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 Techperson 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.