From Breakdown to Brainwaves: My Journey to Creating NIMM
- Georgina Brown (hershe)
- Jul 9
- 3 min read
There’s something hilariously ironic about spending decades teaching people how to think differently, only to realise — one day — that you’ve been missing the one thing that could have made it all click: the actual brain.
Let me explain...
I’ve spent over 28 years leading equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in some of the most complex, stubborn, and emotionally-charged systems you can imagine — from the British Army to the NHS, Home Office to global corporates, universities to grassroots activism. I’ve led national campaigns, audited policies, trained execs, and helped more people than I can count try to “get” inclusion.
And I’ll be honest. Some days, it worked. And some days... it felt like shouting into a well.
Why Unconscious Bias Training Wasn’t Enough
For a long time, organisations treated Unconscious Bias training like the holy grail. A one-hour webinar, a few shiny slides, and a vague hope that people would emerge "woke" on the other side.
Spoiler: They didn’t.
Because here’s the deal — awareness is not behaviour change. You can know your brain is biased and still make the same exclusionary decisions. Why? Because bias lives in the body's threat response, in the habit loops, in the deep neurological shortcuts designed to protect us (even when they harm others).
We weren’t teaching people how to interrupt that. We were just pointing at the problem and hoping they’d feel bad enough to do the work and change, before the habit loop kicked back in again. Guess what, that habit loop kicked back in before they even left the training room!
Enter: My Midlife Neuroscience Awakening
A few years ago, something shifted. Maybe it was menopause. Maybe it was the grief of loosing my parents. Maybe it was that slow, creeping burnout that too many change-makers carry silently.
Either way, I got curious. And like all dangerous things, it started with a Google search and ended with a neuroscience textbook in the bath and signing up for a PhD!
What I discovered was this: our brains are lazy, brilliant, anxious prediction machines. They’re wired to protect us, to pattern-match, to avoid threat and save energy — and that includes socially. Inclusion work, it turns out, isn’t just about justice. It’s about neuroscience and the biology of our brains.
And that’s when the idea hit me like a synaptic slap: We’ve been trying to change behaviour with policies, training and posters, when what we really need to do is work with the biology of our brains.
NIMM Was Born in the Quiet Between Thoughts
The Neuro-Inclusive Maturity Model — NIMM for short — was born out of this epiphany. I wanted something that didn’t just sound clever, but actually helped people and organisations:
Acknowledge why tradtiional EDI efforts were inconsistent in their impact
Understand how their brains are reacting to difference and how we can control that
Recognise that learning does not happen in front of PowerPoint - it happens in micro-moments throughout the day
Interrupt bias at the source (hello, Delta Level)
Rewire habits in ways that actually stick (welcome, Alpha)
Lead with influence, not fear (and now, Gamma enters the chat)
NIMM is scaffolded, not shallow. Strategic, not smug. It invites leaders, teams, and change-makers to move beyond performative allyship and into measurable, embodied, cultural evolution.
The Journey to Building It Was Not Linear (Because: Life)
There were sticky notes on every surface. There were 3am mind maps. There was me, sobbing over yet another academic paper on habit loops and wondering if I could turn this obsession into something real.
And then... I did.
I trialled NIMM with clients. I coached using it. I taught it. I built a training programme, a coaching qualification, a whole portal (because my ADHD doesn’t do things by half)!
This Isn’t Just a Framework — It’s a Call to Action
NIMM is my love letter to every EDI lead tired of audits and rewriting policies, every HR pro drowning in webinars, every coach who knows change takes more than a conversation — because training doesn’t change behaviour. Brains do.
It’s for organisations ready to go beyond compliance and into culture.
This isn’t Unconscious Bias 2.0. This is not about guilt. Or shame. Or jargon-laced strategy decks.
This is a neuroscience-informed invitation to stop outsourcing inclusion to a PowerPoint — and start embedding it in the way we think, relate, decide, and lead.
And it’s for anyone who’s ever whispered to themselves, “There must be a better way to do this.”
There is, and it starts with the brain. And it ends with belonging.
Want to experience NIMM for yourself? Just drop me a message. I love a good brain chat.
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