The Habit Mechanic - Unlock your Human-AI Edge

How to become a Human-AI Coach (Part 3)

• Dr. Jon Finn

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🎧Listen to the FULL ‘Train Your Brain for the AI Revolution’  BOOK for free 👉 here 

In this third and final episode of our mini-series on how to become a Human-AI Coach, Dr. Jon Finn dives into the critical role of creating Brain State Intelligent Cultures in organizations.

Building on concepts from his book Train Your Brain for the AI Revolution, Dr. Finn explores why businesses are struggling to extract value from AI investments—not because of the technology itself, but because of cognitive overload in their people.

He explains how organizations can succeed by focusing on Brain State optimization, and why a Brain State Intelligent Culture will be the key to thriving in the AI era.

Drawing parallels to Lean Six Sigma, Dr. Finn presents a systematic approach for organizations to cultivate high-performing cultures where both humans and AI tools work together seamlessly.

Listen as he outlines the nine essential factors for creating this transformation and how businesses can position themselves as pioneers in this new era of cognitive performance.

Don’t miss this crucial episode to understand how you can lead the charge in creating organizations that are not just AI-driven, but human-centered—and how becoming a Human-AI Coach can help individuals and organizations unlock their full potential.

Tune in now!

Speaker 1:

Hello Habit Mechanics. It's Dr John Finn here. I hope you're having a great week so far. So this is part three of our how to Become a Human AI Coach mini-series, where we're going a bit deeper into some of the later chapters in our new book Train your Brain for the AI Revolution the proven four, four step system to become irreplaceable, no tech skills required. And our overarching point in this little mini series, but also in the book, is, if we want to capitalise on the amazing opportunities that ai revolution holds or can potentially deliver for us individually and collectively, we need to move away from this tech-centric approach and have a more human centric approach to it. It's not the tools themselves that are going to make the difference. It's how humans are able to use them and actually how humans are able to continue developing them. And that's what we've been talking about in the first two parts of of this mini series, and we've been spotlighting the role of human AI coaches. When we train people to become human AI coaches, we call it becoming a certified hand mechanic AI edge coach and this I think that that profession will become the most important profession for our species, if it isn't already, and hopefully what you've seen in the last two parts is that, although cognitive performance might sound a little bit intangible, what human AI coaches do is very tangible, is very impactful. Tangible is very impactful and is vital if individuals and organizations want to become successful. And in part three we can kind of zoom out a little bit here and think about this at an organizational level. The chapter I'm going to share with you is called, so it's chapter 28, and it's understanding brain states at scale, creating brain state intelligent cultures.

Speaker 1:

There's a few things I want to get into here. First of all, big, compelling sets of data show that 74% of companies are failing I'm just reading this out are failing to extract meaningful value from their ai investments, and new research from um, bcg and the world economic forum shows the the primary reason for that failure is not the technology, it's people. That is the barrier and it's not people's fault. It's just that people are mentally fatigued and they're cognitively overloaded. So we're not going to get the growth in our economies that we desperately need if we want to have the countries that we want, that we want to have and the schools and the education systems and get the pay rises that we want if our businesses can't grow and the main thing that's currently holding businesses back from growing is that they're not able to capitalise on this new AI technology because people are, frankly, burnt out, they're tired, they're fatigued, they're overloaded, and the way that we can just break that down into simple terms is that people's brain states balance is not good. They're not doing enough recharge, they're sucked into too much medium charge. That means they can't get into high chargecharge brain states. So if businesses want to succeed, they're going to have to help their people to improve their cognitive performance, improve how they manage brain states, and that means they have to address this at the cultural level.

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And I know that word culture can sometimes feel intangible, and for me, understanding language is always easiest when we go back to the genesis of things like what? Where does that word come from? Well, culture just is from the word cultivate, which is a latin word which is to do with agriculture. Right, it's to do with farming and cultivating the land so you can grow your crops, and the that word has been borrowed into hr or human performance fields to explain the culture in a, an organization and a team in a particular group of people. So the culture should cultivate the behaviors that are most helpful for that group of people. And the way that I think about this is that, if we just take a business, for example, think of it like a farm and we've got these people on our farm and we're trying to grow them and we're trying just because it creates a really vivid visual we're trying to grow them and we're trying to help them to flourish, we're trying to nourish them and nurture them to be able to do that.

Speaker 1:

But actually, if we want to get this right, we need to go a level deeper. It's not the people that are actually trying to grow, it's our habits, because habits drive what we think and what we do. So think about on the farm. We've got these habits that are planted in the soil and the culture the sun, the rain, the weather conditions, the soil type, the treatments that we apply to the crop, if you like, the crop of habits. That's what a culture does. So if cultures are toxic, you know they're killing the habits and actually they're nurturing the wrong behaviours, the wrong habits. So I think that's just a really simple way to think about what a culture is. So If we then think about the language of this chapter, which is very deliberate understanding brain states at scale, creating brain state intelligent cultures.

Speaker 1:

What does that mean? It means that we create cultures that help everybody to understand their brain states, to become more intelligent about them. So, those who are familiar with the Habit Mechanic book, we talk about habit mechanic intelligence and, if we were going to go a step deeper than that, actually everything in the habit mechanic approach is built on brain state intelligence. So, first, understanding how our brain works and then understanding that it's literally like a battery and it has these three core operating states and I think, the businesses of the future that that succeed, that offer great places to work, where people are engaged and they're healthy and they're happy and they're doing great work and there's a great mutual relationship between uh, the individual, the people and the organization where everyone's winning that they will primarily focus on creating cultures that optimize brain state intelligence, so people understand brain state intelligence individually and collectively. And then there are experts in the organization. There are human AI coaches at the individual level, but there are also human AI trainers who are training up teams. There are human AI consultants who are working at a strategic level, and they're all, of course, things that we do and we train other people to do.

Speaker 1:

And I think that a really interesting parallel of where human ai sorry, brain state intelligence cultures fit is how Six Sigma or Lean Sigma 6 operated, probably 20, 30 years ago, where it emerged in the manufacturing sectors, where essentially what happened was that having fancy manufacturing machines weren't a competitive advantage anymore if we wanted to delight our customers. What we had to do is make not just make products more cheaply using these big fancy machines, but we had to do it really efficiently and effectively. And where lean sigma 6 came in was it created some efficient and effective processes of making sure that businesses could create products that delighted their customers faster. And of course, a company like toyota was a good example of that. They just created these products at a good price. That people wanted cars that didn't really break down. They were known to be reliable because they had this great Sigma 6 type process, which I think they called something a little bit different. And then we had people like Jack Welsh, the famous CEO of GE, being a real champion of that.

Speaker 1:

One of the reasons why 6 Sigma was so interesting was because they had this very structured training program throughout organizations where they had this belt system. So, like learning martial arts, you would progress in your skills and your understanding through this gradation system, and that's exactly what we've created for our Habit Mechanic AI Edge model, where we can grade people. We can give people different belts for different levels of competency, because we understand that if businesses want to make this really successful, they need to properly invest the time and money into upskilling their people in this. It can't be piecemeal, it needs to be robust. And if we just go back to those so the 74% of businesses are failing to capitalize on the benefits of AI.

Speaker 1:

The few that businesses that are where are they investing all their money? It's not in the tech, it's in their people. They're. They're investing at least two-thirds of the of their AI focused investments into people. The reason those companies are doing well is because actually, they're more tech-orientated companies and they've been using AI, as everyone is currently calling it, in one way or another for probably over 15 years now on average. So they've had a lot longer to develop workforces that have the time to really understand how to get the most out of these tools and systems, whereas the ones that are, I think, the businesses that are failing. They're thinking the AI tools are magical in themselves and they're not the people need to be able to use them. So, yeah, so I think that brain state intelligent cultures are going to be the cultures that win, that create workplaces where people are healthy, happy, engaged and businesses that are successful, and I think that human ai coaches will be central to making that happen inside organizations, but we'll also have human AI trainers and people working at a more strategic level and, of course, we train people to do all of those things, and you can do it in a really structured way by following our belt system.

Speaker 1:

But I think enough of that, so let's go to the chapter. So, again, this is chapter 28, and remember, you can, if you want to listen to this in the full context of train your brain for the AI revolution our new book. If you want to listen to this in the full context of Train your Brain for the AI Revolution our new book, you can do that inside the Hampton Mechanic University app and you can also listen to the audiobook on most mainstream audiobook platforms right now. So here's the chapter, chapter 28. Understanding Brain States at Scale Creating Brain State Intelligent Cultures.

Speaker 1:

As we conclude our exploration of brain states and AI integration, let's step back and examine a transformative opportunity that few organizations have yet recognized. Throughout this book, we've focused on optimizing your individual cognitive performance. In doing so, we've revealed something profound about happiness in the AI era. It's not just about using technology to get more done. It's about using it strategically to create the right mix of recharge routine work and high impact, high value work that allows you to do your job and live your life in a way that leads to lasting satisfaction. Now let's understand how these same principles can revolutionise entire organisations by unleashing healthy, happy and high-performing workforces.

Speaker 1:

As artificial intelligence transforms business, a powerful opportunity is emerging. Organisations can dramatically improve performance by aligning work patterns with how human brains naturally function. This quickly creates measurable improvements by helping teams to complete key projects over 200% faster. This is only possible when organizations optimize how their people perform alongside powerful AI tools. This optimization comes through creating what we call brain state intelligent cultures, which is our Six Sigma for human performance in the AI era. But to successfully create these winning cultures, we need to first consider the barriers, the current state of play. Ai is transforming business at an unprecedented pace. According to the World Economic Forum's recent Future of Jobs report, 86% of companies expect AI to revolutionise their operations.

Speaker 1:

Yet this transformation brings serious challenges. Successful AI adoption isn't just about deploying new technology. It requires a fundamental shift in how humans and AI collaborate. Many organisations underestimate the cognitive toll this shift takes on their workforce. The cognitive demands of rapid technological change and our increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world are pushing employees to their cognitive limits, leading to a cascade of business risks. Employee engagement nosedives under relentless cognitive strain. Mental fatigue surges as workers struggle to keep up with constant technological change. Learning capacity collapses under information overload, stalling critical projects. Team effectiveness deteriorates as digital overload fragments communication and collaboration. Innovation grinds to a halt when employees can't maintain deep, focused thinking. Workplace wellbeing suffers, driving higher staff turnover and making it harder to retain top talent. Staff turnover and making it harder to retain top talent. If businesses fail to address these cognitive challenges, the consequences will be severe Declining productivity, stalled innovation and an exodus of skilled employees.

Speaker 1:

The future of work isn't just about adopting AI. It's about ensuring humans can thrive alongside it. These challenges become particularly acute during major organisational transformations. As an example of the difficulties businesses face during major transitions, let's consider mergers and acquisitions. Companies spend more than $2 trillion annually on M&A deals, yet 70 to 90% fail to meet expectations. While traditional analysis blames factors like poor strategic fit or incorrect valuations, a deeper truth emerges Combining cultures, systems and AI technologies creates overwhelming cognitive demands that most organisations aren't equipped to handle. Without optimising brain states, even the most strategically sound transformations can fail as people struggle to maintain the focused thinking needed to implement complex change.

Speaker 1:

These observations aren't just theoretical. They're built on my 25 years of developing a fundamentally different approach to helping individuals, teams and leaders optimise their cognitive performance during challenging transitions. Through working with over 20,000 people and completing my PhD in this area, I've seen these challenges firsthand. But I've also seen something else when organisations understand how to optimise brain states, extraordinary transformations become possible the power of first principles thinking To appreciate what's possible.

Speaker 1:

Consider how sports science transformed physical athletic performance 25 years ago. I worked on the front lines of this revolution, watching as teams abandoned traditional training approaches in favour of methods based on how the human body actually functions. The transformation wasn't about working harder. It was about aligning training with the body's fundamental mechanics. Today we face a similar opportunity with cognitive performance through brain state optimisation. As I've shown throughout this book, over the past 25 years we've developed a deep, proprietary understanding of how to translate cutting-edge insights from neuroscience and behavioural science into practical organizational change. Just as sports scientists created systems that teams could implement in their daily training, we've developed methodologies that help businesses seamlessly integrate brain science into their daily practices. This systematic approach allows organizations to create cultures where optimal cognitive performance becomes natural rather than forced. And just as sports science created a new standard for athletic excellence, this integration of human cognitive optimization with technological capability creates something unprecedented in organisational performance what we call brain-state intelligent cultures. The result isn't just better performance. It's the kind of environment where both people and technology can work together at their best the Holy Grail Brain state intelligent cultures. I believe that teams and organisations that create these cultures will thrive in the AI era, and therefore creating one should be every business's number one goal. In these environments, technology enhances rather than overwhelms human capabilities, and sustainable high performance emerges from aligning work with how brains actually function.

Speaker 1:

A brain state intelligent culture transforms performance across every level of your organisation, from young professionals to middle managers, senior leaders to teams. Every group gains unique benefits from optimising their brain states. Let's explore the specific advantages for each Young professionals become productive revenue drivers faster by mastering complex skills and AI tools in months instead of years. Build long-term, sustainable high performance by managing stress effectively, increasing their impact. Stay engaged and grow within the company, improving retention and maximising long-term potential. Middle managers Drive faster AI adoption and ROI by confidently leading change and turning resistance into measurable productivity gains. Deliver on strategic initiatives while maintaining team performance, balancing competing demands without burnout. Create high-performing teams that consistently hit targets by optimising both personal and collective productivity. Senior leaders Make sharper strategic decisions for longer-using, science-backed strategies from elite athletes maintaining peak cognitive function throughout their careers. Drive successful AI transformation by mastering the human factors that accelerate adoption and maximise ROI. Create lasting cultural change that turns resistance into enthusiasm, fostering sustained high performance across the organisation. Teams Deliver complex projects over 200% faster by optimising collective brain function for breakthrough performance.

Speaker 1:

Brain function for breakthrough performance. Maintain peak productivity during AI transformation by aligning work patterns with natural energy cycles, preventing costly burnout. Drive faster innovation and problem solving by enabling seamless collaboration across generations and skill levels. These individual and team improvements combine to create powerful organisational outcomes reduce burnout, lower staff turnover, enhanced innovation, better talent retention and improved customer solutions. Most importantly, they create environments where people genuinely want to stay and grow because they can consistently perform at their best without sacrificing well-being. This creates a powerful competitive advantage. But achieving this transformation isn't a matter of chance. It requires a systematic understanding of how lasting change happens in organisations.

Speaker 1:

The nine essential elements Just as Six Sigma transformed manufacturing and quality management in the industrial era, brain state intelligence will revolutionise human performance in the AI era. While Six Sigma optimised production processes, our nine interconnected factors optimise something even more fundamental how human brains function alongside AI technology. Creating this brain state transformation requires understanding these nine factors that behavioural science shows drive sustainable change. These factors work together like an orchestra. Each instrument matters, but the real magic happens when they play in harmony. Here are the nine factors from our proprietary system. I first introduced these in chapter 23.

Speaker 1:

1. Brain State Optimization Creating Environments when People Can Maintain Optimal Cognitive States. 2. Habit Mechanic Mindset– Cultivating Belief in Continuous Improvement. 3. Tiny change factor making transformation manageable. 4. Personal motivation connecting small changes to bigger personal and professional goals. 5. Personal knowledge and skills building individual capabilities. Personal knowledge and skills Building individual capabilities. 6. Community knowledge Developing shared practices. 7. Social influence Leveraging natural behaviour spread. 8. Rewards and penalties Aligning incentive systems with desired behaviours. 9. External triggers Designing supportive environments that remind people how to be their best.

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Building systematic change. Creating a brain state intelligent culture requires careful integration of all nine factors into daily organisational practices. This isn't about implementing isolated initiatives. It's about building reinforcing cycles where each improvement strengthens the others. Organisations that master this systematic approach will achieve breakthrough results, just as Six Sigma became the gold standard for manufacturing excellence.

Speaker 1:

Looking forward, the AI revolution presents every organisation with a choice Optimise how your people work alongside these powerful tools or risk falling behind those who do. Leading organisations are already building brain state intelligent cultures, setting new standards for what's possible when human potential and technological capability work in harmony. The question isn't whether your organisation will need to make this transition. The question is will you be among the pioneers who lead this change and create an insurmountable lead, or will you get left behind? I hope you.

Speaker 1:

I hope you found the chapter and the the mini series on how to become a human ai coach interesting and hopefully inspirational. I know the idea of becoming a coach is very attractive to many people, but for different reasons, people don't go there with it. But I just think that the AI revolution represents a particularly interesting point in history where there's going to be a bigger demand than possibly any other time in history for not just coaches, but people that can help others to optimize their cognitive performance, in other words, a human ai becoming a human ai coach. So if you are interested in training to become a human, human ai coach, get in touch. We can help you to do that. If you're interested in what this might look like in your business, get in touch. We can have a conversation about that. And then, of course, we will continue to talk about train your brain for the ai revolution and everything connected to that in coming podcasts.

Speaker 1:

This period of history is nothing to be scared about. The key always is is to control the controllables, and the thing that we can all control is getting better at managing our own brain states. And if it's appealing to you and you like that, you can also start to practice helping others to get better at managing their brain states. And if it's appealing to you and you like that, you can also start to practice helping others to get better at managing their brain states, and you can build a thriving business out of that, or you can just help others in the business that you're currently working to improve their their cognitive performance. So that's all from me for now. If you're like me, you'll probably re-listen to the three episodes, because that's what I like to do, just to make sure that I'm absorbing everything. But again, remember, if you want to listen to the full book Train your Brain for the AI Revolution, you can do that for free inside the Hammond Mechanic University app and it's available on most mainstream audiobook platforms. Enjoy the rest of your day.