Monthly Archives: November 2018

Neurocentricity and Recruitment



Neurocentricity and recruitment align the corporate mission to meaningful work.

“We’re looking at a world of more empathetic buying, empathetic recruitment, empathetic reading, empathetic leadership. It is absolutely the way of the future. It is allowing anyone who is connected to a common cause to feel respected and safe in a way that will change the world.”

Adrienne Shoch, Corporate Performance Expert and Founder of 5 to 1 Consulting

An unusual alignment of forces is taking hold in today’s workplace, one that merges the needs of hiring managers and the express wants and desires of professionals. The alignment is aided by what our guest, performance expert Adrienne Shoch, calls neurocentrity, the dynamics that encapsulate how we relate to the world and what allows us to thrive. The merger has ushered in a new era of empathetic recruitment.

In this episode, Shoch:

  • Defines the concept of neurocentricity [starts at 1:25]
  • Describes empathetic recruitment [starts at 6:55]
  • Discusses the importance of workplace flexibility [starts at 22:24]
  • Relays the importance of BREATHING [starts at 30:33]
  • Describes a future built around workplace empathy [starts at 33:31]


About our guest
: Adrienne Shoch is the founder of 5 to 1 Consulting. By employing holistic, performance-focused practices, Shoch helps clients to understand how the brain, body, and language influence workforce behavior and decision-making. What is more, she empowers company leaders to effectively apply “generated from within us” skills and behaviors to build trust, inspire, and lead team members to overcome highly stressful situations and complex business contexts.

Adrienne Shoch received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Towson University. She studied French at University of Paris – Sorbonne and Neuroleadership at the Neuroleadership Institute. She lives and works in Washington, D.C.

EPISODE DATE: November 30, 2018

Social media:

5 to 1 Consulting Website

Adrienne Shoch LinkedIn Page


Leading Autonomous Vehicle Adoption



A meaningful career: leading autonomous vehicle adoption In Urban America.

The community has to trust developers of the cars, users of the cars, and they also have to see that these cars are going to take them to the places that they have had difficulty getting to.”

Richard Ezike, Ph.D., Noted Subject-Matter Expert on Transportation Equity

Dr. Richard Ezike’s earliest childhood dreams of doing meaningful work were about building beautiful buildings and cityscapes. But after earning advanced degrees in science and advocating for the environment and our urban centers, his career pivoted in a completely unexpected direction.

Now, Dr. Ezike leads the charge for American Transportation Equity, to make the full range of mobility options—and, in particular, Autonomous Vehicles or AVs—as readily available for inner-city residents as they are for people in our more affluent suburbs. He believes that AVs will provide safer and more accessible mobility, and may greatly improve the lives of inner-city residents who otherwise are deprived of quality transportation.

During these key interview segments, Dr. Ezike:

  • Defines the term “Autonomous Vehicle” [starts at 1:40]
  • Offers his insight as to whether people of color will accept AVs as a transportation equity option [starts at 6:51]
  • Addresses the national security and “hackability” concerns related to the development of AVs [starts at 10:55]
  • Offers his thoughts on how, 30 years from now, AVs may revitalize historically poor and underserved communities such as Southeast Washington, D.C. [starts at 23:31]

About our guest: As a child growing up in Kingsport, Tennessee, Richard Ezike was “fascinated by the design of buildings.” On family trips, young Richard brought along his Kodak camera to capture images of the buildings that he admired most. He recalls: “I really wanted to be someone that was able to design the next major city in the country.”

In high school, Richard discovered a passion for scientific study; he thrived in AP Chemistry, and soon after, earned bachelors and doctoral degrees in Chemical Engineering. But it was years later, at a prized fellowship with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, that he understood the importance of an equitable transportation system to a functioning system. That was when his childhood dream of creating great places to live merged with his passion for promoting science and economic, environment, and social parity.

Today, he is nationally recognized thought-leader in Transportation Equity.

Richard Ezike received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Currently, he is a New Mobility and Equity Fellow for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, D.C. Dr. Ezike is a frequent events speaker and podcast guest in the areas of transportation equity, resource sustainability, social responsibility, STEAM learning, careerism, and the environment.

EPISODE DATE: November 23, 2018

Published work:

Transportation, Sustainability, and Equity and the Effect on the African-American Community, Published October 20, 2016

Transportation, Environment and Health: Inexorably Linked for Black People, Washington Informer, Published September 7, 2016

Can Transportation be a Bridge to Wealth for African Americans?, Published May 10, 2016

Social media:

Richard Ezike, Ph.D. Website

LinkedIn Page


Overcoming Brain Drain



Dr. Charles Glassman explains overcoming Brain Drain and other obstacles to leading a meaningful life.

“It’s so convincing, the physiological feeling that we have when we’re anxious: our stomachs feel tight, we might have to go to the bathroom, we might feel jittery, we might have brain fog, we might not feel on top of our game or strong. And those are very convincing feelings to tell us we have to fight or flee.”

Charles Glassman, MD

In this episode of The Tightrope with Dan Smolen podcast, guest Charles Glassman, MD returns to discuss Brain Drain, his study of how discordant emotions negatively impact our physical health. While board certified to practice internal medicine, Dr. Glassman treats his patients holistically by addressing their physical, emotional, and spiritual health. And while listening carefully to his patients, he has determined that we often try unsuccessfully to treat our physical illness through too much self-medication and prescription drugs, overreliance on specialists, and—most of all—not mitigating our mental and emotional pain. Dr. Glassman believes that, by controlling Brain Drain, we may all lead healthier and more productive lives.

Overcoming Brain Drain and other obstacles is key to leading a meaningful life.

In these key interview segments, Dr. Glassman:

  • Describes the meaning behind “Brain Drain” and the ill effects that it has on mind, body, and spirit [starts at 1:33]
  • Details how self-medication and over-medication can make our physical ills worse [starts at 9:00]
  • Offers his professional opinion on cannabis as an effective alternative to opioid pain treatments [starts at 16:34]
  • Delves into our emotional responses and the destructive power of holding grudges [starts at 18:28]
  • Lays out steps one can take to find profound meaning and “daily magic” [starts at 23:16]
  • Offers wisdom that he has received from his patients and how he applies it in his own life [starts at 28:03]

About our guest: From the time of his youth, Charles Glassman discovered that close friends sought, and appreciated, his advice. As a board-certified internal medicine doctor, and now as a well-recognized author and thought-leader, he finds his greatest purpose in empowering thousands of people around the globe to seek better health outcomes and more meaningful lives.

In 2002, he stopped accepting the health insurance payments that most doctors still take in favor of a “concierge” system in which patients pay his practice an annual fee. The result? His patients now get ample time with him and find the interactions more useful and enjoyable. What is more, Dr. Glassman gets beyond treating their illnesses to help them achieve a lifetime of wellness.

Part of his value proposition to patients is the advice that he offers in his blog. A patient once described Dr. Glassman’s wisdom as that offered by a coach, thus, Dr. Glassman became Coach MD. In 2009, and based partly on his newsletter and blog writings, Dr. Glassman published his first book, Brain Drain: The Breakthrough that will Change Your Life.

In 2018, he published an e-book to help readers thrive through our discordant times: Fake News Stories by Your Brain.

Charles Glassman received a Bachelor of Science degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and his M.D. from New York Medical College. His medical practice, the New York Center for Longevity and Wellness, is based in Pamona, New York.

EPISODE DATE: November 9, 2018

Dr. Glassman’s books include:

Brain Drain: The Breakthrough that will Change Your Life (Amazon.com)

Fake News Stories by Your Brain (FREE E-Book)

Dr. Glassman’s social media:

Coach MD Website

Coach MD YouTube Channel

Coach MD Facebook Page

Coach MD Twitter Page


Going Local Creates Meaningful Work



Going local creates meaningful work.

“People aren’t trying to create the next Budweiser. They are trying to create the next IPA that they can sell in the local bar and to drive a nice little employment world that is self-contained and capable of hiring and keeping people at work in their community.”

Morley Winograd, Co-author of Healing American Democracy: Going Local

One revolutionary change happening in the United States right now is largely overlooked by our Members of Congress, top business executives and other thought-leaders. It is the rise of localism, and the transcendence of something called “constitutional localism,” that is revitalizing local communities across the country while creating new and economically sustainable sources of commerce and meaningful work.

Helping us to understand this seismic change in our governance are Doug Ross and Morley Winograd. Together with Mike Hais they are the authors of the important new book Healing American Democracy: Going Local. In it, they explain how governing authority is shifting away from Washington to our localities. As a result, citizens are becoming engaged, new locally owned and operated businesses are thriving, and more of us are finding and doing meaningful work in the places where we want to live.

In this episode, they:

  • Explain why so many Americans have lost faith in our current top-down form of American Democracy [starts at 3:45]
  • Define their concept of “constitutional localism” and describe how it would operate and provide benefit [starts at 5:58]
  • Illustrate how “turning scale upside down” to create and staff smaller numbers of new jobs—dozens versus thousands—would help local communities thrive [starts at 18:54] 
  • Identify how localism can become the linchpin for success in creating more meaningful work opportunities [starts at 22:41]

Going local creates meaningful work.

About our guests:

Doug Ross and Morley Winograd are nationally known and respected political practitioners who cross solid data and wishful thinking to paint a hopeful portrait of America based on the idea of constitutional localism.

Ross was a state senator from Michigan and a U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. Winograd was a Michigan state political party chair and White House Senior Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore. Along with their co-author Mike Hais, they’ve written six books between them.

The authors have appeared as guests on CNN, The Today Show, PBS News Hour, and Univision. They have also been featured in stories in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, USA Today, and The Christian Science Monitor.

EPISODE DATE: November 2, 2018

Social media:

Healing America: Going Local – Website

Amazon.com Book Page