Why People Go All In: The Five Neuroperformance Switches Every Leader Needs to Know

For years, we’ve treated leadership as if it were purely strategic—about communication, planning, goals, and culture. But if there is one truth emerging from neuroscience today, it’s this:

People don’t perform at a higher level because they’re told to. Modern neuroscience shows that performance is rooted in how the brain processes effort, motivation, and emotional signals.

People perform because something inside the brain decides to engage.

After three decades working with leaders, one thing has become unmistakably clear: performance, motivation, collaboration, courage, initiative, energy, and follow-through all have neurological roots. When leaders understand how the brain works, they unlock the science behind high-performance leadership. This is the moment they stop pushing people and start activating them.

This is where the concept of neuroperformance comes in: the brain science behind why people show up, try harder, lean in, or go all in. In events I’ve delivered over the past year, this topic has emerged as the single most requested by event professionals.

The research points to five key neural “switches” that directly influence the way people think, feel, and perform at work. Over the past week, I've been exploring each of these in a LinkedIn series — and together, they paint a remarkably clear picture of what great leadership actually requires in today’s world.

Below is a full breakdown of the five neuroperformance switches — and how leaders can use them to create environments where people perform at their highest level.

1. The Emotional Contagion Switch: People Mirror the Leader

We tend to think performance begins with communication, but in reality, it begins with emotion. Thanks to powerful neural systems like mirror neurons and limbic resonance, your team syncs with your emotional state within seconds.

If a leader walks into a room tense, scattered, or rushed, the team picks it up and matches it.If a leader arrives grounded, confident, and present, the team rises.

Try this:

Before your next meeting, choose the emotion you want the room to feel. Take sixty seconds to breathe into it. Then enter the space deliberately.

Great leadership starts with the nervous system you bring to the table.

2. The Energy & State Management Switch: Performance Follows Capacity

Most performance challenges aren’t about workload — they’re about bandwidth.

The brain uses an energy budgeting system called allostasis to determine whether it can engage. When energy is low, motivation and clarity collapse. When energy is regulated, effort increases automatically.

One simple shift changes everything:Ask your team to self-identify their state as Green (focused), Yellow (scattered), or Red (overloaded). Then assign tasks based on their state.

Managing time is helpful.Managing energy is transformational.

3. The Learning & Mastery Switch: Hard Things Make Strong Brains

Here’s a leadership truth most people overlook:

Doing hard things literally changes the structure of the brain.

A region called the anterior mid-cingulate cortex — the effort engine — grows stronger when people choose challenge over comfort. Every time you take on something difficult, the brain thickens the circuits required for future effort and persistence.

Want to test this today?Give five focused minutes to something you’ve been avoiding.Start the email. Make the call. Begin the task.

The moment you take action, you activate the brain’s mastery pathways.

Teams that normalize stretch don’t just become more capable — they become more confident, resilient, and intrinsically motivated.

4. The Belonging & Identity Switch: People Perform for Tribes, Not Tasks

Neuroscience shows that social exclusion activates the same neural pathways as physical pain. Belonging isn’t optional — it’s a biological requirement for high performance.

When people feel seen, included, and valued, the brain moves out of self-protection and into contribution.Trust increases. Collaboration strengthens. Discretionary effort rises sharply.

If you want to strengthen belonging, try beginning a meeting with a simple identity cue like:

“On this team, we support each other,”or“On this team, we finish strong.”

Identity drives behavior.Belonging drives effort.

5. The Meaning & Purpose Switch: Purpose Creates Sustained Excellence

Purpose isn’t motivational fluff — it’s neurological activation.

When people understand the why behind their work, the deepest motivational circuits in the brain light up. Purpose enhances resilience, strengthens commitment, and fuels the willingness to push through difficult moments.

A simple practice to try:

Share a short story about the human impact of your team’s work — a customer outcome, a moment that mattered, a problem solved. It takes only a minute, but it activates the brain’s purpose centers and reconnects people to meaning.

Purpose doesn’t just inspire. It energizes.

The Future of Leadership Is Neuroperformance

After decades in leadership, I’ve seen one pattern repeat itself: the best leaders aren’t the ones who demand more — they’re the ones who understand what makes people want to give more. In my work as a keynote speaker, I’ve seen how powerful these switches are in real time.

The future of leadership is grounded in how the brain actually works:

• Emotion sets the tone.

• Energy shapes capacity.

• Challenge builds capability.

• Belonging fuels contribution.

• Purpose drives commitment.

When leaders activate these five switches, people don’t just complete tasks — they rise. They stretch. They care. They go all in.

This is the heart of my work today: helping leaders harness the neuroscience behind extraordinary human performance. These are the same principles I teach during my Impact series keynotes. If you’re curious about these concepts or want to bring them into your organization, I’d love to continue the conversation.

Because when we learn to lead the brain, we learn to lead people in a way that truly works.