Reading the January 2026 report The Human Advantage: Stronger Brains in the Age of AI developed by the McKinsey Health Institute in collaboration with the World Economic Forum was “déjà vu all over again” for me.

All the report’s buzzwords (such as “brain capital” in the “brain economy”) brought back memories of working with clients that had hired McKinsey for strategy support. Once McKinsey had finished the assignment, my clients hired me to help them clearly explain to employees their new strategy, including what it meant, why it was necessary and what was happening next.

How did I find myself in this role? I started my career as a communication and change management consultant with several large consulting firms and then later at my own firm. My journalism education, along with my MBA, prepared me to communicate clearly in organizational settings and serve as a McKinsey translator. Then about 14 years ago, after additional targeted education and training, I moved into brain-based leadership coaching. And in 2023, I became a Master Neuroplastician. (I still do some organizational communications and culture consulting.)

As for this new 32-page McKinsey report, it shines a helpful spotlight on our brain, especially considering how quickly AI is reshaping society and culture as well as affecting how we humans work.

Yet the jargon-packed report obscures the key story line for us humans. As AI changes the nature of work, we members of the global workforce will increasingly need to be neurologically healthy. This includes being able to think clearly, adapt, and “bounce back” mentally and emotionally from stress, adversity, and trauma.

And we humans need to know how to keep our brains fit. Not surprisingly based on my experiences with McKinsey, the report focuses more on generalities here, rather than clear, practical actions. (One of my additional “value adds” for clients was supporting implementation actions too.)

McKinsey’s strength is its strategic thinking on the topics it chooses – with one exception here. The phrase “stronger brains” in this report’s title  is a clumsy phrase with no connection to neuroscience and brain health. McKinsey explains that “stronger” refers to enhancing brain health and skills. However, the word “stronger” carries a lot of baggage related to human brains and bodies.

“Strong” often implies physical vigor and character. Think “power,” “strength,” “durability,” “intensity,” “moral fortitude,” “influence,” “authority,” “quantity,” and “force.” Historically men are stronger. Especially as we humans use AI more to augment our thinking and our work, we don’t want to get into a trap of associating stronger brains with men and AI. This is especially charged for those of us who call our AI tools “he” rather than “it.”  (Guilty as charged!)

Instead of a stronger brain, each of us needs a well-functioning brain PLUS a work environment and overall brain-supportive ecosystem redesigned to support how our brain functions. Here’s why:  

The human brain is a remarkable organ that is comfortable with abstract reasoning, language, complex social systems as well as continual learning and adapting through neuroplasticity. The brain also is an energy hog, consuming about 20% of our energy even though it’s just about 2% of our body weight. And our brain also has working limitations we can’t overcome. We need to work around them to maintain our health and performance. Afterall, the human brain is an organ, not a machine.

The brain’s constraints include a finite amount of mental resources at any one time to process information. The brain also has limited resources to use to perform tasks. And whenever we’re fatigued or stressed or both, our brain will operate at suboptimal levels.

As I advised in my February 24, 2026 Forbes Coaches Council article, How well-being is evolving from an employee benefit to a performance boost, we can address these limitations by redesigning work to play to the brain’s strengths using this three-part framework.   

1. Prevention is all about structuring work to respect cognitive limits. This primarily involves apply the 90-minute rule, which is focusing for 90 minutes and then taking a break. These 90-minute blocks allow you to concentrate deeply and work carefully on tasks before diminishing returns set in.

2. Recovery is building restoration periods into work. Short break periods between focused work blocks actually increase productivity because the breaks help you refresh and restore your cognitive capability and capacity. For the recovery to be effective, you need to switch brain networks and do something different. For example, if you’ve been concentrating in a meeting or on a device, you need to physically move, engage someone in a conversation, or do something that doesn’t tax your deep thinking.

3. Sustainability involves creating ways to maintain your cognitive capacity over time rather than continually depleting it. For instance, this can include introducing technology, especially AI tools, that offload tasks that you and others find cognitively taxing. The objective is to free up space for you to think and perform more cognitively demanding work. (For more about collaborating with AI, check out my July 2025 Forbes Coaches Council article, How to collaborate with GenAI without harming your brain and well-being.

Sustainability also means educating individuals about how the brain works, including understanding the specific conditions that support their own brain performance.. Two items are especially useful: The healthy mind platter and basic education about the brain. The former features seven activities that support optimal daily mental health and better well-being. Also, research shows that learning how your brain works helps individuals manage stress and increase resilience.

Besides practicing prevention, recovery and sustainability, you can improve your brain health and skills in other ways. For example, you can do targeted training and education and make lifestyle choices. You also can take advantage of the brain’s ability to reorganize itself, referred to as neuroplasticity. (Note that just as nature is always changing, so is your brain. It’s up to you to decide how much to direct that change or just let it happen.)

Even with my concerns, I’m thankful to McKinsey for bringing needed attention to cognitive health and brain function. This report legitimizes what neuroscience-informed practitioners like me and others have been advocating for years. We want more action at the organizational level, and hopefully McKinsey and its report will help initiate these changes.

Traditionally when McKinsey talks about a topic, executives listen and act. Let’s hope this happens now.