I listened to some Mercer consultants on a webinar this morning talking about "the employee experience (EX)." To their credit, even without using the term, they acknowledged that EX metrics deliver stronger ROI when grounded in human-centric design.

As I listened and thought about what they were saying, I remembered a key principle that John Assaraf has used for years to address which part of the human brain we’re activating.

Based on his extensive neuroscience studies and work, he notes that we all have a "Frankenstein Brain:" the reactive default that watches for what could go wrong, monitors cost-leakage, flags risk, resists change. But we also have an "Einstein Brain" that imagines what could be, explores pathways, enlists agency and possibility.

Which brain is your health plan cost-mitigation ecosystem designed around?

These days, the employee experience leans heavily on well-being initiatives, navigation and advocacy support, cost-and-quality transparency tools, condition-management programs, population-health interventions, and beyond. While each is important in its own right, they all do "better" when viewed as, and designed to be - not isolated offerings - but rather an interlinked / interdependent system.

When design leans into Frankenstein-Brain triggers—mandates, penalties, “engage or pay more”—it activates fear and resistance. But when design invites the Einstein Brain—“here’s how we simplify your path, give you clarity, support your choices, and align health with what matters to you”—the odds of sustained engagement - and improved outcomes - rise dramatically.

This is where human-centric systems thinking becomes essential. As I wrote in one of my earliest blog posts, "We are humans first." That means each participant in a plan is more than a cost center or compliance statistic—they are a whole human being with context, constraints, and aspirations. When systems start with empathy and design for the human experience, they naturally elicit Einstein-Brain responses: such as curiosity, trust, and creativity.

From theory to design
So: how do we architect for the Einstein Brain in benefits and workplace health?

• Empowerment over enforcement: Replace command-and-control messaging (“you must complete this program to save money”) with invitational framing (“we’ve built resources to help you take charge of your health in ways that fit your life”).

• Meaningful choice: Navigation and advocacy programs succeed when they guide—not dictate—so people feel they own their path.

  

• Culture of coherence: When a workplace communicates, “We see you as a person first,” employees respond with higher trust and participation.

• Systemic alignment: Transparency, care management, and well-being supports work best when inter-connected, reflecting the whole person rather than fragmented silos.

• Acknowledging the fear default: Fear-based messaging triggers the Frankenstein Brain. Design must normalize small wins, psychological safety, and progress, not perfection.

Here, George Lakoff’s framing of the “strict father” versus the “nurturant parent” adds crucial perspective. Too many benefit systems embody the strict father model—rules, correction, obedience. The nurturant parent model, by contrast, teaches through encouragement, context, and trust—precisely the emotional conditions that activate the Einstein Brain.

This strikes me as "contemporarily important," given today's Business Insider story on CEOs demanding rigid alignment on AI, remote work, and culture: “Bend the knee, or go work somewhere else.” That’s the Frankenstein Brain on full display. It’s also the same dynamic that causes employees to disengage from health initiatives framed as edicts rather than invitations.

The last word
Design your health-management, cost-mitigation, and benefits strategy for the Einstein Brain—and for humans first. Build systems that empower, not punish; that nurture, not dictate—otherwise, we risk creating organizations effectively built around the idea that “the beatings will continue until morale improves.”

~ Mark Head

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