IOSM Insights

Editorial from IOSM and our Partners

Qualities of Gratitude: Neural Capabilities That Strengthen Trust, Goodwill, and Resilience

As the year winds down, gratitude naturally surfaces — but beyond being a meaningful emotion, it’s also a powerful neural state. Research shows that gratitude activates reward and bonding centers in the brain, reduces stress, and improves emotional regulation. When practiced regularly, it shifts brain patterns toward optimism, connection, and resilience.

Michael Foster

6 days ago5 min read

Mindfulness and Motivation: Why Our Determination to Practice Collapses

Modern mindfulness has become a global wellness movement, but its secular focus on stress reduction has created hidden gaps in how people learn and sustain the practice. Unlike traditional spiritual mindfulness—anchored in purpose and long-term devotion—today’s approaches often set vague goals, promise quick results, and rely on external motivation, leading to rapid disengagement.

Michael Foster

Nov 129 min read

Attention is Today's Productivity Gap: What the New Science Says

We are living in an age where attention has become both our most critical asset and our most fragile one. Digital systems, constant notifications, and fragmented workflows have outpaced the brain’s natural limits, leaving most professionals in a state of perpetual partial focus.

Michael Foster

Nov 410 min read

A Briefing on Purpose and Vision: The Last Decade of Science

We are entering an era where meaning has become the new measure of performance. Purpose—our internal compass that aligns values, passions, and skills—now defines not only personal fulfillment but organizational success.

Michael Foster

Oct 287 min read

A Mindful Teams Primer: Common Principles and Core Practices

Organizations across industries are discovering that the next great performance advantage isn’t technological — it’s human. Over the past decade, leading companies such as Google, SAP, and Intel have integrated mindfulness training into their cultures, showing that focus, presence, and emotional regulation are not just personal wellness tools but essential drivers of collective performance.

Michael Foster

Oct 217 min read

Mental Strength, Grit, and Resilience: Critical Human Skills for the Workplace

We’ve entered a new era where performance is no longer measured by knowledge or skill alone, but by our ability to stay calm, focused, and adaptive amid relentless stress and uncertainty. As disruption and burnout rise across every industry, three human capabilities now define success: mental strength, grit, and resilience. Each is a trainable neural skill — shaping how we regulate emotion, sustain motivation, and recover from challenge.

Michael Foster

Oct 148 min read

Disruption, Relentless Change, and Uncertainty: When the Future Moves Faster Than the Mind

We are living through an era of exponential acceleration—where human knowledge now doubles every 12 months and artificial intelligence is amplifying change at an unprecedented rate. While this progress brings remarkable benefits, it also exposes a growing gap between technological speed and human capacity to adapt. The modern brain, evolved for a slower world, is overwhelmed by constant stimulation, driving widespread stress, anxiety, and burnout across workplaces and societi

Michael Foster

Oct 85 min read

Our Human-AI Partnership

The World Economic Forum's 2025 Future of Jobs Report warns that AI, robotics, and automation are rapidly transforming work, but human skill development is lagging behind. As jobs shift, a widening skills gap is emerging, with AI replacing physical and cognitive tasks. Critical human skills—like emotional intelligence, creativity, and empathy—are essential and can be trained through neuroplasticity. Organizations must prioritize these skills alongside AI investments to stay c

Michael Foster

Oct 14 min read

Our Perfect Year of Learning

Our network members are lifelong learners focused on enhancing leadership through neural training. In 2026, we’ve created 21-day challenges to develop key capabilities each month. These range from cultivating awareness and focus to building trust, emotional intelligence, and achieving peak performance. By training the brain to activate these traits, we aim to foster transformative leadership, improve teamwork, and create a more resilient, high-performing workforce.

Michael Foster

Sep 304 min read