Keynotes on the Neuroscience of Leadership, Decision-Making, and Change
Neuroscientist • TEDx Speaker • Translating brain science into real-world decision-making under pressure
Conferences
Executive Offsites
Senior Leadership Teams
Leadership Events
Flagship Keynote
Top-Down Leadership:
Training the Brain for Pressure, Uncertainty, and Complexity
This keynote explains why pressure reliably degrades decision-making, even in highly capable leaders, and how to intervene in real time. Drawing on neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and high-stakes performance, Dr. Devin Effinger shows how stress shifts brain control, why the nervous system prefers certainty over accuracy, and how leaders regain top-down control in complex environments.
Bullets:
Why smart leaders become reactive under pressure
How ancient survival wiring clashes with modern work
Why false certainty drives conflict and poor decisions
A practical framework leaders can use immediately
This keynote is ideal for:
Conferences
Executive offsites
Leadership retreats
Additional Keynote Topics
These talks share a common neuroscience foundation but are designed for different audiences and contexts.
Voluntary Evolution
Why Humans Must Learn to Override Their Own Biology
A big-picture keynote on evolutionary mismatch, modern overstimulation, and why deliberate, “contrary” action is becoming a core human skill.
Best for: innovation, future-of-work, culture, TEDx-style audiences
Why the DSM Is Failing Us — and What Neuroscience Is Pointing Toward Instead
A thought-leadership keynote reframing mental health through circuits and states rather than symptom labels, and exploring what neuroscience and psychedelics are revealing about future care models.
Best for: clinical, academic, policy, and healthcare leadership audiences
From Survival Mode to Self-Directed Change
A neuroscience-based keynote on trauma, addiction, and chronic stress as brain adaptations—not moral failure—and how agency is rebuilt through structure and top-down regulation.
Best for: treatment centers, recovery conferences, justice-involved and resilience-focused audiences
What Psychedelics Are Teaching Us About the Brain
A science-forward talk on neuroplasticity, predictive processing, and meaning-making, focused on mechanisms and integration rather than advocacy.
Best for: medical, innovation, and mental health audiences
From TEDx to the Boardroom
These keynotes build on ideas first presented in a TEDx talk, adapted for leadership, organizational, and professional audiences. While the TEDx focused on why these patterns matter, the keynotes focus on how they show up—and how to intervene in real time.
About the Speaker
Dr. Devin Effinger is a neuroscientist and TEDx speaker who studies how stress, uncertainty, and prediction shape human behavior. His work focuses on the neurobiology of decision-making under pressure and the mismatch between ancient survival wiring and modern organizational demands. Devin’s talks are evidence-based, non-therapeutic, and designed for leaders operating in complex, high-stakes environments.
Book Dr. Devin for Your Event
Available for conferences, executive offsites, and leadership retreats.