By Dean Newlund
Imagine knowing—at the very moment it happens—when your team leans forward with interest, drifts away, or silently checks out. Most leaders can only guess. We rely on surveys, town halls, and gut instinct, hoping the enthusiasm we sense in the room will carry forward. But too often it doesn’t. People nod politely, say they’re “on board,” and months later the initiative fizzles.
That gap between perceived commitment and real emotional investment is the space where Dr. Paul Zak has been doing groundbreaking work for more than twenty years.
Paul is one of the most cited scientists on the planet, a professor at Claremont Graduate University, a TED speaker, a pioneer of multiple scientific fields—including neuroeconomics, neuromanagement, and neuromarketing—and a four-time tech entrepreneur. His latest venture, Immersion Neuroscience, takes data from everyday smartwatches to identify, in real time, the moments when our brains decide something is meaningful. In our conversation, Paul didn’t just explain the science—he showed how leaders can use it to build cultures people truly want to be part of.
A “Martian” Who Studies Humans
Paul likes to joke that he’s a Martian, observing humans with the curiosity of an outsider. That perspective has taken him everywhere from Pentagon strategy rooms to Fortune 50 boardrooms to remote villages in Papua New Guinea, all to understand a question at the center of human behavior: Why are we so good at cooperating?
Humans can gather a room full of strangers and somehow build, solve, or innovate together. That almost never happens in other species—not even in chimpanzees, who share most of our DNA. For Paul, getting to the bottom of this meant going directly to the brain and uncovering what drives trust, connection, and emotional commitment.
It turns out those experiences share a common biochemical signature.
Why Surveys Don’t Tell Us What We Need to Know
Surveys can reveal what people think, but they rarely reveal what people feel, especially the feelings that sit beneath conscious awareness. Ask someone why they prefer chocolate ice cream over vanilla and you’ll get “I just do.” The same happens in organizations. People often can’t articulate what draws them in, drains them, or moves them.
Paul’s research shows that real engagement depends on two neurobiological forces working together. The first is attention, which relies on dopamine to focus the brain. The second is emotional commitment, tied to oxytocin—the chemical that deepens trust and signals “this matters.” When both systems fire together, Paul calls it Immersion. It’s the brain’s way of saying: pay attention, stay here, invest.
For years, Paul’s lab captured this through blood draws and specialized equipment. Eventually, he and his team discovered that these neurochemical shifts subtly change the rhythm of the heart. Those patterns can be read by ordinary smartwatches. Today, Immersion Neuroscience uses that insight to help companies see engagement as it happens.
This makes it possible to watch:
- When a team perks up in training
- When a presentation loses the room
- Which moments people will remember—even weeks later
Engagement becomes visible, measurable, and actionable.
Rethinking Training: The 20-Minute Rule
One of the best examples of using Immersion comes from Accenture, which invests more than a billion dollars a year in employee learning. Once they began measuring immersion during training sessions, they uncovered something simple but game-changing: people max out at about 20 minutes of full engagement.
After that, the brain tires. Attention drops. Emotional commitment fades. And the material stops sticking.
Accenture redesigned their entire training model around this insight. No more long lectures. Instead, they move in 20-minute cycles of content, hands-on application, and then a deliberate reset—sometimes a break, sometimes a shift in activity. They also discovered that longer breaks improve learning because immersion is metabolically demanding. Brains need time to recharge.
It’s a reminder that training isn’t about how long people sit in the room. It’s about what their brains can actually absorb.
Presenting Like a Neuroscientist: Open Hot
Paul has also measured immersion during TED Talks, and his advice to presenters is simple: open hot. The brain wants to stay in idle mode. A slow windup, a polite introduction, a long backstory—all of that lets the brain drift. A powerful opening, on the other hand, grabs attention and sets off the neurological spark that keeps people listening.
Instead of starting with credentials, begin with the moment that matters. The helicopter engine that failed at 10,000 feet. A CEO’s life-changing phone call. An Afghan doctor who was freed from prison only days before stepping on stage. These are the “hot starts” that switch a brain from passive to alert.
Once you have attention, hold it with story—real people, real stakes, real emotion. And end with a simple call to action. One thing. Maybe two. Something the audience can do today.
It’s more than presentation technique. It’s biology.
Hard Conversations Without Hardening the Room
Paul’s work isn’t just about capturing peaks of excitement. It also guides leaders through more delicate territory: difficult conversations.
A performance issue. A conflict that needs addressing. Feedback no one wants to give or hear. Paul believes these conversations go better when leaders deliberately create safety before moving to substance.
That means choosing a private space. Opening with a check-in. Sticking to concrete facts—behavior, not identity. Preparing ahead of time so you’re calm and centered. And offering clear, actionable paths forward.
The goal isn’t to avoid discomfort—some conversations will always be uncomfortable. The goal is to keep the other person engaged rather than pushed into fight-or-flight.
What It Takes to Build an Immersive Culture
Across thousands of measurements and countless organizational partnerships, Paul has identified the conditions that allow people to immerse in their work more consistently.
First comes psychological safety—the sense that it’s okay to speak, to try, to disagree, to fail, and to be human. Without safety, the brain stays in protective mode. Leaders create safety by spending time with their teams, clarifying expectations, removing conflicting signals, and fostering genuine connection.
Next is trust through shared challenge. Paul used to roll his eyes at ropes courses and whitewater rafting, until the data showed how moderate stress—experienced with people we feel safe around—creates powerful bonds. Big projects with tight deadlines can do the same. When teams push together, they grow together.
Then there’s team size. Engagement drops as teams grow too large. Somewhere around 15 people, the signal becomes noise. Smaller teams, with clear goals, consistently outperform and out-engage larger ones.
Finally, there’s the balance between autonomy and accountability. Paul puts it simply: train extensively, delegate generously. When people feel trusted to make decisions, creativity and ownership go up. But autonomy only works when paired with frequent, light-touch feedback and crystal-clear success markers.
Leaders who overcontrol kill engagement. Those who disappear create chaos. The sweet spot is generous autonomy anchored by steady guidance.
Helping People Find Their Sweet Spot
Paul believes we’re in a moment where “the war for talent has been won by talent”—and the biggest competitive advantage now is keeping great people. One of the most intriguing uses of Immersion data is helping employees discover which parts of their day spark the highest engagement.
Aligning high-immersion moments with job responsibilities helps people find roles they can thrive in. It also reveals misalignments that lead to burnout or disengagement.
Sometimes the results surprise people. A data-oriented analyst discovers she loves client conversations. A charismatic “people person” finds he’s most alive in deep project work. And sometimes, as in the case of Paul’s longtime secretary, the data confirms that a steady, predictable role is exactly the right fit.
The point isn’t to force growth. It’s to understand what truly energizes someone and make space for it when possible.
The Science That Made the Scientist More Human
After studying the brains of roughly 50,000 people—including criminals, psychiatric patients, students, executives, and everyday workers—Paul says he’s learned to expect and accept human weirdness. Everyone has off days. Everyone gets overwhelmed. Everyone’s brain chemistry shifts for reasons even they can’t fully explain.
That realization has made him more patient, more compassionate, and less likely to jump to conclusions about someone’s character based on a single moment.
It’s also shaped his philosophy of life. Paul calls it “Love Plus”—the intention to leave every interaction with just a little more care, kindness, and connection in it than before. For him, that’s the purpose of all this neuroscience: to help people flourish, to help workplaces feel more human, and to help us understand each other just a little better.
If you lead a team, facilitate learning, or shape culture, Paul’s work offers a simple invitation: stop guessing about engagement. Start designing for how the brain actually works. Treat emotional commitment not as a mystery but as something you can shape—moment by moment, conversation by conversation.
Because behind every metric, every meeting, and every project is a human brain asking one essential question:
Is this worth giving myself to?
Your job as a leader is to make the answer yes—through purpose, safety, story, and just enough science to turn intention into impact.