What We Do
Translating Neuroscience into Practical Solutions for Leadership and Work
New Science, Solutions, and Skills
IOSM bridges the growing gap between what science now understands about the human brain—and how leaders, organizations, and educational systems actually develop human capability.
Our work includes rigorous analysis of established and emerging research; translation of scientific insights into practical solutions and curriculum; and delivery through our educational channels and the OMN community network.
Research and Critical Evaluation
Evaluating a flood of research begins with sense-making – with the ultimate objective of identifying what matters, what is validated, and what reliably works under pressure, at scale, and within real-world organizational constraints.
The last decade has produced an unprecedented volume of research across neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, and organizational studies—alongside extensive experimentation with mindfulness, emotional intelligence, well-being, and workplace behavioral change programs.
We surface and analyze the most rigorous and relevant:
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Peer-reviewed neuroscience and behavioral research
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Global B-school and academic insights
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Organizational and workforce studies
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Leadership, well-being, and performance studies
Our objectives are to:
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Separate belief from verified science
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Identify neural principles and practices
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Match neural practices to predictable outcomes
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Apply outcomes to develop mental and emotional skills
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Apply human skills to solve real-world business challenges
Everything having to do with human training and education has to be re-examined in light of neuroplasticity.
Dr. Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself
Explicit and Procedural Solutions
We're in an era of rapid disruption that is demanding deep, adaptive human capabilities in leadership and work. These can only be developed through a combination of new knowledge and neural training.
Mental and emotional skills cannot be developed solely through explicit learning methods. Reading, watching, or listening to information about attention control, emotional intelligence, or mental strength creates understanding—but does not create the neural circuits that activate those capabilities under pressure. Knowledge explains a skill; it does not produce it.
Neural and learning sciences confirm a clear distinction between explicit and procedural learning. Public education and conventional training programs teach intellectual and technical skills through explicit instruction. Procedural learning—acquired through repeated, structured experience—is what makes skills automatic, accessible, and reliable in real conditions.
An Integrated Curriculum
We deliberately and systematically integrate both methods into our classes, workshops, and courses. This ensures clear, evidence-based knowledge—our challenge or objective, what a capability consists of, why it matters, and how it functions—with structured experiential practices that directly train the specific neural systems.
This integration takes learning rapidly beyond insight to baseline change. In the moment, and over time, neural practices reshape attention, emotion, interpretation, and response patterns—producing observable shifts in mindset, behavior, and performance under real conditions. Skills become less dependent on conscious effort and more reliably available when pressure, uncertainty, or complexity is high.
Public Training
Public training is designed for individual leaders, professionals, educators, and practitioners seeking direct access to all-science, evidence-based mindfulness and neural skills development. These programs are designed for people building their personal and professional capabilities, for people pursuing Facilitator or Teacher Certification, and for teams pursuing common knowledge and practices.
Public offerings include individual certificate courses, progressive certification courses, and neural skills workshops. Programs are scheduled regularly, delivered live online, and supported by an on-demand learning portal with class videos, slide decks, guided practices, group chat, and links to deeper-dive research and resources.
As neuroscientist Michael Merzenich has demonstrated, we can consciously rewire the adult brain through experiential practices with predictable outcomes. This means that capabilities once thought to be immutable traits— such as self-awareness, empathy, emotional regulation, and adaptability—can now be intentionally trained through procedural learning.
Certification Programs
Certification programs are designed for individuals who intend to apply the Organizational Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) and other neural solutions and practices in professional settings. This includes facilitators, teachers, internal leaders, trainers, business and life coaches, and others – working with their teams, organizations, or clients.
IOSM certification pathways include Practitioner Certification, Facilitator Certification, Teacher Certification – and optional Teaching Partner, and Train-the-Trainer qualification and licensing.
Each pathway builds on foundational coursework and includes defined standards, supervised learning, and competency requirements. Certification ensures consistent application of IOSM methods while enabling qualified individuals to facilitate, design, and teach in accordance with IOSM standards.
Organizational Training
Organizational training is designed for companies, institutions, and agencies seeking to develop leadership, workforce, and cultural capabilities aligned with real operational demands. These programs support teams, functions, and leadership populations operating under sustained pressure, complexity, and change.
Organizational offerings include certificate courses, neural skills workshops, modular classes, and series aligned to specific business challenges. Programs can be delivered live onsite, online, or blended with asynchronous components. The curriculum is adapted to the organizational context while maintaining the same scientific foundation, instructional standards, and learning effectiveness as public programs.
Site-Licensed Training
Site-licensed training is designed for organizations that want to build internal capability and scale delivery across teams, functions, or geographies. This model supports long-term integration of neural training into leadership development, workforce programs, or internal learning systems.
Site-licensed engagements include train-the-trainer certification, licensed curriculum, instructional materials, and delivery guidance. Organizations retain control over delivery while operating within IOSM’s evidence base. This approach enables consistent, repeatable implementation without dependency on external facilitation.
The OM Network
The Organizational Mindfulness Network (OMN) is a community learning and collaboration platform that supports ongoing education across all delivery channels. It is designed for individuals, certification candidates, organizational participants, and licensed partners who want continued learning, practice, and peer exchange beyond formal programs.
OMN Community Membership is free and open to all, offering access to research, insights, community discussion, and a growing network of experienced peers and subject-matter experts.
OMN Education Membership unlocks year-round access to proprietary member education, including Solution, Practice, and Business Labs, Landmark Courses, and structured 21-Day Neural Challenges.
OMN Certification Membership grants year-long access to all of IOSM's public certificate courses (Organizational Mindfulness, Neural Leadership, and Neural Wellbeing) and Neural Skills workshops.
FAQ
How does IOSM Research work?
IOSM surfaces, evaluates, and synthesizes research from neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, and organizational studies. We then incorporate validated findings into our practical training methods, curriculum, and tools. These solutions are available for personal performance, and across leadership development, workforce programs, and organizational change initiatives.
What original research does IOSM rely on?
We analyze peer-reviewed research in neuroscience, neurobiology, psychology, integrative and behavioral science – leadership, workforce, and organizational studies from global business schools and consultancies – and evidence-based outcomes from corporate mindfulness and emotional intelligence programs. Our search is for validated mechanisms that can be practically adapted to the workplace and are effective under pressure in real organizational conditions.
What learning methods are built into IOSM Education?
Explicit learning builds conceptual understanding—what a skill is, how it works, and why it matters. Procedural learning builds the neural circuits that make the skill usable under pressure. IOSM integrates both, ensuring individuals gain understanding and the capacity to perform consistently in real conditions.
What are the gaps in conventional leadership and professional training?
Conventional training teaches explicit facts, concepts, and calculations that are stored in memory. It cannot intentionally develop or strengthen neural pathways for embodied skills such as self-awareness, attention control, emotional intelligence, or high-stakes decision-making. IOSM’s curriculum integrates the structured experiential practices that develop these uniquely human capabilities through procedural learning.
What makes IOSM training so effective?
IOSM training programs combine the most current situational knowledge with clear, evidence-based practices to optimize our human mental and emotional capabilities.
What types of public training does IOSM offer?
Public education includes certificate courses, progressive certification pathways, and neural skills workshops. Programs are delivered live online and supported by an on-demand learning portal with videos, guided practices, research links, and supplemental resources.
What is IOSM Certification, and who is it for?
IOSM Certification provides structured pathways for professionals who want to integrate neural training into their work with individuals, teams, and organizations. The pathway progresses from developing your own skills (Practitioner) to supporting others in applied settings (Facilitator) to designing and teaching programs based on IOSM’s methodology (Teacher). Certification is for leaders, HR and talent professionals, educators, coaches, consultants, and change agents seeking a science-based approach to developing the human capabilities that drive performance.
What is IOSM Organizational Training, and who is it for?
IOSM Organizational Training brings our neural training methods directly into companies through flexible, modular programs tailored to business needs. Organizations can combine classes, workshops, and certificate courses to build targeted capabilities in human well-being, cognitive performance, and emotional intelligence across teams or entire functions. These programs are designed for leaders and the workforce, as well as HR, OD, talent development, and learning teams responsible for improving performance, well-being, and culture.
What is Site-Licensed Training, and who is it for?
Site-Licensed Training allows organizations to deliver IOSM-developed neural training internally using their own instructors. IOSM provides trainer certification, turnkey curriculum, and teaching materials – ensuring the consistency and quality to scale training across large or distributed workforces. This option is designed for enterprises, government agencies, universities, and global organizations that need repeatable, high-volume capability building delivered by internal staff.
What is the OM Network, and who is it for?
The OM Network is IOSM’s global professional community for people working at the intersection of science, mindfulness, leadership, and workforce development. Members receive access to learning events, practice labs, solution labs, discussion forums, and curated research. The network is for operating leaders, HR and OD professionals, coaches, educators, and anyone seeking to apply neural training to real-world workplace challenges while connecting with peers who share the same goals.
What are the differences between OMN Community, Education, and Certification memberships?
Community membership provides free access to the OM Network’s core features: research, insights, our global peer network, and opportunities to collaborate and problem-solve in communities of interest (personal, leadership, workforce, workplace development) and communities of practice (operating leaders, HR-OD, executive coaches, well-being professionals, and educators)
Education membership adds access to structured learning resources—premium learning programs, practice challenges, instructor-led classes, self-paced modules, and exclusive forums.
Certification membership is for participants enrolled in IOSM’s certification pathways and includes advanced learning portals, instructor support, teaching resources, assessments, and official certification status upon completion.