AIQxHR

The Missing Link Between Change
and AI? Your Brain.

I can help HR.

The Missing Link Between Change
and AI? Your Brain.

I have been attending a few brain skills, neuroscience sessions and my
interest is increasing day by day to dig into it. Recently I was at
Columbia University, Phillip Campbell, was running a session for the SPS
Human Capital Management Club and this time it hit differently. Maybe
it was because I was surrounded by students, not HR people. The
questions, the vibe, something was different. I kept thinking, why are we
not talking about this in HR?
We keep trying to build Change Fluency and AI Fluency in our
organizations. Training programs, workshops, and change management
frameworks. We are missing the foundation! The foundation is the brain.
And, Brain is a Science!

The WEF put it well in their 2026 report with McKinsey: the question is
not whether technology will change the economy anymore. The real
question is whether people will be equipped to change with it.
So I started connecting dots. That is what I do! I am a curious HR Tech
person who is trying to find the right balance between AI and EQ,
technology that actually empowers people.
The skills we need most right now, adapting to change, navigating
uncertainty, working alongside AI, those are not technical skills. They
are brain skills. And the science of how to actually build them exists. I
came across a lot of new words. And a few familiar ones that suddenly
felt more urgent than ever. These are not buzzwords. These are the
powers behind the brain!
Growth Mindset. Metacognition. Cognitive Flexibility. VUCA. Fluid
Thinking. Here is my take on how to make it work for human brains, the Fluency
Framework. There are three layers to building real fluency in a
workforce. There should be no skipping steps. This is me thinking loud, I
don’t have all the answers yet but building on it.

AI Fluency: AI is everywhere. But AI Fluency without the first two
layers is tool training. Real AI Fluency is knowing how to work
alongside AI in a way that helps humans take control, judgment,
your empathy, and your ability to ask better questions. That is
AI+EQ.
What’s in Works?
I think HR, L&D, Talent, Leadership Development, OD, we have an
opportunity here!
I did not figure everything out yet, but I am onto something!
Neuroscience is giving me a better map.
If these ideas resonate with you, I would love to hear your thoughts or
learn about any initiatives you have implemented in this space.

Brain Fluency: People need to understand how their brain works?
Consciously and Sub-Consciously. How do I learn? How do I react
to change? What happens to my thinking when things get
uncertain?
This is Metacognition, thinking about thinking. And it sounds
simple, but it’s not! We are losing this muscle if we let AI do the
work!
Pair that with Growth Mindset, the belief that effort and
persistence can build new capability.
Without this layer, everything else you build on top is unstable.

Change Fluency: The WEF report mentioned that knowing a
workflow is becoming less valuable than being able to rethink it
when everything changes.
That is Cognitive Flexibility. And it is trainable.
This is where VUCA comes in too. We are not going back to a
simpler world. AI has made sure of that. But we can train people to
operate with clarity inside the chaos. That is not a soft skill. That is
a survival skill right now.

Ekta Lall Mittal is an AI+EQ practitioner with two decades of experience across people, process, technology, and change. She mentors, speaks, and writes about modern HR, and brings a marketing mindset to how organizations hire, grow, and transform.