What Neuroscience Can Teach Us about Leadership, Belonging, and Well-Being

We often think of social connection as something that is a nice-to-have—good for morale, culture, and perhaps engagement. Yet neuroscience suggests it is much more fundamental than that.

Ben Rein, PhD, Stanford neuroscientist and author of Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection, explores how deeply our brains and bodies are wired for human interaction—and what can happen when we don’t get enough of it.

His work raises important questions for leaders: In a world that is becoming increasingly efficient, digital, and automated, are we unintentionally designing human connection out of everyday life—and work? And what is the impact on our communities, cultures, and well-being as we experience less human interaction? 

A Small Moment That Made Me Think

Recently, I went to my neighborhood bank to exchange dollars for euros. Instead of completing the transaction with a service representative, I was encouraged to go home and make the exchange online, where I would receive a discount.

It was certainly more efficient. But I found myself unexpectedly disappointed. As someone who works from home, I had been looking forward to the interaction—the brief conversation with another person, the exchange of pleasantries, the simple experience of being out in the world.

That moment underscored a simple but often overlooked truth: small interactions matter. A conversation with a colleague. A few minutes of conversation before a meeting. Saying hello to someone in the hallway. Talking with a barista. Asking someone how their weekend really was.

Researchers sometimes refer to these as micro-interactions. Individually, they may seem insignificant. Collectively, they contribute to our sense of connection to the world around us. Increasingly, however, technology is removing these small but meaningful human exchanges. For leaders, this is worth paying attention to.

The Big Idea: We Are Wired for Connection

One of Rein’s central messages is remarkably simple: Chatting with people is one of the most powerful things we can do for our brains—and it costs nothing. Positive social interactions engage powerful biological systems involving oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and the brain’s reward pathways.

On the flip side, a lack of regular social interaction, particularly over prolonged periods, can activate the body’s stress response, contributing to increased cortisol and inflammation and potentially leaving us less resilient when other physical or psychological stressors arise.

What This Means for Leaders

The implications extend beyond individual well-being. Reduced social connection can have real business consequences—affecting trust, collaboration, engagement, innovation, and retention. When employees feel less connected to one another and to the organization, the cost can show up in how effectively they work together, solve problems, share ideas, and choose to stay.

Given these potential consequences, leaders have a responsibility to shape the environments in which employees spend a significant portion of their lives. In our efforts to make work faster, more flexible, and more efficient, we should also consider what may inadvertently disappear—and whether the efficiencies we gain in the short term could come at a longer-term cost to performance.

1. Don’t Optimize Every Human Interaction Away

Technology can make processes and workflows more efficient—and that’s often a good thing. But the potential cost of reducing or eliminating human interaction needs to be considered.

A five-minute conversation before a meeting, walking over to someone’s desk instead of sending another message, or calling someone rather than adding another email to their inbox may appear inefficient.

From a human perspective, however, those moments can be valuable.

Leadership question: Where might we be optimizing for efficiency at the expense of human connection?

2. Micro-Interactions Count

Connection doesn’t always require an offsite retreat, happy hour, team dinner, or elaborate event (all those count too!).

A genuine greeting matters. So does remembering something someone told you, checking in after a difficult meeting, or taking two minutes to connect rather than rushing past someone.

These small interactions can accumulate into something much larger: the feeling that I am seen here—and that I matter.

3. Connection Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All

People vary significantly in how much social interaction they find energizing. Some people thrive with frequent contact. Others need considerably more solitude.

That distinction matters, particularly when leading across different work environments—in person or hybrid—or when working with introverts and extraverts.

The goal is to create opportunities for connection without prescribing exactly what connection should look like or how much someone needs.

4. Upgrade an Interaction When You Can: Text → Phone → Video → In Person

Not every message needs to become a meeting. But some interactions benefit from richer forms of communication.

As communication becomes richer, we gain access to tone of voice, facial expressions, body language, and countless subtle cues our brains use to understand one another.

When something is sensitive, emotional, ambiguous, or relationally important, consider moving it up a level.

I’m always pleasantly surprised by how warmly people respond when I pick up the phone to call rather than send an email or text.

5. We Underestimate How Much Others Crave Connection, Too

Research suggests we’re often poor predictors of how social interactions will go.

We anticipate awkwardness. We worry about rejection. We assume someone doesn’t want to be interrupted.

Yet interactions with strangers and acquaintances often turn out to be more positive than we expect.

Leaders can help normalize connection simply by having the confidence to initiate it and model that behavior for others. Ask the extra question. Offer the compliment. Invite someone into the conversation. Stay for another minute.

The Leadership Takeaway

We spend a lot of time thinking about how leaders drive performance, execute strategy, manage change, and increase productivity.

Yet we also need to spend a little more time thinking about something much more basic:

• Do our teams have opportunities to laugh together?
• Do people feel noticed?
• Do we make time for conversations that don’t have an agenda?
• Do people feel comfortable reaching out?
• And as AI, automation, remote work, self-service technology, and digital communication continue to reshape our lives, are we preserving enough opportunities for people simply to connect?

The future of work will undoubtedly become more technologically sophisticated, making one very old-fashioned leadership capability even more valuable: being present and connecting with another human being.

Additional Resources

• Click here to listen to the podcast The Neuroscience of Likeability, Social Connection, and Brain Health with Ben Rein on 10% with Dan Harris (August 10, 2026, one hour).
• Click here to learn more about Ben Rein, Ph.D., neuroscientist, science communicator, and author of Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection.