How to reinvent your future

Insights from the keynote by Sangbreeta Moitra at the 2022 Vlerick HR day

Dirk Buyens

By Dirk Buyens

Professor of Human Resources Management

16 August 2022
Video still - Vlerick HR Day 2022

How can you reinvent your story, career, brand and impact? In her keynote at the 2022 Vlerick HR Day, TEDx award-winning speaker, advisor and trainer Sangbreeta Moitra zoomed into why we do what we do and how we can understand the minds of people during change. With a background in neurobiology, Sangbreeta is an expert on human behaviour, transforming powerful communication, building strong leadership presence and creating meaningful work relationships.

Video still - Vlerick HR Day 2022

How can you reinvent your story, career, brand and impact?

In her keynote at the 2022 Vlerick HR Day, Sangbreeta Moitra zoomed into why we do what we do and how we can understand the minds of people during change.

Packaging is everything – why Gouda cheese is an offer you can’t refuse

Over 60% of all cheese exported throughout the world is Gouda cheese. How did this tiny town in the Netherlands make its imprint on the global map with a product like cheese? To understand why this particular cheese became so successful, we need to go back to the 1600s. When embarking on a long overseas journey you need a product that can withstand arduous travel and that can be stored and preserved for a long time, even after arrival. From a customer’s point of view, the Gouda cheese wheel meets all of these requirements. This product was designed and packaged in such a way that everyone from transporter to consumer just loved it. It is not just a nice cheese, but it is the way in which this tasty cheese was being packaged and presented to its target customer that made it irresistible. Or to quote Marlon Brando in The Godfather: "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse".

The story of Gouda cheese offers an insight that can be applied to today’s business world as well. How are you packaging, presenting, and sharing your message? It’s not enough for a project, idea, product or presentation to be great. It needs to be presented and packaged in such a way that it’s just irresistible to your audience. Think of the start-up world and founders presenting their pitch on demo day. When investors decide not to go for it, the reason is often that it just has not been packaged in the right way. The packaging is the key to making your audience fall in love with your idea.

The 10-no challenge

The idea of this challenge is to make a list of 10 things that you really want to happen. Things that are so crazy or seem so far out of your life that you’re confident that you will get a no if you would ask for them. And then, just go for them after all. Two things are going to happen. First of all, you are reprogramming your brain which is hardwired to avoid pain. Each time you are asking for something on your list, you are actively pursuing something that is confronting the pain of rejection and failure. Secondly, when you gamify this, every no you receive is a signal for you to pursue the next no. This challenge hacks your brain by replacing a pain pathway with a pleasure dopamine pathway.

Along the way of this challenge, you will be getting quite a few noes. But somewhere in between those noes, you will start getting a few yeses too. And that is the most powerful impact of this 10-no challenge. These are the yeses that you never thought or dreamed of. The yeses that you never imagined to be part of your life or career. And the yeses that can transform your life and career completely, whatever it is that you pursue.