Want to understand how neuroscience affects how you think about and manage money? Understanding ourselves in this way can directly impact how we lead our companies.

Everyone’s relationship with money is directly affected by the messaging and experiences one has in childhood, until we choose a new way to think. I was lucky in many ways because my first experience earning money was doing something I love, caring for adorable babies, in a safe supportive environment, with plenty of food and being paid very well.

So when it came to build my CFO practice, I decided to create a safe place for business owners to build a healthy relationship with money. Part of this process is voicing the not so positive experiences to then uncouple the experience from the emotions, which provides the brain space for new ways of thinking. When we engage the prefrontal cortex in relation to finances it becomes quite smooth and easy because we are using the logical part of our brains. Hidden emotional experiences that have not seen the light of day can send us into the reptilian part of the brain using the amygdala, which is operating on emotion. This causes reactive behavior, as opposed to thoughtful positively impactful decisions. This is one of my favorite parts of working with business owners/ CEOs because they can become powerful true stewards of their organization, as opposed to getting stuck in their own unconscious biases. I enjoy guiding people to knowing themselves so well, they can inspire their community in business and otherwise to be joyful in their relationship with money. There are so many gifts in exploring our minds.