beforehand transformed a painful moment into one of grace and mutual respect.

Unlocking Permission: Skot closes with his core message - that we put people in cages of expectation and rob them of who they were designed to be. True leadership means giving people "permission to fly."

Timestamps

00:00 — Welcome and introduction to Skot Waldron

00:52 — Skot's journey from graphic design to leadership coaching

06:51 — Defining brand: what people say about you when you're not around

09:35 — Consistency, the halo effect, and snap judgements

14:05 — Emotional regulation and how stress reveals your true character

15:48 — The COVID test: companies that did the pre-work vs those that didn't

18:02 — Skot's book "Unlocked" and the 52-week intentional leadership framework

23:14 — Differentiation: discovering your unique brand through asking others

27:32 — Gratitude as a leadership and brand-building tool

29:44 — Loyalty: why it's earned and why money alone won't buy it

32:18 — Psychological safety, Google's Project Aristotle, and fear of failure

37:10 — Hard leadership decisions and the power of relational pre-work

41:39 — "Who will talk about you in 20 years?" — Skot's defining leadership qu

In this episode of The Business of Thinking, Richard Reid sits down with Dr. Jon Finn, founder of Tougher Minds and author of "The Habit Mechanic," to explore the neurobiology of high performance in an era of rapid technological change.

Dr. Finn reveals the startling truth that we operate at only 2% consciousness, with 98% of our thoughts and actions driven by subconscious habits. "If you want to help people to do better, you've got to help them to understand how their brain is working," Jon explains as he outlines the shift from teams of humans to small teams co-working with AI.

Key Takeaways

Resilience is a two-part neurobiological process: recognizing unhelpful habits and having the tools to change them.

Success in the "jobless boom" requires transitioning from procedural tasks to high-charge cognitive performance.

Competitive advantage is no longer just about owning AI technology, but having the brain state intelligence to use it effectively.

Episode Highlights

Richard and Jon discuss why traditional leadership models fail by ignoring the physical brain.

They break down the three core brain states - recharge, medium charge, and high charge - and explain how to delegate "medium charge" procedural work to AI to focus on high-impact thinking.

Timestamps

00:14 - Introduction to Dr. Jon Finn and Tougher Minds

02:28 - The 98% habit rule: Why your brain prioritizes automation

10:21 - The Three Brain States: Recharge, Medium, and High Charge

11:32 - How Agentic and Generative AI are reshaping the workforce

23:40 - The neuroscience of the prefrontal cortex vs. the limbic system

41:13 - The 30-minute legal brief: Real-world examples of AI superiority

43:30 - Future goals: Training 100,000 Habit Mechanic coaches

🔗 Connect with Dr. Jon Finn

Website: https://www.tougherminds.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jon-finn/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjonfinn/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TougherMinds/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TougherMinds

⭐️ Connect and Subscribe

Thank you for joining us on The Business of Thinking podcast. If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe and leave a rating! It helps us bring more insightful content on the psychology of high performance. Find more about Richard Reid’s work at www.richard-reid.com.

Production Credit: Edited and produced by @the32collective_ / https://www.the32collective.co/

In this episode of The Business of Thinking, Richard Reid sits down with neuroscientist and best-selling author Dr. Dean Burnett to pull back the curtain on the “Idiot Brain.” They dive into common misconceptions that plague the corporate world, from the debunked 10% brain usage myth to how our brains handle maturity, stress, and performance.

As Dean notes, “The brain is an incredibly resource-hungry organ,” and understanding its limitations is the first step toward genuine high performance.

The conversation explores the friction between our primitive instincts and the demands of the modern workplace. Dean explains why uncertainty is the default “bad thing” for our species and why acknowledgment and autonomy often outweigh a pay rise when it comes to long-term worker satisfaction.

Whether you are a leader looking to build a more harmonious team or an individual striving for efficiency without burnout, this episode offers a grounded, scientific perspective on the business of thinking.

Key Takeaways

• The 10% brain usage myth is scientifically inaccurate. While we use all of our brain, we can only actively trigger a small fraction of neurons at once to avoid being overwhelmed.
• Human brains are instinctively stressed by uncertainty, making clear communication and reassurance vital during organizational change.
• True job satisfaction is heavily tied to autonomy and the ability to see the tangible results of your labor.
• Multitasking is largely a fallacy; the brain generally has one attention stream and relies on a “buffer” to jump between tasks, which can collapse if overloaded.

Episode Highlights

• Why the brain is too resource-hungry to ever leave 90% of itself untapped, consuming nearly 25% of our fuel reserves.
• The “operating system” analogy explaining friction between modern thinking and older, impulsive instincts.
• Why “10 morning rituals of successful CEOs” are often retroactive wish fulfillment rather than scientific guidance.
• The importance of pushing the brain to its limits to form new neural connections.
• Why forced happiness is not a sustainable corporate strategy.

Timestamps

00:52 – Debunking the 10% brain usage myth

05:21 – Brain evolution and instinctive friction

10:36 – Why uncertainty stresses the brain

16:07 – Autonomy and tangible workplace results

22:12 – The dangers of siloed working

31:32 – The truth about multitasking

37:58 – Improving brain capacity

42:29 – Why forced happiness fails

🔗 Connect with Dr. Dean Burnett
Website: https://www.deanburnett.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-burnett-16303117/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdeanburnett/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeanBurnettAuthor/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl5o4NIxNFNKT6XdZ5jpdCg/videos

⭐️ Subscribe & Connect
Thank you for joining The Business of Thinking. If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe and leave a rating.
Find more about Richard Reid’s work at www.richard-reid.com

Production Credit: Edited and produced by @the32collective_ | https://www.the32collective.co/