In 1872, Japan changed its calendar and its clocks with just twenty three days’ notice. Almost fifty years later, Tokyo was still ringing bells to remind people what the new time meant.

This is a story about mandate, resistance, old and new systems living side by side, and the long distance between introducing a change and making it normal. And there may be something in it for how we are approaching artificial intelligence today. When Japan Changed Time When Japan Changed Time.

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Ali Juma
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Welcome to The Inner Game of Change. where we explore the thinking that shapes how change really happens.

My guest today is Dr David Rock, cofounder and chief executive of the NeuroLeadership Institute, originator of the SCARF model and author of our Brain at Work.

This is Part Two of my conversation with Dr David Rock.

In Part One, we explored what continuous change does to the brain and why artificial intelligence can activate our sense of threat when many organisations are already nearing the limits of their capacity for change.

Part Two is anchored by one question:

Who is doing the thinking?

As artificial intelligence becomes part of how we write, decide and relate to one another, which capabilities are we prepared to lose, and which must we protect?

David challenges the advice that everyone should use artificial intelligence as much as possible. We discuss how it can increase confidence while weakening judgement, why feedback from a machine can feel easier to receive, and what happens when leaders use agreeable systems to navigate difficult human relationships.

The distinction is simple: artificial intelligence should help us think more deeply, not think less.

Here is Part Two of my conversation with Dr David Rock.

About David
I coined the term 'Neuroleadership', and am the co-founder and CEO of the Neuroleadership Institute (NLI). NLI makes organizations better for humans through science. It has partnered with 2/3 of the Fortune 100, helped over 20 million people perform better by understanding the brain, and started whole movements in the workplace. Our work was central to Microsoft's culture transformation.

I am the author of 4 books including Quiet Leadership, the business best seller Your Brain at Work and published dozens of papers on the neuroscience of leadership.

I have a new book coming out November 2026, called Good with Humans.
Pre order: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Humans-Neuroscience-Makes-Ticks/dp/0063463962/

I own a small retreat center in upstate NY. Ideal for small corporate retreats, with 11 separate rooms, especially great for people with an interest in wellness and nature. Complete with a hyperbaric chamber, sauna, 2 x jacuzzi's and private walking trails. See https://www.roundhousefarms.org/

In addition, I support new authors through the Round House Literary Agency, see https://rhliterary.com/ where I leverage my understanding of the human brain to help architect ideas to have impact, and authors to do their best work.

I am also an impact investor, mentor and coach to several neuro-tech, health-tech and wellness businesses, through my Round House Incubator. As a registered broker dealer agent, I also raise capital for early stage projects in that space.

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Ali Juma
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In 1569, Gerard Mercator made a map for sailors. The sailors largely ignored it for almost two hundred years. Then it quietly became the picture of the world that generations of us grew up with, without anyone ever deciding it should.

In September 2026, 164 countries at the United Nations voted to challenge it.

In this episode of Stories of Change, I explore why the accurate map is the one that feels wrong, and what Mercator's slow adoption can teach anyone trying to make AI work in their organisation.

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Ali Juma
@The Inner Game of Change podcast

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