Your Brilliance Is Not the Problem: Kezia Luckett on Neuropositivity Profiling, Neurodivergence, and Finally Feeling Seen

In this episode of the Make It Happen by Being You Podcast, I'm joined by Kezia Luckett, positive psychologist, founder of the Insytte Institute, and creator of the Neuropositivity Profiler. 

Kezia and I have known each other for years across different businesses, different lives and different locations, and this conversation is one I've genuinely been looking forward to sharing.

Kezia built her work around a simple but radical idea: that the traditional model for understanding the human brain is built on deficit. On proving what's wrong with you. On demonstrating how broken you are before you get any help. Her response to that was to build something completely different: a framework rooted in strengths, brilliance, and what is right with people.

The Neuropositivity Profiler came directly from her daughter's ADHD assessment process, and the moment the assessment centre told her it depended on "how bad she is." As a positive psychologist, that phrase was the catalyst for everything that followed.

We talk about the five neurosignatures (Neurospark, NeuroDrive, Neurocraft, Neuroflow, and Neurosense), what happens in the gap between insight and identity.

We explore why roadblocks are a sign you're growing, as well as the role of AI in human-centred business.

At the time of recording, Kezia is offering a free five-day Neuro Business Reset course she's created for female entrepreneurs. There is also a free full Neuropositivity Profiler report available exclusively for Make It Happen listeners until slots expire. Details are in the show notes below.

The NeuroBusiness Reset on 15th June 2026 at 1pm UK time for the whole week.  You can register by heading to www.neurobusinessreset.com

To get your free extended NeuroPositivity Profiler report go to www.neuropositivityprofiler.com using NPP-COSTA-26 into the organisation code when you register to be upgraded to the full report for free, whilst slots last. 

Website: https://insytte.com/

Connect with Kezia on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kezialuckett/

Book:  Humankind by Rutger Bregman

Transcript

Ali Meehan 0:00

Today we're going to be talking about four frameworks and one complete system that together offers something very rare. It's going to show a complete connected picture of how people think, feel, relate, and what is possible for individuals, teams, and organizations when they finally become clear. Come over and listen. Well, I'm really delighted to be back in the Make It Happen studio with a lady who I feel is a friend, although we've never met in real life. And we've been talking for many years over many iterations of different businesses and different lives and different locations. So welcome, Izzy Luckett.

Kezia Luckett 0:54

Thank you so much. I can't believe that we haven't actually met.

Ali Meehan 0:57

I can't either. It'll come one day, I'm sure it will do. It will, it will, and there'll be a big hug on the end of it. Absolutely. Yeah, it could go on for days. So please introduce yourself and tell the ladies who haven't met you yet before who you are, what you do.

Kezia Luckett 1:14

Yeah, so obviously I'm Kezia Luckett. Um my background is I'm a positive psychologist. Um, I did a master's in positive psychology oh back in 2017 now. Um, and for for eight years I ran my business online. Um, we were living in Barcelona in Spain and um didn't speak the lingo um at all, still probably don't. Um, and so I ran my ran my business online. And then for the last three years I've been working in corporate, so I've been mapping the positive impact of employee relationships and how that correlates to retention, engagement, and revenue.

Ali Meehan 1:58

Things change in the world a lot, don't they? So you've obviously changed your business model a few times to map what's happening in the real world, as it were. So tell us about your business at the moment.

Kezia Luckett 2:11

That the Insytte Institute was created because um of the women that I was working with were seeking answers, whether they were seeking answers for their business, seeking answers about themselves. Um, you know, running a business often has a lot of self-development on the back end because you know, we grow as our business grows. So Insight Um Institute was really about how could I help individuals, organizations really feel seen, heard, and valued so that they really understood themselves and they could let their brilliance shine out into the world? Because I think a lot of us are hiding that brilliance through fear, through you know, trying to follow somebody else's business model in a wide variety of different ways. So, really, how can we let that business that brilliance that we all have, that uniqueness that makes us brilliant shine out into the world?

Ali Meehan 3:14

And you've created a fantastic cool tool called Neuropositivity Profiling. Yes. Yes. Why did why did you decide to create that as a as a tool for people to use?

Kezia Luckett 3:28

So it was interesting. Obviously, for the last two years, I um there was a tool called Positive Impact Mapping that mapped the positive impact of um employee relationships. But last year, my 20-year-old daughter um decided that she wanted to get uh an ADHD assessment. Now, the first thing that happened is we discovered that it's it well, there's a 35-year waiting list here in Buckinghamshire where I live. Yeah, 35 years and 20, that would put her mid mid-80s before she'd even understand herself. But we went through the process, and part of the process was a series of questionnaires. So, being dyslexic, I read out the questions for her just to make the process a lot smoother because there is a huge amount of questionnaires that you have to answer. And two things happened with every question that she answered yes to, I found myself answering yes to as well. Um, and that gave me a whole new insight as to how my brain works as well as hers. But at the end of it, when I phoned up the um centre that had been doing the profile for us and said, Right, okay, well, what's next? The words that they used really it, well, it made my blood boil, to be honest with you. They said, Well, it depends on how bad she is. And as a positive psychologist who focus on what's right with people and their strengths and you know the goodness that resides in each and every one of them, um, I asked them to clarify, and they said, Well, you know, it depends on how bad her behavior is affecting her life. And I realized from you know that experience and from speaking to many other people that um the diagnosis for any neurodiversity is built on a deficit model. It's built on you proving to somebody else that you're really, really um bad, that you know you can't function in the way that you would you should be able to function, that things are different for you. And the reality is we're all neurodiverse. We know we have 86 different uh, well, 86 neurons, I think 4,300 different brain cells, 330 different brain clusters. Then you add in our lens of the world, our memories, our experiences. We're all different, the way that we think, the way that we act, the way that we operate. So I I went to the drawing board and sat there. Um, and as a Neurospark, which I'll explain a little bit later, but as somebody that leads with Neurospark ideas, um come you know, free-flowing for me, and looked at how I could design a language model and framework where people could actually understand how their brains think, create, perform, and lead, and how they could understand some of the environment, the context, the work that they're doing that um you know blocks that brilliance from actually shining out into the world.

Ali Meehan 6:34

Yeah, amazing. But I think it's we are getting more and more bombarded by um people trying to explain how the brain works, how we can respond to things rather than shut off from things, but to have something that's very simple and explains it in a way that is personal to us is really important.

Kezia Luckett 7:00

Yeah, it it is because if we have a common language that we all speak, then it's easier to have a comprehension of how somebody is feeling, how they are thinking, how they are acting, and why they do the things that they do.

Ali Meehan 7:15

Yeah, yeah. Do you have a story that you can share around the transformation that you've been able to experience using this tool?

Kezia Luckett 7:24

Well, interestingly enough, um I think over 131 women in 11 different countries have now taken the neuropositivity profiler, and we're we're looking at the research on the back end. Um, one of the first ladies that um took it uh was somebody that I've known for many years, um somebody that had an ADHD diagnosis, although this isn't essential for taking the neuropositivity profiler, and I asked her to um trial it for me, to practice it, to understand whether or not I was hitting at the right level and actually giving more information that would help somebody rather than just more information. Because let's be honest, we're inundated, as you've just alluded to, with information um coming at us. And I got this voice message where she said, Oh my gosh, and she was a close to tears. I feel seen for the very first time, and I understand that the brilliance that I have had that I've always known was brilliant, but people have told me it wasn't. How it actually works, why I get exhausted like I do, why I do business like I do business, why there might be friction in my relationships. I finally understand that my lens of the world isn't wrong, it's it's it's right, but these are the patterns and these are the blocks that get in the way of allowing me to shine my brilliance out into the world. And that for me was it. I was hooked. I was like, right, okay, it doesn't matter, you know, how many people this goes out to, it just matters on that one person. That one person that reads their report and goes, I feel seen, I feel heard, I feel valued, and now I've got a tool I can use out in the world, in relationships, in work, in business that will make my life better.

Ali Meehan 9:24

Yeah, yeah. I mean, one person having that experience is enough in a lot of ways, isn't it? Before, yeah, before you've actually supported lots of other women as well. So amazing. Small actions, big impact. So once a person identifies their profile, how do they use it and turn those insights into action steps?

Kezia Luckett 9:45

Well, the first thing that happens is people get really excited about their profile, and the brain starts going 19 to the dozen, depending on which neurosignature they lead with. And there's actually five of them. So you've got Neurospark, NeuroDrive, Neurocraft, Neuroflow, and Neurosense, and each one views the world in a slightly different way. But the first thing that I'll tell people to do is firstly don't compare yourself to somebody else that's got a different neurosignature. There is not one that's better than the other. But the second thing is not to add something because oftentimes we get really excited. It's like I can do this and I can do that, and I know this about myself and I know that. Um the more powerful question that you can ask after taking your profile is um, what have you been doing that's never gonna work for your neurodynamics? What have you been putting out there? So, for example, someone with neuroflow signature, they like depth, but they need concentration to be able to access that depth. So they might spend their first week just going, do you know what? I'm gonna protect one 90 minutes of uninterrupted time and block it out in my calendar. I don't need to do anything else, but just do that. For someone who's um running maybe the overclock pattern, so the neuroblock that's called overclock, the action is identifying one commitment that they can remove this week. So overclock looks like high performance on steroids, but actually the person stuck there literally performing and generating and doing all of this work without any rest, and eventually you will burn out. So the idea really is what can you remove rather than what you can put in to start off with.

Ali Meehan 11:34

Yeah, yeah, I think that's really wise advice because we are taking on a lot more than we ever used to. And although a lot of us are using artificial intelligence to help, that's actually generating a lot of other stuff. Right. Most definitely, we probably wouldn't have done anyway. So in your experience, what is the key to moving from strategy to actual change? That that part where often we do get stuck. So you've said there to sort of stop doing something, but is once we've stopped doing that, is there a key to moving the next step forward?

Kezia Luckett 12:12

Yeah, I think I think the biggest thing is people get stuck in the gap between having the insight and the identity of who they are and how they actually operate. So, you know, they might read their profile, they might recognize themselves, um, but then they walk back into the same environment, the same patterns, the same meetings, the same relationships. And in that if nothing's changed structurally, then they're just going to be caught back into that side cycle. So um actually the shift happens when uh they take the insight that they've got and they apply it to the identity that they they they need and want and desire to be, that's maybe been hidden through environment, through the work that they do, through you know what they've been told from very young age. Um a lot of women um will often talk about the fact that they've been too much or too little or too this or too that. Um and this kind of gives them permission to just be themselves. We wear so many hats as women. Um trying to understand at the core of who we really are and allow that to shine is is is sometimes easier said than done.

Ali Meehan 13:29

So you've created quite a few different businesses, and I, from knowing you for many years, you're a great person with lots of new ideas and lots of new ways to support your audience and people that follow you. Do you have any business roadblocks along the way to? Oh have I?

Kezia Luckett 13:49

Uh yes, yes, I do. Lots of them, lots of them. Um, I think if you're in business, you you have business roadblocks, especially if you're growing. If you're not growing, then maybe not. Um, but if you want to grow your business, if you want to serve more people, if you want to generate more revenue, um, more impact, all of these things, then you're going to have roadblocks. Um, I suppose my latest roadblock was um I walked away from a business I co-founded and dedicated two years of my life to last year. Um, and there's many different reasons behind that, but creating positive impact mapping was a kind of a mission that lit me up from the inside out. Um, and NeuroDrive sits as a secondary neurosignature for me. And NeuroDrive is one of the neurosignatures that has to have uh purpose and meaning set on the end of it, and if it has that, I'm all in. I can work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and you know, I can just uh do what needs to be done. But towards the end, I realized that we were heading in two totally different directions, and it was a direction that I wasn't aligned with. And once NeuroDrive loses its purpose, it's got nothing to run on. That motor, that momentum starts to fade. And I knew without a shadow of a doubt, that um I would be okay in leaving. I didn't have a clue on what I was going to do, but I knew that I was going to be fine. And with Neurospark um in my my number one position, you know, I'm not short of an idea, as you've alluded to. You know, that's probably one of my greatest strengths, but also one of my greatest weaknesses. You know, ideas come, you'll have 17,000 before I've even had breakfast. So it wasn't long before, you know, through that experience with my daughter, I realized that there was a gap in the market here. But yeah, just to say to everybody that's listening, if you've got a business roadblock, it it's a good thing because it means you're growing, you're not stagnating.

Ali Meehan 16:01

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah. And it's amazing that you've taken those ideas actually and done something with them because a lot of us have ideas that are really good ideas, but then we come up with thousands of excuses why we could never do them, and then they've gone off and somebody else has launched them or they've just disappeared. Yeah.

Kezia Luckett 16:20

Yeah, I think it they I can't remember who said it, but um, the sad place is the graveyard, isn't it? Okay. All of these lost dreams and ideas, there I my viewpoint has always been if I don't try it, will I have the regret? Will I be sat there thinking, I wished I'd done that? And as you alluded to, if somebody else then goes and and utilises the same idea, because I don't believe that only one person is ever given one idea. I think that there's several of us that are given those ideas because not all of us will action them.

Ali Meehan 16:52

No, that there's a great bit. I don't know if you've read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. No, I haven't. But there's a really good book in the in the bit in the book about her getting an idea for a book that her husband at the time wanted her to write, and she kept delaying kept delaying it, and then she actually met another author at an author's event, and this woman had literally written the book. Yeah, most definitely. We're living in a world today which is more and more impacted by artificial intelligence. How do you define positive impact in business today, especially in a world shape that's shifting to more to being towards more purpose-led work?

Kezia Luckett 17:48

Do you know that's a brilliant question because AI is being used by all of us, mostly. Um, and actually, I've done several talks for both Google and Microsoft about the human factor in regards to AI. And one of the things that I really believe is it's an incredibly useful tool, incredibly useful tool. It helped me no end with Neuropositivity Profiler because the ideas were there, but being able to take it and put it into something that resembled something that somebody would want was, you know, it was great. But I I truly believe that it's a tool and we need to use it as such, and we shouldn't lose our authenticity, um, our voice, our our way of connecting with people. Um, and I really believe that as AI rises, the bits that AI can't do, which is the human intelligence bit, is is where people are going to succeed. You know, if you've got a business that focuses on human intelligence, that's where you're going to make the biggest positive impact. Because, for example, AI can't walk into a room and can't sense the tension in a room. It can't have a conversation with somebody and truly hold the presence for them. So all of those factors that AI can't do, that's I that's personally what I think is going to make the biggest impact on the world as we move forward.

Ali Meehan 19:17

You get a sense sometimes, don't you, that somebody wants to say something or somebody's feeling something and it can't sense that. That's why I don't think you can use it in coaching, because it can't give you that um whole sense that another human can, than the unwritten rules and signals that are appearing before you that uh AI could not pick up on.

Kezia Luckett 19:39

And it's interesting because those unwritten rules will look slightly different depending on which culture you're in, what language you're speaking, and and like you say, that only comes with experience.

Ali Meehan 19:50

So we've got a quick fire out.

Kezia Luckett 19:52

Oh.

Ali Meehan 19:57

Have you read a book which made a difference to your life or mine? You've probably read thousands of them, but is there one specific book?

Kezia Luckett 20:04

You know me too well. As a Neurospark, I have a pile of books beside my bed, most of which I've probably only read one page in it because it was only one piece of information that I needed for whatever I was doing. Um, my best book, and I talk about this a lot, my best book was found in our village fate, actually. Okay. Um, of you know, for those that have never been to England, a village market as such, and it was a thick book like this, and it was on sale for 50p. It was like brand new. Whoever had bought it decided, no, no, this is way too in-depth for me, and it had discarded it. But it was called Humankind by Rutger Bregman, and he'd done um loads of research on some of the psychological studies that had determined that people were inherently bad or inherently evil, and he'd gone beyond the surface level of the research to actually dive in deeper as to whether the person that created the research study stopped the research once the um, you know, once it had been confirmed that people were inherently evil or inherently bad. And what he discovered was the complete reverse. People are inherently good, people are inherently wanting to help other people, and that to me, as a as a positive psychologist, um, yeah, just made my heart sing.

Ali Meehan 21:30

Um was it so he was saying it was more nurture than nature?

Kezia Luckett 21:35

Um, he wasn't really going down that route, he was looking at um whether or not the things that had shaped um psychology as we know it, and obviously um positive psychology is a counterbalance to traditional psychology, which focuses on what's wrong with you, positive psychology focuses on what's right with you. Um, he was really interested in as to. Whether these studies were actually correct, whether these ones that had led some of the research that you know people quoted on a day-to-day basis was actually correct, or whether, like I say, somebody stopped once their hypothesis was actually um demonstrated. Your superpower, what is it? Oh, my superpower. Um I think my superpower really is being able to see other people's brilliance, even if they can't see it themselves. Um you know, being able to sit with somebody and hear them talk and realize how extraordinary they are and they haven't got a clue. Um definitely my superpower, and I love it because it gives me it gives me a lens that a lot of people don't see. Um, especially those, you know, entrepreneurs that know that they're here for something more, know that they're here for positive impact, but they don't know the what, the vehicle to to to take it out to the world. Um there's always something in their history, there's always something in their life experiences that will give me a hint as to what the next step is for them. But yeah, just being able to see other people's brilliance.

Ali Meehan 23:15

Yeah, we need more kazeas in the world.

Kezia Luckett 23:18

Well, yes.

Ali Meehan 23:21

What's something that you'll achieve before the end of the year?

Kezia Luckett 23:25

Oh, well, there are loads of things that I want to achieve, as you can imagine. Um, we we will start the year with good intentions. The the one thing that I'm really super keen uh to do is create um some neuropositivity profiler um certified practitioners because um I am already working with a neurodiversity specialist to create a one-day workshop that we can take this into corporates. I am also um just getting ready to roll something out for female entrepreneurs around neuropositivity profiler. But if you've got somebody sat in front of you to get them to take a positive, you know, neuropositivity profiler, you're going to understand immediately how they think, how they create, how they perform, how they lead, and that will help guide the coaching, the consulting, the work that you do with that individual. So being able to bring it out so that other people can do it, other people can take it out into the world for me is really, really important.

Ali Meehan 24:25

Yeah, and that and really useful that you can actually create other mini youths that can actually go out in the world and do that.

Kezia Luckett 24:32

Most definitely.

Ali Meehan 24:33

So it's a neurodriver driver.

Kezia Luckett 24:36

Neurodrive, yes, neurodrive, yes. The draw.

Ali Meehan 24:40

Yeah. What would be your advice to a younger Kezia?

Kezia Luckett 24:47

Oh, well, you and I both know that I wrote or always, you know, I I created a book called The Pay It Forward series notes to my younger self. Um there are four of them where I've taken women through writing notes to their younger self. And I still come back to my own story in volume one, which is it's all about if you knew now or if you knew back then what you know now and you could see how your life turned out. I mean she would have peed her pants, she really would have peed her pants, you know. I was the I was the the the the teenager that was bullied, I was the teenager that learned very quickly on to keep my mouth shut and to hide, um, because otherwise you became a target for bullies. So um I think the thing that I would say to her is that people are always gonna hate on you, and those people aren't your people. And if those people aren't your people, if you dim your light, if you hide who you naturally are, you're never gonna find them because they're always gonna find a version that's less than what you could be. So I really would say to her, just be yourself, just be yourself in all your quirkiness, in all of your glory, and eventually you'll find the the people that resonate with who you are, and that will change absolutely everything.

Ali Meehan 26:13

I think you and I are both fortunate in that we have we could go back to our former selves and celebrate. Um, and I'm glad I didn't know then what I know now because um I think it does colour how you approach your future when you know what's going to happen. Yeah.

Kezia Luckett 26:34

And it's interesting because one of the last questions of each chapter is would you change anything if you could? And I in 65 women uh in the book, but I've worked with a lot more, only one has ever said yes. Okay, everybody else has said no, because it's led them to where they are now, it's led to their lives being cultivated in the way that it's being cultivated, their business doing what it's doing. You know, who would have known six months ago I would have created neuropositivity profile until my daughter went through her diagnosis. So yeah, I wouldn't change a thing.

Ali Meehan 27:12

No, I think it's so important for people to learn from what they're going through and what they've been through, and then we can um use that learning, however bad it is. You can use the learning for positivity.

Kezia Luckett 27:26

Yes, and and the more we share it, the more we give permission for other people to realize that that's not where their story ends. Yeah, it can be the very start, it can be the platform from which they stand on and build from there. So yeah.

Ali Meehan 27:43

So you've got a really cool course coming up, um, which is called Neuro Business Reset. So tell us about that and how we can sign up to it because it's a free course, isn't it? It is, it is, it's a free five-day course.

Kezia Luckett 27:57

So, as I said to you right at the very beginning, uh over 131 people have taken the profiler, most of them female entrepreneurs. And what I was interested to understand was when somebody gets their dominant neurosignatures, they get their neurodynamics so they understand all the different facets and how it works together. How can they make that live and breathe? Because there's nothing worse than getting a piece of paper that says, you are this or you lead with that, and then it just sits in a drawer and you do absolutely nothing with it. And having worked with entrepreneurs for kind of eight, eight years, my viewpoint is how can I make this live and breathe? So I created the five-day neuro business reset. So each and every day there is an action that each of the different neurosignatures can take that's going to help them, it's gonna help their business, it's gonna help their clients. Um, because let's be honest, female entrepreneurs that start business, they're on a big mission. Yeah, they're doing it for a reason, and I want to be able to support them as much as I can.

Ali Meehan 29:00

Yeah. So we'll put in the show notes how to sign up for your course. What is the best way for people to connect with you?

Kezia Luckett 29:08

Well, the best way is either through Facebook or LinkedIn, um, and even on TikTok these days. Check it out. I have, I have. I'm not too old. Never too, never too old. That's a limiting belief. We can work on that, Ali. We can work on that. So one of the things that I do want to say is um uh, you know, as a gift to to all of your all of your lovely um listeners, um, I would like to gift um uh a free full report, which normally costs $9.99, but I would love to gift as many as I can before they run out. Um, but again, I'll give you the code for that, and they can just go to neuropositivityprofiler.com, enter the code in the organization bit, and it will allow them to get a full report um for the, you know, so they're ready for the neurobusiness reset. Yeah, but um for those people that want to register for the neurobusiness reset, it is literally www.neurobusinessreset.com and then they can register. Um, but just make sure you've got your report when you come because we'll we'll you'll need that each and every day.

Ali Meehan 30:17

Yeah, packing it. Yeah, sounds amazing. I look forward to being on that course. Yes, I mean the 15th of June is going to come around so quickly. Well, thank you for being on the podcast today. I'm really pleased to see you again, and we'll definitely stay in touch and see you on the course. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Ellie. I hope you really enjoyed our podcast today and the topic that we've covered. If you found it useful, please do share it with your friends and contacts so that they can find it useful too. I'd love you also to like and subscribe this podcast on whatever platform you're listening on. If you're a woman who's living in Spain or a woman who's thinking about moving to Spain, do come and join us at costowwomen.com. It's a completely free platform. We look forward to seeing you in Spain or connecting with you via our podcast very soon. Bye for now.