Neuroscientists have vastly underestimated brain cells’ computing power:
A new study shows that each neuron can do multiple computations at once thanks to hundreds of sprawling branches Neurons have hundreds of treelike branches that receive signals from neighboring cells. One of the central mysteries of the brain is how it achieves so much with so little. At any given moment, it processes an entire world of input, pilots a body and generates conscious experience—all with relatively modest energy demands.
Experts just found a surprisingly easy way to improve your brain at any age:
A new study suggests cognitive decline may not be inevitable Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks, according to new research into how we might keep our brains healthy. A three-year study of nearly 4,000 adults suggests that there is no ceiling for improving our brains, and cognitive decline is not an inevitable part of the ageing process.
Today more than ever, we need purpose-driven and conscious leaders of all stripes to help us navigate the uncertainties of an everchanging social, economic, and geopolitical landscape.
Academics used to call it a VUCA world- Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous
Now the pundits are referring to it as a BANI world- Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible
But forget the brainiacs and theoreticians, how are you experiencing this moment?
This week’s missive explores leadership including local and impactful options to upskill your meta-competencies in the leadership sphere.
You’ve got this and we need YOU!
A Stanford Business School Professor Just Gave the Best Definition of Leadership I’ve Ever Heard
What Causes Poor Leadership? Research Points to Four Leadership Failures
A CEO Should Only Do 3 Things. Delegate Everything Else
The one surprising habit shared by the world’s best decision-makers, according to psychologists
Steve Jobs Said Great Leaders Make One Difficult Choice Most Managers Avoid
+ 𝗛𝗼𝘄 D𝗼 𝗜 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮 B𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 L𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿, Right Here in San Diego?
That last question doesn’t keep office hours. It shows up on the drive home. In the quiet after a hard board meeting. At the end of a day when you poured everything into the mission and still wonder if you got it right. If you lead, you know the rest of them:
How do I get to the next level? How do I build a network beyond my own organization? Where do I find the people, the ideas, the resources that would make me better at this? How do I move my vision — and my career — forward inside all of it?
Most leaders try to answer those alone. You don’t have to… (read on)
A Stanford Business School Professor Just Gave the Best Definition of Leadership I’ve Ever Heard:
It has nothing to do with strategy, charisma, or vision. It’s about something much simpler.
“Great leaders are people who think of themselves as trustees of other people’s time.”
What Causes Poor Leadership? Research Points to Four Leadership Failures:
Companies create many of their own leadership problems by promoting capable people without preparing them to lead. What if the biggest leadership problem in your company is not a shortage of talented people, but the way you select, promote, and develop managers? Poor leaders are not bad people. Many are smart, hardworking, and technically gifted.
A CEO Should Only Do 3 Things. Delegate Everything Else:
This idea reorganized my entire working life. It fits on an index card. I’ve founded seven companies, and for the first few of them, I wasn’t the best CEO. Not because I lacked effort — because I was drowning in it. I wrote the marketing copy, tweaked the proposals, sat in on every interview, and answered emails at midnight like it was a badge of honor…
The one surprising habit shared by the world’s best decision-makers, according to psychologists:
It’s time to start thinking about doing some thinking about thinking. There’s a scene in the UK mockumentary series Cunk on Earth where the ill-informed investigative reporter Philomena Cunk is in a museum, looking at busts of Greek philosophers. Philosophy, she explains, “is basically thinking about thinking, which sounds like a waste of time, because it is.” It’s a funny observation, but as usual, Cunk is wrong.
Steve Jobs Said Great Leaders Make One Difficult Choice Most Managers Avoid:
Making people better requires high standards, honest feedback, and a workplace where people are not afraid of the boss. Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks at All Things Digital June 1, 2010, in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Jobs spoke about where he thought the industry was headed. There is a dangerous idea floating around the workplace: If you care about employees, you should avoid making them uncomfortable. That sounds compassionate. Sometimes it is…
All fine and dandy but, what do YOU plan to do about it?
Leadership
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿?
That question doesn’t keep office hours.
It shows up on the drive home. In the quiet after a hard board meeting. At the end of a day when you poured everything into the mission and still wonder if you got it right.
If you lead a nonprofit, you know the rest of them:
How do I get to the next level? How do I build a network beyond my own organization? Where do I find the people, the ideas, the resources that would make me better at this? How do I move my vision — and my career — forward inside all of it?
Most leaders try to answer those alone. You don’t have to.
NCPC’s 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 (𝗜𝗟𝗔) exists so San Diego’s nonprofit leaders can stop figuring it out in isolation. Learn alongside peers who get it. Build real relationships. Broaden your perspective and sharpen the skills that make you more effective — for your team, your mission, and yourself.
The next cohort starts in September.
Know someone carrying these questions alone? Send this their way.
Science Says 1 Emotion Best Predicts Whether You Will Someday Feel You Lived a Meaningful Life:
Your Brain Forgets Your Wins. A Brag Folder Can Help
1 Simple Mental Habit Gives You a Happier Life, According to a Study of 51,000 People
A Trauma Practitioner Says These 4 Hobbies Can Help Ease Anxiety
+ 35 delightful images from the 2026 International Pet Photography Awards
Science Says 1 Emotion Best Predicts Whether You Will Someday Feel You Lived a Meaningful Life:
The key to feeling your life has, and had, meaning? Hope. Jul 24, 2026 Maybe you’re reading this because you sometimes imagine sitting on your metaphorical front porch, thinking back on your life. While Jeff Bezos says the last thing you want to feel is regret over chances you didn’t take, more likely you’ll consider whether your life had meaning. More likely, you’re reading this because you currently sometimes ask yourself whether your life has meaning. How do you answer that question?
Your Brain Forgets Your Wins. A Brag Folder Can Help:
You’ve probably saved plenty of things you’ll never need again: old tax returns, the assembly instructions for a bookshelf you built a decade ago, screenshots of recipes you’ll never cook. But when it comes to evidence of what you’ve done well—whether that’s accomplishing something meaningful, helping someone, or growing in ways that matter—most of us keep surprisingly little. Psychologists say that’s a missed opportunity. And it’s why many recommend keeping what’s known as a brag folder.
1 Simple Mental Habit Gives You a Happier Life, according to a Study of 51,000 People:
Stop trying to crush the competition. Is there a mindset change that could make you both happier and more successful at work? Research suggests that the answer is yes. Seek admiration and rewards for your own accomplishments. Don’t focus on beating out your competition. That may sound like advice a life coach or spiritual leader would give. But it’s backed by science, most recently an analysis of survey responses from 51,070 people all over the world.
A Trauma Practitioner Says These 4 Hobbies Can Help Ease Anxiety:
As someone who’s battled severe anxiety and OCD since I was six years old, one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned over time was the importance of engaging in calming hobbies. Activities like reading, writing, and yoga have helped me in ways that talk therapy never could.
35 delightful images from the 2026 International Pet Photography Awards:
35 delightful images from the 2026 International Pet Photography Awards From dogs defying gravity to prim and proper cats. If you share a home with a pet, it’s likely you’ve filled your camera with photos of your furry (or feathered or scaly) friend. We humans love documenting the antics of our animal companions. The International Pet Photography Awards celebrates our quest to capture the perfect snapshot of our beloved pets
Leading Through Change: Building the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leadership:
Here is the link to a recent webinar I moderated with Dr. Laura Deitrick the Exec Director of USD’s Nonprofit Institute on: Leading Through Change: Building the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leadership.
As NCPC’s Impact Leadership Accelerator (ILA ) is focused on Emerging Leaders and striving to have our local board composition and leadership in the sector be more reflective of our San Diego demographics, I would really appreciate it if you would share this with the Latino/Hispanic orgs and anyone that you feel could benefit!
Here is a link to last week’s webinar, info about the next online panel Women in Leadership and more info about the ILA and next cohort.
People can sign up for ILA, or if they choose help fund scholarships for individuals or organizations they believe in.
Many thanks for your help and support getting the world out.
Note: I also left Jim Davis’ the ED of NCPC’s contact info below too…
Love,
Neville
Here is the link to the Leading Through Change: Building the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leadership recording:
Our next NCPC leadership presentation, ” Women in Leadership” online panel, will take place on August 31st. It will feature Megan Thomas President & CEO of Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties, Giannina Pérez, Owner of Giannina Pérez Coaching and Consulting, Angel Mason Broadus, President & Founder of Puzzle Pieces Marketing, and Courtney Stone, Founder, CEO of Spotlight.
Register for this free event HERE. Flyer is attached.
ILA details follow:
Interested in starting or enhancing your own leadership journey? Accelerate your impact in your career, your organization, and your community. NCPC’s Leadership program (ILA) is an extraordinary, 8-month leadership growth experience, launching in September. To keep the coaching sessions small, we are limiting this year’s session to 40 individuals.
‘In over 30 years, I’ve never seen something this powerful’: Experts have finally learned how the right human touch can transform your health
Physical contact is vital for our wellbeing. New research is revealing why July 22, 2026 Studies in this field, exploring the nature of ‘touch hunger’ or ‘touch deprivation,’ had previously focused on isolated older adults, but after COVID-19, they expanded to cover all age groups. This included a population normally considered to be the least vulnerable to touch deprivation: the young
Want to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier? Then Cultivate Your Social Connections
Chronic loneliness can increase cortisol and inflammation and weaken your immune system, says social scientist Kasley Killam. She argues it’s time to accept that good quality social connections are a fundamental human need
Long-Term Happiness Comes Down to 3 Things. Most Entrepreneurs Get 1 Wrong
The antidote is a deeper commitment to craft, purpose, and continuous self-development. Jul 25, 2026 Over the course of my life, I’ve developed a model around sustained human happiness. As best I can tell, there are essentially only three things that can make us fulfilled over the long term: religion or spirituality/a genuine relationship with something greater than ourselves; human connection and warm primary attachments; and dedication to the mastery of a craft.
Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, and Alan Watts All Discovered the Same 5 Rules for Living—Almost Nobody Lives by Them
Everything You Know About Surviving a Rip Current Is Wrong. Here’s What to Actually Do
Everything Hikers Know About Lightning Safety Is Wrong. A Storm Expert Explains the Rules That Actually Keep You Safe
The Deadliest Animal in America Isn’t a Bear, a Shark, or a Snake. It’s Not Even Close
The 1 Thing That’ll Wash Pesticides Off Fruits and Vegetables
Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, and Alan Watts All Discovered the Same 5 Rules for Living—Almost Nobody Lives by Them:
A Holocaust survivor, a pioneering psychologist, and a Zen philosopher came from radically different worlds. Yet they all arrived at the same uncomfortable truths about what makes a life worth living
Everything You Know About Surviving a Rip Current Is Wrong. Here’s What to Actually Do.
The “swim parallel to shore” advice you’ve heard your whole life is outdated. A coastal safety researcher explains what actually works — and why the old guidance can make things worse.
The Deadliest Animal in America Isn’t a Bear, a Shark, or a Snake. It’s Not Even Close.
A surgeon analyzed nine years of CDC fatality data to rank every animal most likely to kill you in the U.S. The top two on the list will stop you cold — and permanently change how you think about outdoor risk.
Leading Through Change: Building the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leadership
Purpose-Driven Board Leadership- A New Way of Framing the Nonprofit Board’s Role
The Simple, Stanford-backed Hypnosis Technique that can Quiet your Inner Critic
Boost Your Dopamine and Motivation with These Expert-Approved Habits
“People most admire those leaders whose accomplishments speak for themselves and whose greatest accomplishment is the success of their followers.”— Kevin Daum, entrepreneur and best-selling author
Leading Through Change: Building the Next Generation of Nonprofit Leadership
Wednesday July 22, from 12:00-1:00pm Live on Zoom
Shift Happens and continues to happen, which means the road to success is always under construction…
Learning agility will remain a priority, particularly in this uncertain climate.
Join me in a facilitated and generative conversation with Dr. Laura Deitrick, the Executive Director of The Nonprofit Institute at USD as we explore what nonprofit leadership requires in this moment, so we can effectively prepare for what comes next.
Dr. Deitrick with share her foresight, insights and help us navigate the oversight necessary to lead the social sector though uncertainty, shifting funding landscapes, AI transformation and changing market and community needs.
Register for free at the link below and do share with your network as we uplift all of San Diego.
The Simple, Stanford-backed Hypnosis Technique that can Quiet your Inner Critic:
Forget the swinging pocket watches, scientists are now praising hypnotherapy as a powerful tool to fight mental and physical pain. I’m sitting with my back straight, my eyes closed and my iPad resting on my lap. “Let one hand float up in the air as if it were a balloon,” a soothing voice tells me from the speakers, and I do as it commands. Soon I feel as if my whole body is weightless. Next, I have to visualize the goal that I want to achieve…
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
– Declaration of Independence
The Way Home by Kurt C:
There is a deep well of grief underneath us
Covered over by our daily tasks of existence
Of making the coffee
Washing the dishes
Checking email
Walking the dog
And
It has been growing with each act of hatred, cruelty, injustice
If we allow ourselves to go there, we can become lost, overwhelmed by emotion
And so, we seal it off, cover it over, pretend it is not there
How are the kids?
What book are you reading?
Hey, did you see that World Cup Game?
And yet if we drop from head to heart
Access the consciousness below the ego
Sink into the deeper layers
It is there
And without effort it fills us with tears
Not tears of sadness or regret or hurt or injury
Tears of compassion
Tears that are the essence of our humanity
Tears of disbelief that we could have fallen so far
That all the promise we held so close to our hearts could be washed away
And yet our salvation lies in this well of grief in the tears
In the release that swimming in these dark waters grants us
to connect once again to what makes us humankind – human and kind
And makes possible the small kindnesses
You know
The shared smile
The hand that helps
Making eye contact in the elevator
They are the foundation of our journey home
“Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.”- Colin Powell
Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American July 3, 2026:
And on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
For all the fact that the congressmen got around the sticky little problem of Black and Indigenous enslavement by defining “men” as “white men,” and for all that it never crossed their minds that women might also have rights, the Declaration of Independence was an astonishingly radical document. In a world that had been dominated by a small class of rich men for so long that most people simply accepted that they should be forever tied to their status at birth, a group of upstart legislators on the edges of a continent declared that no man was born better than any other.
America was founded on the radical idea that all men are created equal.
What the founders declared self-evident was not so clear eighty-seven years later, when southern white men went to war to reshape America into a nation in which African Americans, Indigenous Americans, Chinese, Mexicans, and Irish were locked into a lower status than white Americans. In that era, equality had become a “proposition,” rather than “self-evident.”
“Four score and seven years ago,” Abraham Lincoln reminded Americans, “our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” In 1863, Lincoln explained, the Civil War was “testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
It did, of course. The Confederate rebellion failed. The United States endured, and Americans began to expand the idea that all men are created equal to include Black men, men of color, and eventually women.
But just as in the 1850s, we are now, once again, facing a rebellion against our founding principle as a few people seek to reshape America into a nation in which certain people are better than others.
The men who endorsed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, pledged their “Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor” to defend the idea of human equality. Ever since then, Americans have sacrificed their own fortunes, honor, and even their lives, for that principle.
Lincoln reminded Civil War Americans of those sacrifices when he urged the people of his era to “take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Words to live by in 2026.
On America’s 250th Birthday, Celebrate Liberty: Most Americans still appreciate the freedom the country was founded upon. Nearly half of Americans don’t understand what we’re celebrating for America’s 250th anniversary, according to a new poll. Clearly, the festivities aren’t about the quality of the country’s public schools since this year marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Something else we should be celebrating, though, is this country’s continued legacy of individual liberty.
The Great American Betrayal: After 250 years, many Americans are disillusioned with their country due to its broken political and legal systems, declining faith, and tech-driven echo chambers that amplify fear and division.
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This week:
Leading from within has never required more from us than it does today.
Economic uncertainty. AI-driven disruption. Geopolitical instability. Talent stress, burnout, and staff shortages. Rising expectations from everyone!
Yet amid all this change, one challenge sits underneath almost every issue leaders are facing today:
People.
Today, let’s privilege people over politics, principles over personalities and empathy over power.
“America is known as a country that welcomes people to its shores. All kinds of people.”
— Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Pressure Signals Leaders Miss that Look Like Performance Issues:
Under sustained pressure, the brain shifts out of performance mode and into survival mode.
It stops spending energy on the things that look like “performance” and starts spending it on staying safe.
That’s where the signs come from.
When the brain runs on threat ↳ decisions stall, because choosing feels risky ↳ details slip because attention narrows to urgency ↳ people pull away, to save energy
You’re not watching seven separate problems. You’re watching brains under too much load.
“May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please,
but as the opportunity to do what is right.”— Peter Marshall
The most successful people do 5 things to get luckier in life:
Stanford University educator Tina Seelig shares what the luckiest people do every day to find success.
“We’re blessed with the opportunity to stand for something, for liberty and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to.” –Ronald Reagan
The ‘pet effect’ and how animals may boost your health:
Whether you’re the proud pet parent to an animal with paws, claws, hooves or fins, it’s no secret how much joy and companionship they bring us.
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics were kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.”
Here’s Why Change is So Exhausting, According to Neuroscience
Scientists Just Discovered the Brain Chemical That Controls Your Ability to Break a Bad Habit
5 Things You Should Do First Thing in the Morning to Be Happier All Day
Who Wants to Change?
Years ago, I was working with a small group of administrators, sharing some insights and ideas on where education could go and where it is moving. I am passionate that if you are in a leadership position that you lead by example…
Here’s why change is so exhausting, according to neuroscience: Why constant transformation is exhausting workforces. Organizations today are running what amounts to a continuous stress experiment on their people. Restructuring, digital transformation, remote and hybrid transitions, supply chain reorganization, and the rapid arrival of AI—change has become the permanent condition of working life. Leaders are puzzled or irritated when people resist, disengage or seem unable to get on board.
Scientists Just Discovered the Brain Chemical That Controls Your Ability to Break a Bad Habit: This neurotransmitter signals to the brain when it’s time to abandon old routines and adapt to new changes. Being able to alter your not-so-great tendencies goes beyond simply having strong willpower. A new study just revealed the brain chemical associated with breaking bad habits. The study, which was published in Nature Communications, a peer-reviewed journal, focused on answering this question: how does the brain know when it is time to abandon an old strategy and try something new?
5 Things You Should Do First Thing in the Morning to Be Happier All Day If you roll out of bed feeling tired or stressed, these a.m. habits can help you turn your mood around.
Ever wonder why watching your favorite sports be it basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, or tennis makes you happy? Read on…
Why Watching Sports Makes People Happy
World Cup 2026: Why do Japan fans clean up the stadium?
Psychologists Say This Simple Habit Can Make You a Much Happier Person
Why Watching Sports Makes People Happy:
Some years ago, Helen Keyes was pushing her way through a World Cup crowd with her soccer-loving brother and father. “What is it about this sport or this event that you like?” she remembers asking them. “Is it the sport itself? Is it being around the other people? The sense of togetherness?” They were stumped, and replied that they’d never thought about it. “I thought, I’d really like to think about it,” remembers Keyes, who is a cognitive psychologist at Anglia Ruskin University in England.
Psychologists Say This Simple Habit Can Make You a Much Happier Person:
Before the overthinking kicks in, there’s usually a knowing. A job offer, a relationship, a move—the gut feels something almost immediately, and then the pro-con list buries it.
Happy Soul Food Friday! 