HBR IdeaCast The Cognitive Science Behind Sudden Change
258 snips
Feb 3, 2026 
Maya Shankar, cognitive scientist and author of The Other Side of Change, explores how people rebuild identity after sudden loss. She discusses learning resilience as a skill. She explains why failure and introspection spark adaptation. She considers how personal change lessons scale to organizations and how to rethink future selves amid technological upheaval.
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Certainty Can Feel Less Stressful Than Uncertainty
- People prefer certainty even about bad outcomes because ambiguity causes more stress.
- That preference explains why unexpected change shatters our illusion of control and increases distress.
Career-Ending Injury Led To Identity Shift
- Maya Shankar lost her aspiring concert-violinist career after a tendon injury and felt she had lost herself.
- She reframed identity around why she played the violin—emotional connection—which guided her next steps.
Anchor Identity To Purpose, Not Role
- Anchor identity to your underlying why, not just your role or title.
- Use that why as a compass to find alternative meaningful paths after change.
