The Neuroscience of Serendipity: Leveraging Risk, Resilience and Possibility in Collaboration

This workshop will explore the critical role of the brain and nervous system in cultivating serendipity—the art of finding what we aren’t looking for. It will examine how we can leverage the neuroscience of uncertainty, ambiguity, conflict and collaboration to understand how these factors influence business practices and decision making.

Key topics will include cognitive resilience, risk assessment, and the hidden impacts of social threat on individuals and systems. Participants will learn how shame and fear of failure can distort our perceptions, and gain insight into how we can overcome cognitive limits to best respond to rapid change and vulnerabilities. The session will feature interactive discussion and participation to demonstrate how brain science can be used to design conditions of possibility and build frameworks to bridge cultural, generational, and sectoral divides in collaboration.