SUMO: Shut Up. Move On.

Twenty years ago Paul McGee published SUMO — short for Shut Up. Move On

Subscribe now

The title sounds blunt.

The book isn’t.

At its heart, SUMO is a practic…

Read more

Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Pragya Agarwal, is now my number one recommendation for understanding how your brain works. 🥇

Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Pragya Agarwal

“Passionate and urgent” The Guardian

Sway tackles one of the hardest things and most relevant topics: unconscious bias.

And honestly, I don’t know how you summarise this book.

There is so much here.

• Gender bias.

• Racial bias.

• Stereotypes.

• Neuroscience.

• Memory.

• Empathy.

• Conformity.

• Social norms.

• The complexity around the language we use.

• The complexity around understanding our own starting points.

Basically, it manages to capture the complexity of being human.

Subscribe now

The Guardian describes it as “passionate and urgent”, and I can’t think of a better description. Anyone watching the news at the moment can see why.

What I loved about Sway is that it tackles racism, sexism, extremism, the most pressing issues of our time in a no-blame, no-shame, positive, hopeful way because it starts somewhere different.

It starts with the brain.

Because if you understand how the brain works, then of course we have unconscious biases.

Of course we do.

That doesn’t excuse them.

But it does help explain them.

One of the things I appreciated most was how accessible the neuroscience is. ❤️

Many neuroscience books assume a level of knowledge that I simply do not retain.

When I’m making my children’s tea, I am not standing there thinking:

“Oh yes, my brain is processing the boredom of chopping up carrots they won’t eat in this part of the brain.”

Pragya explains these systems in a way that makes them memorable.

So this week there is no summary.

I cannot summarise this book. There is too much in it.

It is so brilliantly written it would feel like a disservice. So I am sharing what I loved about it instead.

Because if we’re serious about reclaiming our brains, then understanding unconscious bias matters.

Not just for diversity training.

Not just for politics.

Not just for the workplace.

For life.

• If you’re a writer, unconscious bias shapes the stories you tell and the audiences you imagine.

• If you recruit people, it shapes who feels like the “right fit”.

• If you manage people, it shapes whose voice gets heard in the room.

• If you’re raising children, it shapes the assumptions you make.

• If you work in any sort of communications or advocacy.

• If you’re worried about misinformation or disinformation or AI LLMs.

Unconscious Bias: An Invitation To Think Again

A good book creates space.

Space to think.

Space to disagree.

Space to change your mind.

Space to decide for yourself.

And Sway does that brilliantly.

Sway doesn’t just tell us what unconscious bias is, Pragya Agarwal invites us to explore it.

What I found most interesting is that she doesn’t present unconscious bias as a personal failing.

She presents it as part of being human.

The book argues that unconscious bias emerges from the same brain systems that help us navigate an overwhelmingly complex world.

Every day, our brains are making predictions, spotting patterns, categorising information and deciding what deserves our attention.

Most of the time, these shortcuts help us function.

Without them, we would be paralysed by the sheer volume of information around us.

But the same shortcuts can also shape how we see other people, whose opinions we trust, what feels familiar, what feels threatening and what feels true.

In other words, unconscious bias is not separate from how the brain works.

It is a consequence of how the brain works.

Which raises some fascinating questions.

• Where does it come from?

• How much of it is instinct?

• How much of it is culture?

• How much of it is family?

• How much of it is experience?

• How much of it is the world around us?

One sentence from the book really stopped me.

Page 66.

For me, it captures what this whole book is trying to do.

Understanding unconscious bias isn’t about blame.

It’s about awareness.

It’s about understanding the lens we’re looking through.

And before we can understand the world around us, perhaps we need to understand that lens first.

My Top 3 Favourite Themes

1. Why Unconscious Bias Is a Feature of Normal Brain Function

Unconscious bias emerges from normal brain processes designed to handle billions of bits of sensory information every day. The amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex work together to categorise, predict and simplify the world, often leading to snap judgements, stereotypes and heuristic thinking.

In other words, unconscious bias is not separate from how the brain works.

It is a consequence of how the brain works.

Note the key word: billions. Not millions.

Your brain is very busy!

2. Why Unconscious Bias Can Be So Difficult to Change

Existing beliefs feel safe because they are familiar, socially reinforced and linked to our identity. The brain prefers information that confirms what we already think, remembers negative information more strongly, and experiences discomfort when moving away from default positions.

This matters for unconscious bias because once a stereotype, assumption or belief becomes established, the brain often treats it as familiar and therefore trustworthy.

We become more likely to notice information that supports existing views and less likely to seek out information that challenges them.

Change isn’t resisted because people are irrational; it is resisted because the brain is trying to avoid uncertainty, regret, social exclusion and perceived threat.

Agarwal isn’t just saying people like familiarity.

She explains the neuroscience behind it:

• The amygdala is scanning for threat.

• The hippocampus matches new information against existing memories.

• Confirmation bias makes old beliefs feel “true”.

• Conformity bias makes agreement feel socially safer.

• Moving away from default beliefs activates areas associated with fear, disgust and discomfort.

• People anticipate more regret from changing course than staying put.

Put simply:

The brain often experiences change as a potential loss before it experiences it as a potential gain.

Which means unconscious bias can persist even when we genuinely want to be open-minded, because challenging long-held assumptions requires the brain to move away from what feels familiar, safe and certain.

And honestly, this may be putting it too simply, as Agarwal explores multiple behavioural science theories, reflecting on the strengths and limitations of each. So go take a look!

Share

3. Why Empathy Helps Us Challenge Unconscious Bias

Empathy is one of the strongest antidotes to unconscious bias.

The book argues that a deeper understanding of people reduces fear and increases care. More information, perspective-taking and genuine curiosity help challenge stereotypes and create more compassionate decision-making.

As Pragya says:

“The more we know, the less we fear and the more we care.”

Because we run Empathy Mapping in our health inequalities work, I am very aware of my own confirmation bias here. This part really confirmed that we are doing it right -or at least heading in the right direction.

🧠 Reclaim Your Brain #13

Notice: Are you seeking information or confirmation?

... Find your gorilla…

One of the things that bothers me about ‘unconscious bias’ is the ‘un’ part - as in - how do we make it conscious if it is unconscious?

So one of the things I loved most about Sway is that it continually turns the question back on the reader gently to help you shift:

Not “Why are other people biased?”

But:

“What might I be missing?”

Throughout the book Pragya reminds us that the brain is constantly filtering information, deciding what matters, and constructing a version of reality that feels coherent, familiar and true.

Most of the time, that helps us navigate an impossibly complex world.

But it also raises an uncomfortable possibility:

What if we’re not seeing the whole picture?

She reminds us of of the most famous experiments in psychology: The Invisible Gorilla, created by psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris.

Read more

This is the first members issue — covering the first four books in our slightly bonkers challenge to find 50 Ways to Reclaim Your Brain.

You are not late. You are not behind. You…

Read more

Read Already Whoo Hooo ✅

1. Four Thousand Weeks — Oliver Burkeman

2. Thinking Fast & Slow — Daniel Kahneman

3. Scarcity — Mullainathan & Shafir

4. Stolen Focus — …

Read more

BrainFuel Book Club

Did you know you make approximately 35,000 decisions a day?

Scientists argue about the exact percentages, but the rule of thumb is that around 95% are subconscious and a whopping

43% are pure habit!

You don’t need to be a neuroscientist to understand this. You don’t need a psychology degree. You just need to know it’s happening - because once you do, everything starts to make a lot more sense.

Your brain is brilliant. The world is just very, very loud.

That’s why the BrainFuel Bookclub exists.

It is literally fuel for your brain.

One book a week, one idea that changes how you see your work, your writing, your relationships, and modern life. Not self-help. Not wellness. Just brilliant books and the one thing worth stealing from each one.

How do I join?

Hit subscribe at the top of the page and select the paid option to become a BrainFuel Member.

What are we reading?

We are on a slightly bonkers mission in 2026.

50 books, 50 ways to reclaim your brain, one week at a time. You don’t need to have finished it. This is a book club for people who don’t have time to read -the whole point is discovering whether you even want to.

1. Four Thousand Weeks — Oliver Burkeman

2. Thinking Fast & Slow — Daniel Kahneman

3. Scarcity — Mullainathan & Shafir

4. Stolen Focus — Johann Hari

5. Deep Work — Cal Newport

6. Influence — Robert Cialdini

7. Beyond Belief — Nir Eyal

8. Born To Flourish — Davidson & Dahl

9. Start With Why — Simon Sinek

10. Find Your Why — Simon Sinek

11. F**k It: Do What You Love — John C. Parkin

12. Mindset — Carol Dweck

13. Sway Unravelling unconscious bias — Pragya Agarwal ← we are here

Coming up: Citizens — John Alexander. Invisible Women — Caroline Criado Perez. Big Magic — Elizabeth Gilbert. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks — Rebecca Skloot. Shut Up, Move On — Paul McGee.

See you Sunday. Ruth x

This week - Mindset by Carol Dweck.

It’s been a bit delayed and for that I apologise. I went down the perfectionist rabbit hole when I found out I had a Fixed Mindset…I really wanted to tick the Growth box.

Turns out you can be both! See what you are below.

Subscribe now

Carol Dweck’s Mindset explains why modern work rewards people who sound certain before it rewards people who think deeply.

Once you see it…you start spotting it in every meeting.

Because once intelligence becomes something people feel they must constantly prove…effort starts becoming socially risky at work.

Subscribe now

The Book in 60 Seconds 📚

Dweck’s entire argument is built around two mindsets.

The Fixed mindset

Intelligence is fixed.
Talent is innate.
You either “have it” or you don’t.

Which means effort becomes socially dangerous.

Because if people are naturally brilliant…

they shouldn’t NEED effort.

That is the trap. 🙀

If intelligence is fixed, every meeting quietly becomes a performance review of your intelligence.

Every question becomes a test.

Every mistake becomes exposure.

Every pause risks making you look less capable.

Which is why fixed mindset people become obsessed with proving themselves over and over again.

Not because they are arrogant.

Because they (we) are protecting their (our) identity.

One of Dweck’s strongest lines is:

“Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?”

That sentence basically explains half of workplace behaviour.

The interrupting.

The over-preparing. (that’s me!)

The panic when someone asks something unexpected. (me again!)

The inability to say:
“I don’t know.” (me again) (how about you???)

The fake confidence.

The defensive leadership.

The exhausting perfectionism.

Because effort itself starts looking risky.

If you need to practise…
rehearse…
rewrite…
think carefully…
ask for help…

then fixed mindset whispers:

“Maybe you were never naturally good enough in the first place.”

Which is why fast talkers often do well in meetings.

Fast talking PERFORMS certainty.

And certainty performs brilliantly in overloaded workplaces.

Especially on Teams.
Especially under pressure.
Especially in cultures rewarding polished responsiveness.

Meanwhile thoughtful people are often still:
joining dots,
testing ideas,
thinking through consequences,
trying not to say something half-formed.

Which can accidentally LOOK weaker…

even when the thinking itself is stronger.

Subscribe now

Growth mindset

Growth mindset flips the whole thing.

Ability develops.
Skills grow.
Effort matters.

The goal stops being:
“Protect the image of being clever.”

And becomes:
“Improve.”

That changes everything.

Mistakes become information instead of humiliation.

Questions become useful instead of threatening.

Effort stops reducing status.

The Chrysler example in the book is fascinating because Dweck contrasts “genius cultures” with “growth cultures.”

Lee Iacocca became famous as this superstar leader.

But over time the culture became defensive because nobody wanted to challenge “the brilliant people.”

And once organisations become emotionally attached to genius identities, people stop exposing unfinished thinking publicly.

Which is a disaster for learning.

The Wet Fish Moment 🐟

Malcolm Gladwell is quoted in the book saying:

“As a society, we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort.”

YES.

Exactly that.

Modern work still worships “naturals.”

The effortless presenter.

The born strategist.

The person who magically “thinks on their feet.”

Meanwhile visible effort still carries strange social risks.

Rehearsing.
Practising.
Needing thinking time.
Changing your mind publicly.

All somehow less impressive.

Read more

I didn’t like this book at first. It felt too heavy on the swearing, too obvious, and if I’m honest, a bit lazy.

After years of telling my kids not to swear, I had a built-in bias against it. “f**k it” didn’t feel like philosophy. It felt like bad language dressed up as something deeper.

But I kept reading. (Because I am committed to this challenge!!)

Subscribe now

The phrase is everywhere. “f**k it” comes up again and again, to the point where it stops being irritating and starts becoming interesting. (This surprised me!)

Because what he’s actually doing isn’t careless. It’s deliberate.

John Parkin is the son of an Anglican preacher, and he spent years studying Eastern philosophy. He concluded that saying “f**k it” can be just as powerful as those practices for letting go of fear and stress.

Is he right?

The Book in 60 Seconds and some personal rambling

About halfway through, I realised this book isn’t really about swearing. It’s about permission.

And it pushes us to answer questions most of us avoid.

For example:-

How do you know whether you love something or not?

This is John’s checklist

• Do you look forward to doing this thing?

• Does it make you feel energetic, or tired, when you do it?

• Would you do it for nothing?

• If you didn’t have to do, would you still do it?

• Put aside any embarrassment you might feel if you don’t love it any more…do you still love it?

On the surface, it’s easy to skim. But if you actually sit with it, it’s uncomfortable. Because for me, the first barrier was knowing what I actually loved.

To set the context. I am a 51-year-old with two children, a spaniel, a mortgage, and a teacher hubby, living in Devon in England. I run a behavioural insights micro agency to reduce health inequalities, I train professionals in how to apply behavioural science in the workplace, and I run BrainFuel, the Book Club.

But do I love my work?

The concept of working for love is not one I am familiar with.

Working to pay the mortgage, to give my children the life I want for them…that’s my default.

Or so I thought.

But that’s not quite true.

I left a secure public sector role, with holiday and pension, to set up my business.

I must have really wanted to - surely?

That’s a lot of risk given the financial responsibilities I had.

Subscribe now

What do you love? Really…?

When I really sat with it, I discovered what I love is:

• Social justice

• Delivering training

Hidden Voices Heard exists because I believe people’s voices should power public systems - not just the most privileged.

But the second love - ‘training’ mattered more than I expected.

I have loved running our training Behaviour Change Marketing Bootcamp.

Taking people from overwhelmed to:

“Oh -I get it.”

That moment where something clicks.

So I began to wonder did I love the BrainFuel Book Club?

Does it have a moment where something clicks.

Did it pass the ‘F**k it’ test?

Do I love it as much as the training? As much as delivering the Bootcamp?

Subscribe now

Then I realised

I would not have read this book if it had not been recommended to the Book Club.

In the poll I would have answered that the words ‘f**k it’ are simply swearing.

And what a mistake that would have been.

And ‘f**k it’ I do love books. and ‘f**k it’ I really love behaviour change books. ❤️

Do I always wanna sit on Substack to operate the BrainFuel Book Club?

Well no.

But I do really believe understanding how our brains work means better work lives? Less stress? Promotions, achieving dreams, leading teams. Believing in your voice? Yes. Simply Hell Yes.

And learning from authors who have already joined these dots and are putting out so much hope and ideas into the world is simply a joy.

So yes the BrainFuel Book Club passes the ‘f**k it’ test!

But this book didn’t stop there.

It really made me stop and think about what the BrainFuel Book Club was actually supposed to be.

Subscribe now

Book Club Was Never Meant To Be Worky 📚😱

It was never meant to be corporate or overly polished, or a weekly exercise in writing something that sounds right.

It was meant to be about behaviour change in the real world, about messy decisions and the things that actually shape what people do at work.

Because most of the decisions that affect all of us are being made in environments like that.

At the same time as reading ‘F**k it do what you love’ I read an article published by with about writing after public service - about how we are trained to polish, to be perfect - essentially to perform.

This was a gut punch for me.

I have been a professional communicator (corporate word for writer) for 30 years. I graduated in Communications & Sociology from Goldsmiths, London, then went into conference production (writing), NHS Comms Lead (writing and strategy), Public Health (writing, strategy, audience questions, writing research, plans, reports). I supported the COVID response. Can you imagine the amount of scrutiny you have every second?

So yes, I am good at polishing.

But that is NOT what BrainFuel is supposed to be.

So F**K it!

The next 10 books will take a very different approach.

Unpolished!

This challenge just got messy!

And it’s worth trying for yourself.

Not in a reckless way, but in a way that cuts through overthinking and over-polishing.

Just say “f**k it” to one thing this week and see what happens.

Final thought -11th way of 50

Read more

The Sunday Scaries aren’t random

You can do everything right…

Eat well, work hard, show up.

And still feel that drop on a Sunday.

That quiet sense that something isn’t quite right. Not dramatic. Not burnout. Just… off. Like you’re walking back into something that doesn’t fully fit.

What these two books are actually about

This week’s books are Start With Why and Find Your Why by Simon Sinek.

They’re not about Sunday Scaries.

Start With Why is about leadership and organisational development. How you get people to believe in what you’re doing, not just go along with it. How to build trust, shape culture and create buy-in. Find Your Why is the practical guide. (I think you can get away with just reading Find Your Why).

Find Your Why is the practical version. (If you only read one, read that.)

But reading them, something stood out.

Not because of the leadership theory, but because of how it made me think differently about the experience of work itself

When trust is missing, everything feels harder

Suddenly this wasn’t theory.

It was personal.

“A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.”
— Simon Sinek

Because if I’m honest, trust is not something I experienced for most of my career.

Did I trust my manager had my best interests at heart?

Local Government - no.
NHS - rarely.
Public Health England - yes. (Thank you, Karen.)

When you’re in systems with:

• constant reorganisation

• open blame

• quiet competition

• applying for your own job

Trust disappears.

And here’s the bit that’s hard to admit:

I didn’t even expect it to be there.

Why you can’t explain this feeling

That Sunday feeling isn’t random. It’s what happens when something underneath doesn’t line up. Sinek’s work helps explain why. It comes down to something simple:

We feel first. Then we try to explain it.

As he puts it:

“The part of the brain that controls our feelings has no capacity for language… and the part that controls language doesn’t control behaviour.”

So when something doesn’t feel right, we struggle to explain it.

We tell ourselves:

• “I’m just tired”

• “It’s just work”

• “It’s just a phase”

But underneath that, something doesn’t fit.

Why ‘why’ drives how things feel

Sinek’s Golden Circle explains it simply:

• What = what you do

• How = how you do it

• Why = why it matters

Most organisations communicate from the outside in:

What → How → Why

But that’s not how we experience things.

If the “why” isn’t clear - or doesn’t feel like yours - everything else starts to feel heavier than it should.

That’s the gap

I knew my why.

But I didn’t know anyone else’s. And no one knew mine.

So we worked. We delivered. We hit targets.

But it never felt like a team.

Because without a shared “why”…

There is no real trust. Only coordination.

Why this shows up on a Sunday

When you don’t feel connected to the “why”:

• Work feels heavier than it should

• Decisions feel harder than they should

• Mondays feel like something to endure

Not because you’re not capable.

But because something underneath doesn’t line up.

9th Way to Reclaim Your Brain

Find your why - and say it out loud first.

Most people lead with:

• what they do

• how they do it

Try flipping it.

Start with why it matters.

Even if it feels uncomfortable. Even if it feels a bit exposing.

Because that’s what people actually connect to.

10th Way to Reclaim Your Brain

Read more

#8 Way to Reclaim Your Brain

It’s easy to think of your brain as something you use for work.

Less obvious that your workday is shaping it.

This week’s book in the 50 Ways…

Read more

This week: Beyond Belief by Nir Eyal and Julie Li.

I nearly stopped reading because of the rats.

Subscribe now

I hate rats. Even writing that makes me uncomfortable.

But I kept going

Not b…

Read more

Can you help us reach 50 books? We are running the slightly bonkers Reclaim Your Brain challenge and w…

Read more

“If we have no peace, it’s because we have forgotten that we belong to one another” Mother Teresa

#6 Way to Reclaim Your Brain - this week, we are looking at Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion …

Read more

#5Ways to Reclaim Your Brain
Why Unfinished Work Stays in Your Head

Read more

What they were really reacting to had nothing to do with monkeys…

Punch didn’t go viral because he was cute.

He went viral because he…

Read more

Way #4 of 50 Ways to Reclaim Your Brain

February Focus is Attention, Focus and Cognitive Overload

This week, we are exploring ‘Stolen Focus’ by Johann Hari

Read more

Imagine someone clearing all your debt.

Not a payment holiday.
Not a reduction.
Gone.

What would change?

You would expect better decisions.
More headspace.
A …

Read more

Towards the end of one job, opening my inbox would actually make me feel physically sick. Year after year of this ma…

Read more

Thinking, Fast and Slow

• A behavioural science book that explains how people actually think and decide

• Built on decades of experiments by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky

• Challenges the as…

Read more

This book is 📖

• A time-management book that argues most productivity advice is broken

• Built around one confronting fact: human life is finite

• Challenges the idea that better systems will ever make us fe…

Read more

And I did not expect the first one to be about pausing and endings.

I also …

Read more