Brené with Dr. Maya Shankar on Courage in the Midst of Change

What It Covers

Dr. Maya Shankar shares her journey from Juilliard violin prodigy studying under Itzhak Perlman to cognitive scientist and White House behavioral science adviser, exploring identity reconstruction after career-ending injury and navigating unexpected life changes.

Key Questions Answered

• •Identity Attachment Strategy: Attach identity to underlying features of pursuits rather than specific activities. Shankar loved violin for creating emotional connections with strangers, not the instrument itself. This trait transferred to cognitive science research, White House policy work, and podcasting, enabling career pivots after injury.
• •Cold Outreach Method: Shankar's mother walked unannounced into Juilliard when Maya was nine, leading to acceptance. Later, Shankar cold-emailed Cass Sunstein with no policy experience, securing White House interview within days. Success requires thousands of hours preparation before bold asks, combining competency with courage.
• •Behavioral Nudge Application: White House converted National School Lunch Program from opt-in to opt-out enrollment, automatically enrolling eligible children. This single design change resulted in 12.5 million additional children receiving daily lunch, eliminating burdensome application barriers and stigma for working parents.
• •Change Psychology Framework: People resist change because it threatens self-identity, not the change itself. Successful adaptation requires identifying which specific traits of lost pursuits provided fulfillment, then mining other domains for those same characteristics. Identity malleability determines resilience more than circumstance severity.
• •Grief Processing Approach: After three pregnancy losses, Shankar created personalized healing plan rather than following standard advice. Her "Maya plan" involved public vulnerability through podcasting, transforming pain into connection. Outcome-based thinking shifts to relationship-based thinking, where unexpected gifts like surrogate friendship become sufficient endpoints.