The Brain Coach Way
Bring a topic, question or curiosity
Explore through the lens of neuroscience
Leave with a concrete strategy
How do I say…
Brain friendly approaches from wowing the crowd to even the toughest talks
What next?
Chart your course, tackle projects and transitions, find your productivity zone
Get Unstuck
Quiet your mind, gain clarity, balance your mind and heart, develop a plan
A bit about ...
With over 20 years of leadership experience, paired with credentialing in the neuroscience of leadership,
The Brain Coach Way helps you use brain based strategies to address the questions and challenges of work and of life.
It was just about 10 years ago when neuroscience came into my life...and forever changed it.
The impact that even a few basic concepts delivered keeps me chasing, learning, and using more.
My work is about how others can accelerate their goals through using these tools and insights. <br
Bring more neuroscience into your real-time. Experience the difference.
Develop your own love and passion for the brain-based sciences.
Live, work, and feel the way you want.
Debbie Raybold
Post Grad Certification in Neuroscience of Leadership
Academy of Brain-Based Leadership – Certified for MBSLA
BA in Psychology
ICF – PCC
Executive Coach
EQi and EQ360
MBTI
ICF – PCC
Mind Wanderings...
2 Bikes, 4 Tires, 5 Years, 12 Cities and 17,439 Miles Later…
Reflections on Dating Cities from the Cusp of Proposing. I drove past this sign for the Future Interstate this weekend. I missed my own photo opportunity, whizzing by it at over 70 mph while concurrently responding to it with a combination of laughter and tears. You see, I’m on my way north, to what my Read more about 2 Bikes, 4 Tires, 5 Years, 12 Cities and 17,439 Miles Later…[…]
4 Hacks for Boosting Executive Presence
Every now and then, someone throws down a challenge for me to bottom-line a super complex topic. Recently, it was executive presence. Perhaps these hacks will support your quest for executive presence too. Manage the Oh Cool….Oh Crap Continuum We each have a quick gut reaction to knowing that someone will be joining us. If Read more about 4 Hacks for Boosting Executive Presence[…]
Perfectionism: the Sneaky Saboteur of Authenticity
As a reformed perfectionist, I could argue that there is a lot of good that it can deliver. It drives a desire for excellence. It goes hand in hand with conscientiousness, a known attribute for career and life success. It can fuel a learner’s mindset. Our response to perfectionism is personal. Some display perfectionism like Read more about Perfectionism: the Sneaky Saboteur of Authenticity[…]
Skills to Stay Afloat
One of the delightful consequences of pausing my travels because of the pandemic is that I can swim in the Gulf of Mexico on a regular basis. At each encounter it commands some focus and attention before proceeding. Recently the surf has been big enough to remind me of some basic strategies for staying afloat. Read more about Skills to Stay Afloat[…]
Eulogy for the 5-Second Rule
I’m sure we first met in early childhood, although the details of our first encounter didn’t stick in my memory as much as they did with other important people and things that influenced my life. I suspect we were introduced by my parents, grandparents, or maybe a babysitter. I can’t imagine I got all the Read more about Eulogy for the 5-Second Rule[…]
Wisdoming In Place
While attempting to creatively cut my own hair today (miss you, Chrys!), I had the book, Margin, pop to mind. Author Dr. Richard Swenson, defines margin as: “The amount available beyond what’s needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. It is the leeway between ourselves and our limits.” We need Read more about Wisdoming In Place[…]
Calling Your Brain Back From Tilt
Times like these make me grateful for the years I’ve spent understanding the basic operating systems of the brain and what they mean for us behaviorally, emotionally and experientially. While it doesn’t give me any more certainty or stability than anyone else, it does offer a lens through which to watch my own reactions to Read more about Calling Your Brain Back From Tilt[…]
You Had Me at …
“I’ve been waiting all day for this conversation”, John said. Skipping all the typical niceties of a meet and greet phone call, he raced forward. “I want to deconstruct the quest of leadership and build a step by step plan that we implement. How long will it take?” In true Jerry Maguire fashion, he had Read more about You Had Me at …[…]
Design Principles: Your Brain
I was recently put on the spot and asked to “bottom line this neuroscience thing”. “In fact, give it to me in guiding design principles I can use at work”, they continued. It was a dare that I just couldn’t resist. It’s tricky (and unwise) to bottom line the dynamic and rapidly changing field of Read more about Design Principles: Your Brain[…]
What To Do When Your Happy Place Isn’t
I recently arrived in one of my nomad homes in my favorite city to date. It’s our third date and we hadn’t seen each other for 9 months. I had been counting down the days for this date for the last 4 of those months. In my mind’s eye, I played the arrival for our Read more about What To Do When Your Happy Place Isn’t[…]
Mind Math
I’ve never been a math aficionado. I have an app for tips to assure my on-the-spot, table-side, excel spreadsheet-free calculation is accurate. I can’t tell you what time a train leaving a station in Pennsylvania headed for Boston is going to cross paths with a train leaving Boston for Pennsylvania if the trains leave at Read more about Mind Math[…]
Drinking From the Information Firehose
A common thread in conversations with both friends and coachees recently has been the conscious choice to temper the volume of incoming information. Even for those of us with voracious appetites for learning, staying afloat of incoming information is seemingly more difficult than in the past. This data (shared in a recent continuing ed event) gives Read more about Drinking From the Information Firehose[…]
A Deeper Look at Mindset Science
Imagine you’re invited to be part of a high visibility special project to design something new and solve a complex problem. You would be collaborating with people you don’t know so well, from different parts of the company. Some you secretly call the ‘rockstars’. What’s your gut reaction? Curiosity and excitement to try and learn Read more about A Deeper Look at Mindset Science[…]
When Words Leak
I like the word perhaps. Perhaps became one of my go to words in college when my friends and I were working to eliminate our filler words. Those words we often didn’t hear ourselves use like um, right, er, you know, ah, and my personal former addiction, actually. Two perspectives generally exist about filler words. Read more about When Words Leak[…]
Your People Will Find You
If you asked me who my people are, I’d likely rattle off a list of admirable qualities. Things like fun, trustworthy, honest, smart, accepting, and loyal would certainly be on this list. Maybe I’d add on a couple more things specific to interests of mine. It would be a list completely generated by my mind Read more about Your People Will Find You[…]
Empathy Has Its Limits
There’s so much written about having empathy, the role of empathy, and developing empathy. What I don’t often see written about are the limits of empathy. What happens when you have no frame of reference for what it might be like from the shoes or perspective of the other? What view do you default Read more about Empathy Has Its Limits[…]
Fixing The Transmission
“I want you to jack up the truck and fix the transmission”, he yelled, reaching frustration with a discussion about operations. His loud booming voice, his pointed finger, the groups startled expressions, and a metallic taste in my mouth are all attached to the vivid memory of that moment during my executive career. I was Read more about Fixing The Transmission[…]
A Walk with Your Shadow
I took a walk with my shadow today. We started by simply keeping each other company. Soon, though, it began sharing stories about me. Then, we took selfies (well, of course). Walking with my shadow was an unexpected opportunity to see myself from a new perspective. We know that first impressions matter. We know that Read more about A Walk with Your Shadow[…]
Make Friends with Your Default Mode Network
It’s pretty human of us to overthink and compare ourselves. We are designed to continually reflect on how we are doing in the moment and how we are perceived by those around us. This inner conversation occurs in the default mode network. The default mode network has a bad habit of interrupting us. If it Read more about Make Friends with Your Default Mode Network[…]
Reflections on a Year of Dating Cities
I have to admit, this really wasn’t my plan. In fact, I’m not sure I really even had a plan. I knew four things. That the question “is this it?” was whispering softly in the back of my mind, and had been for a while. That my lifelong dream of living near the ocean still Read more about Reflections on a Year of Dating Cities[…]
A To Do List to Improve Focus
Quick you have about 8 seconds or less before your attention wanders! Do This Now Then This Knock out the low hanging fruit. Devices that make noise, e-mail previews that pop on your screen, and NPR or radio in the background are things within your control. Start by eliminating them. PS…Did you see the dscout Read more about A To Do List to Improve Focus[…]
What Swims Under the Surface
We know it’s there. A quick change in the light like a cloud passing in front of the sun, a sense of something near us yet we can’t quite see where, maybe a twinge in the back of our mind, we hesitate to look straight in the eye. How does it show up for you? Read more about What Swims Under the Surface[…]
3 Reasons To Make Friends with ‘Enough’
What’s your gut reaction to the word ‘enough’? Is it positive or negative? Is it agitating or calming? Does it mean less than, settling, adequate, satisfactory, complete, full, excellent, or _____? ‘Enough’ is often very personal. Its meaning changing with the circumstance. I believe enough can offer clarity and direction. Here are 3 reasons to Read more about 3 Reasons To Make Friends with ‘Enough’[…]
Letting Go Of Your World View
There is so much to learn from watching the human brain break. I’ve been living with a family member who is believed to have Alzheimer’s disease. Her experience of the world changes moment by moment as the disease impacts the functioning of her brain. Recently she asked me if I ever watch what is happening Read more about Letting Go Of Your World View[…]
Taking Off Your Bunny Ears
I took this picture while bike riding in South Carolina. My mind instantly started making up stories about what happened; as our minds often do. I imagined a little girl stopping in her tracks, passionately ripping off her bunny ears, throwing them to the ground, and screaming “I’m sick of wearing bunny ears!” It was all very dramatic Read more about Taking Off Your Bunny Ears[…]
3 Brain Based Ways to Improve Focus
Many of my conversations recently have been around attention and focus and wishing it was easier to keep them on track. Like many cognitive abilities, attention is a system that we can train to improve. Looking to increase your focus? With practice these three brain-based strategies can strengthen your attention skills. Keep your ‘to do’ list out Read more about 3 Brain Based Ways to Improve Focus[…]
Don’t Be A Salmon!
I used to live near a fish ladder and was always fascinated with watching the fish navigate through it. The ladder allowed them to move upstream, in this case over a dam, without being exhausted by the velocity of water coming at them. If you pause and look at the bigger picture of your Read more about Don’t Be A Salmon![…]
“What You Allow, You Teach”
I love this expression. I heard it over 10 years ago, and still use it today. In our rapidly changing world, there may be value in taking a moment to consider how this quote applies to our actions. What do you allow, and therefore teach others about you that helps them succeed, and gives them insight into Read more about “What You Allow, You Teach”[…]
Think Like A Boomerang
One of the great insights that has come from studying the brain is a comprehensive understanding of just what it means to think of our behavior as a response. Science tells us that most of our responses start pre-consciously (meaning well before we are even aware of them), and influence, even determine, both our Read more about Think Like A Boomerang[…]
We Always Have a Choice
Many conversations I’ve been part of this past week have revolved around what we can and can’t control, and what we can and can’t influence. Neuroscience tells us that having a sense of control, choice and autonomy is important to us as humans. They expand our personal experience of wellbeing. Here are a few reminders Read more about We Always Have a Choice[…]