REBECCA HEISS

Biologist, Stress Expert, Chief Happiness Sparker & Author of "Instinct"


  • Rewire your brain to increase productivity and achieve success
  • Founder and CEO of the leadership, continuous 360-review mobile application, icueity
  • Founder and CEO of the online course in science of happiness Year of Happy
  • Founder and CEO of the online community The Leap, where women transform and thrive
  • Author of Instinct, a best-selling book for Leaders on increasing performance and enhancing lives

Evolutionary biologist and stress physiologist, Dr. Rebecca Heiss helps clients break out of the ruts of their ancestral brain pathways and engage their conscious brains to take action and override their self-sabotaging instincts.

Rebecca takes the blame and shame out of fear (of failure, rejection, and one another), and provides immediately applicable strategies to intervene with our own negative talk. She walks alongside her clients and audiences on a transformational journey from stress, divisiveness and fear, into confident, inclusive, authentic leadership.


The scariest thing to Rebecca Heiss is living a life full of fear. That’s not living. That’s relying on fear-based instinct to make choices for us. Rebecca Heiss has dedicated her life to pushing back on those instincts and leaning into the discomfort.

When was the last time you danced without hearing that little voice in your head questioning “what will other people say” and “your hips do NOT move like that!” Rebecca ask people to challenge those voices in their daily lives. To make sure we are all making the most of this thrilling life we are so privileged to live.

By making enemies of these limiting stories and shortcuts inside our own heads rather than with our colleagues, departments, or our conscious selves, we can begin to test our perceptions, and open ourselves to growth.


Imagine if you could leverage stress to your advantage to become…

  • 3X more likely to be focused on daily tasks, accomplish more in a short time and be more motivated to do your best at work
  • 2X less likely to lose the ability to concentrate, make more mistakes at work, and express yourself poorly (e.g., speak harshly, aggressively)
  • 1.5 times less likely to consider new work opportunities due to stress

This is NOT stress management.
This is stress TRANSFORMATION.

Get ready to turn fear into rocket fuel to propel you to the highest level of performance and fulfillment.

Rebecca Heiss tailors each presentation to the needs of her audience and is not limited to the topics listed below. Please ask us about any subject that interests you:

  • Diversity
  • Leadership
  • Productivity
  • Relationships and performance
  • Mindset
  • Optimal Performance
     

Recognized a problem

Our brains are not built to thrive in a world of change & ambiguity.

We spend our days fighting our biology rather than working with it, which leaves us feeling exhausted, isolated, stressed and fearful that we simply aren’t enough, we don’t belong, and we will ultimately be rejected and fail.

With research designated as transformative by the National Science Foundation, Rebecca’s superpower is in taking complex brain and behavioral research and breaking it down to simple, actionable (and entertaining) takeaways that anyone can put into practice immediately.

Audiences leave feeling inspired, empowered and back in control, with tools that allow them to work with their biology rather than against it.

Fear(less) Leadership

As leaders it’s imperative that we are self-aware. And yet research finds that nearly 90% of us…aren’t. We have to find new ways of understanding our fears, our strengths, our shortcomings, and all of the ways that our brains keep sabotaging us from being the most effective leaders we can be. That’s where Rebecca comes in by providing immediately applicable strategies to intervene with our self-limiting instincts.

Key Takeaways:

  • Break through barriers to optimal performance.
  • Build self-awareness and fear(less) culture.
  • Drive your company to be more profitable and productive.

Fear(less) Mindset

Our brains believe the stories we tell them. Without conscious effort, they are negativity seeking missiles, but we have the power to change that. Science demonstrates that more positive people enjoy better relationships, higher quality of life, improved health and longevity, and they far outperform less optimistic peers at work with increased sales, promotions, and engagement. Optimism is a lucrative investment for every organization. Rewire your brain to optimize the power of positivity!

Key Takeaways:

  • Understand how negative thought patterns decrease productivity.
  • Adopt a common external enemy to decrease internal conflict and squash ANTs (automatic negative thoughts).
  • Increase and enable positive communication, ideation, and creative collaborations.
     

Fear(less) Diversity

No blame. No finger pointing. No guilt.  Fear(less) diversity is all about understanding the instincts that drive us to carry bias.  No matter our background, we all carry some shortcuts and biases about others (and ourselves!) It doesn’t make us bad people – it makes us human! But when we understand the instincts that drive these stories, we can be more effective in intervening before they negatively affect our relationships and performance.

Key Takeaways:

  • Learn how to neutralize fears that lead to ineffective decision making.
  • Understand the root of subconscious bias and stories that lead to unproductive behaviors.
  • Engage with comfort in the language to talk about what is often a highly difficult conversation.