My top 3 Uplift Moments

I'd like to share my top 3 moments from the Uplift 2025 conference that left me feeling inspired, threatened, relaxed, and relieved. Rather than presenting these experiences in their original form, I am adding some spice with both scientific insights and personal perspective.

1 We are all wired for creativity

"Creativity is essentially the solving of a problem, even if it’s a problem that no one knew existed."

Although not directly mentioned at Uplift 2025, I found research by Roger Beaty that illustrates this idea. His work shows that creative individuals can simultaneously activate brain networks that typically don't work together:

• The default (dreaming) network - internally focused. active during relaxation and daydreaiming, responsible for spontaneous ideas and memory retrieval, creates mental pictures and runs simulations of alternative possibilities

• The executive control network - involved in externally-directed attention, responsible for taking action on creative ideas, testing multiple outcomes, and helping people maintain focus on useful concepts

• The salience network - cognitive-emotional filter which helps the brain coordinate, detect, mediate, integrate, determine and choose what to pay attention to

  
  

I'm fascinated by how creativity flourishes from the balance between these three brain networks. What's even more intriguing is how this neural interplay comes to life in coaching sessions using metaphors, stories, and/or visualizations. I wonder - how are your brain networks engaging right now?

Resources:

• Beaty, R. E., Benedek, M., Silvia, P. J., & Schacter, D. L. (2016). Creative cognition and brain network dynamics. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20, 87-95.

• Beaty, R. E., et al. (2018). Robust prediction of individual creative ability from brain functional connectivity. PNAS, 115(5), 1087-1092.

• Neuroscience of Creativity Lab at Penn State University: https://beatylab.la.psu.edu/

2. Never taking risks is a risky way to build an organization

   "Never taking risks is a risky way to build an organization," Adam Grant explains. He demonstrates that excessive caution can obstruct creativity, change, and learning.

   When we approach challenges as experiments rather than threats, we create space for innovation without the paralysis of perfectionism and overanalysis. This mindset invites us to test ideas, learn from outcomes, and refine our approach with each iteration. Weekly reflections could become a little more inspirational when we start asking ourselves: What was the best experiment I tried this week?

   Maybe this question could not only inspire us as leaders but also energize our coaching conversations with team members.

   
   

   One of Adam's research studies adds a new layer when it finds that "Entrepreneurs with backup plans were 33% less likely to fail than their all-in counterparts." The magic happens in this delicate balance - having the courage to venture into uncertainty while maintaining thoughtful contingencies. Perhaps we can extend this observation far beyond career decisions, applying it to relationships, personal growth, and leadership. Like skilled trapeze artists performing daring feats with a safety net below, we reach our creative potential when we feel secure enough to be bold

   
   

   

   
   

   Resources:

   • Grant, A. (2021). Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know. Viking.

   • Grant, A. (2016). Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. Viking.

   • TED Talk: "The surprising habits of original thinkers" by Adam Grant

   • WorkLife with Adam Grant podcast, episode on "When work takes over your life"

   
   
   
   

   3. "I think it's not that AI is that good at empathy. It's that our default as humans is pretty bad and poor, right?"

   When Adam Grant reflected on research showing people felt more heard by AI than humans in text conversations, he illuminated not a triumph of technology but a mirror to our human limitations. Like rivers that sometimes lose their way before finding the sea, our empathy often meanders into tributaries of self-reference rather than flowing directly toward understanding others. We listen through filters of our own experience, waiting for gaps to insert our stories rather than holding space for another's reality to unfold.

   And we are talking about limits - I want to add one more Adams quote

   "Being wrong isn't a failure. It's an opportunity to become less wrong tomorrow." Perhaps the dance of human growth isn't about achieving perfect empathy but embracing each stumble as we learn its rhythm. The realization itself becomes preciou - a moment when the veil between intention and impact thins, revealing the map to more authentic connection.What moment of being less wrong could you celebrate today?

   
   

   

   
   

   Resources:

   • Grant, A. (2025). "ReThinking with Adam Grant" podcast, Episode: "Sam Altman on the future of AI"

   • Zaki, J. (2023). "The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World"

   • Turkle, S. (2021). "The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir"

   • Center for Building a Culture of Empathy: "Digital Empathy Research Initiative

   • Grant, A. (2021). "Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know" TED Talk: "The Power of Vulnerability" by Brené Brown