Hyper-Learning

How can you stay relevant when smart machines threaten to outthink, outlearn, and outperform you? In Hyper-Learning: How to Adapt to the Speed of Change, professor Edward D. Hess argues that the future belongs not to those who know the most, but to those who learn the fastest. His core idea is simple yet radical: you must become a Hyper-Learner—someone who can learn, unlearn, and relearn continually, at the speed of technological disruption.

Hess contends that the Digital Age will transform every job, organization, and skill, making adaptability and personal reinvention essential. Smart machines will handle tasks requiring logic, precision, and efficiency. Humans, therefore, must master what machines cannot: curiosity, creativity, emotional intelligence, and meaningful collaboration. To do this, you need a New Way of Being—cultivating inner peace, humility, and self-awareness—and a New Way of Working—embracing idea meritocracies, psychological safety, and human-centered workplace cultures.

The Human Imperative in the Smart Machine Age

Hess frames Hyper-Learning as both an evolutionary and ethical necessity. Just as our ancestors had to learn new ways to survive when forced from lush rainforests onto dangerous savannas, we face a similar existential shift as artificial intelligence reshapes the modern landscape. Our challenge isn’t avoiding change—it’s finding meaning and mastery within it. This vision echoes futurist Yuval Noah Harari’s call for continual reinvention (“We must learn to reinvent ourselves again and again”).

Through the lens of neuroscience and psychology, Hess explains that humans are suboptimal learners. Our brains favor efficiency over insight, confirmation over exploration, and self-protection over discovery. We cling to old beliefs and automate our decisions. Hyper-Learning requires overcoming our wiring—our ego and fear—through disciplined self-management and emotional courage.

The Dual Path: New Way of Being and Working

In Hyper-Learning, Hess divides the journey into two interrelated transformations. First, the New Way of Being focuses on cultivating a state of Inner Peace—a quiet ego, quiet mind, quiet body, and positive emotional state that enables deep learning and authentic relationships. Second, the New Way of Working redefines organizations as spaces that enable people, not control them. Hierarchy, compliance, and fear must give way to cultures of trust, collaboration, and psychological safety. Leaders must become enablers—chief human developers—who nurture curiosity and humility throughout their teams.

The path begins with personal transformation: cultivating humility (as Hess explored in his previous book Humility Is the New Smart), mastering mindfulness, and practicing gratitude. Next comes behavioral adaptation through Hyper-Learning Behaviors—curiosity, courage, empathy, reflection, and collaboration. Finally, it extends to workplaces that embody humanistic design where people are empowered to think, care, and create collectively. This combination—personal stillness plus organizational openness—makes Hyper-Learning sustainable and joyful.

Stories of Transformation

Hess illustrates this transformation through vivid, real-world stories. Susan Sweeney, president of EnPro Industries, discovers emotional intelligence through vulnerability and gratitude. Marvin Riley, EnPro’s CEO, evolves from fear-driven competitiveness to servant leadership rooted in empathy and humility. Adam Hansen, an innovation consultant, embodies curiosity through his pursuit of Ikigai—the Japanese concept of meaning in work. Each story demonstrates that Hyper-Learning isn’t an abstract ideal but a lived practice, realized through disciplined self-reflection and courageous openness.

Why Hyper-Learning Matters

If the old success formula rewarded knowing more, the new era rewards learning better. Hyper-Learning is not about acquiring information—it’s about transforming yourself and your environment into a continuous learning system. It’s about learning from others, embracing mistakes, and creating workplaces where collaboration replaces competition. The payoff is not only professional relevancy but also human flourishing through meaning, connection, and joy.

“Hyper-Learning requires a radical New Way of Being and a radical New Way of Working.” Edward D. Hess insists that surviving the Digital Age depends on mastering what makes us uniquely human: our capacity for compassion, curiosity, and constant renewal.

In the chapters ahead, you learn how to achieve inner calm amid chaos, adopt mindsets and behaviors that fuel continual growth, humanize your workplace to unlock collective intelligence, and design practices that sustain lifelong learning. Together, these elements reveal how to adapt to the speed of change without losing your soul—not by competing with machines, but by rediscovering your full humanity in the process.

Every journey toward Hyper-Learning begins inward. Edward Hess argues that before you can master skills or collaborate effectively, you must first quiet the internal chaos that clouds your judgment and triggers your reactive instincts. Inner Peace, he writes, is not a luxury—it’s your competitive advantage in a world of constant noise.

The Four Elements of Inner Peace

Hess structures Inner Peace around four interconnected disciplines: a Quiet Ego, Quiet Mind, Quiet Body, and Positive Emotional State. Each one neutralizes a different barrier to learning. A Quiet Ego helps you detach from your need to be right. A Quiet Mind enables true listening and reflection. A Quiet Body reduces stress and emotional volatility. A Positive Emotional State energizes curiosity, creativity, and empathy.

For instance, if your mind is judgmental or racing, you can’t absorb new ideas or empathize with others. Hess prescribes mindfulness and meditation, drawn from Jon Kabat-Zinn and Matthieu Ricard, as daily practices to cultivate focus and emotional self-regulation. Breathing techniques borrowed from the Navy SEALs and coherent-breathing exercises remind you that slowing your body down literally changes how you think.

The Science Behind Stillness

Modern neuroscience supports Hess’s claim: your brain builds reality through prediction. Constant inner chatter reaffirms your mental models instead of updating them. Inner Peace rewires that process. When your ego deflates and your mind quiets, you become more receptive to disconfirming evidence, novelty, and creative associations. It’s not “doing nothing”—it’s creating the physiological conditions for insight and empathy to emerge naturally.

Practical Pathways

• Meditate daily—even for a few minutes—to cultivate awareness and turn mental chatter into focused attention.
• Reflect each morning on your Daily Intentions (“Be kind. Slow down. Listen.”) and each evening on how well you lived them.
• Practice gratitude to quiet ego and reinforce humility. Small acts—thank-you notes, verbal appreciation—create emotional resonance and joy.
• Use self-talk and deep breathing to manage anger or stress, replacing reactive emotion with calm awareness.

Transforming Work Through Stillness

Hess’s students and executives report that practicing Inner Peace allowed them to enter meetings as their “Best Selves.” Instead of battling for dominance, they began listening. Instead of rushing for answers, they found insight through silence. This shift made collaboration more authentic and humane—an essential ingredient for Hyper-Learning teams.

Edward Hess on Self-Mastery

“Nobody taught me how to master myself. My chatterbox mind owned me. My feelings owned me. I just wanted to be successful and accepted… I started my journey to Inner Peace from ground zero.”

Inner Peace is a skill—not a mood. It enables the slow, deliberate cognition humans will need to outthink machines. When you quiet your body and mind, you can learn faster, listen deeper, and work smarter—not by force, but by presence.

Once you’ve cultivated Inner Peace, you must transform how you see yourself and the world. In chapter two, Hess introduces the Hyper-Learning Mindset—a constellation of beliefs and attitudes that align your head and heart for continuous learning. You can’t change your behaviors until you change the story you tell yourself about who you are.

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset

Drawing on Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s research, Hess distinguishes between fixed and growth mindsets. The fixed mindset defines intelligence as innate; the growth mindset sees it as expandable. Hyper-Learning demands a growth mindset—not only for intellectual learning but emotional and moral development. “You are never done,” Hess insists. “Every day, you learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

From Knowing to NewSmart

Hess expands his earlier concept of NewSmart. Being smart is no longer about knowing the most; it’s about the quality of your thinking, listening, and collaborating. Old Smart—anchored in grades, titles, and certainty—fuels arrogance. NewSmart invites humility, critical thinking, and curiosity. In chapter exercises, Hess asks readers to reframe their identity: instead of “I’m right,” say “I’m learning.” Instead of “I’m my ideas,” say “My ideas are hypotheses.”

Ancient and Modern Wisdom

Hess weaves a tapestry of thought from philosophers and scientists—Einstein’s curiosity, Lao Tzu’s patience, Epictetus’s discipline, the Dalai Lama’s compassion. Despite spanning millennia, their advice converges: truth emerges through humility and deep listening. Rogers’s humanistic counseling, Frankl’s logotherapy, and Maslow’s creativity all emphasize that learning is self-transcendence. These lessons become psychological anchors for the Hyper-Learning Mindset.

Defining Your Mindset

Hess invites readers to write their own list of mindset principles—10 to 15 statements of intent. Examples include: “Life is dynamic change and motion.” “My mistakes are opportunities to learn.” “I will listen to understand, not to confirm.” Like Benjamin Franklin’s daily questions (“What good shall I do today?”), the practice transforms philosophy into habit.

The Hyper-Learning Mindset unites the wisdom of science and spirit. It’s a discipline for lifelong learners who blend cognitive humility with emotional courage—to explore without fear and evolve without ego.

Changing your mindset means redefining success itself—not as winning arguments, but as growing daily toward greater wisdom, compassion, and adaptability. It’s what lets learning become a way of being rather than something you do occasionally.

Once mindset anchors your identity, behavior operationalizes it. In chapter three, Hess insists that Hyper-Learning is behavioral—intent without action is inert. Every word, tone, posture, and gesture shapes learning. The way you talk, listen, and manage your emotions determines whether others help you think better or shut down.

The Granularity of Growth

Hess’s approach comes alive in real corporate experiments. At W. R. Berkley Corporation, leaders created seven Innovation Behaviors to democratize creativity: managing self, reflective listening, courage, evidence-based decisions, effective collaboration, challenging the status quo, and resilience. Each behavior includes granular sub-behaviors—observable patterns of action. For example, collaboration requires “no multitasking,” “leader speaks last,” and “everyone writes down ideas before discussion.” Courage is “admitting when wrong,” “asking for feedback,” “challenging higher-ups respectfully.”

From Intention to Accountability

Hess suggests measuring your behaviors daily, using diagnostics and reflection journals. Change sticks only when quantified. He encourages visualization—mentally rehearsing how you’ll act in meetings (“Listen to learn, not to confirm”). Partner accountability accelerates progress, echoing Anders Ericsson’s research on deliberate practice. You change when practice becomes habit and habit becomes identity.

Overcoming Fear and Ego

Behavioral change demands facing fear—of failure, exposure, and imperfection. Hess reminds us that mistakes are “the tuition of learning.” Using reflective exercises, he has executives examine why they resist change, what benefits their old behaviors offer, and what new story could replace them. Fear shrinks when purpose expands.

Key Practice: Start with foundational behaviors that enable others—like quieting your ego or listening non-defensively. Measure yourself. Visualize the desired action. Reflect. Repeat. “Hyper-Learning is a journey, not a checklist,” Hess writes.

You don’t become a Hyper-Learner by reading about behaviors—you become one by embodying them until curiosity replaces certainty, and courage replaces comfort.

In part two, Hess expands Hyper-Learning from the individual to the ecosystem. Chapter six, “Humanizing the Workplace,” asks: how can organizations evolve from command-and-control machines to humanistic systems that inspire focus, joy, and innovation?

The Old Way vs. the New Way

Most companies still follow the logic of the Industrial Revolution—hierarchy, compliance, and fear. Employees compete internally, play politics, and avoid risk. Table 6.1 contrasts that Old Way of Working—“command and control, fear, hierarchy”—with the New Way—“humanistic leadership, teams win, psychological safety, idea meritocracy, soulful diversity.”

Hess argues that these transformations aren’t optional. Technology automates efficiency, so human advantage must come from empathy and creativity. Organizational excellence means human development. Leaders must become enablers—creators of environments that liberate thought rather than dictate behavior.

The Four Concepts of Humanizing Work

• Idea Meritocracy: The best idea wins, regardless of rank—mirroring Ray Dalio’s principles at Bridgewater Associates.
• Positivity: Fear stifles creativity; positive emotion breeds cognitive flexibility. Barbara Fredrickson’s research validates that joy expands mental capacity.
• Self-Determination: Adapted from Deci & Ryan, people need autonomy, relatedness, and competence to thrive.
• Psychological Safety: Amy Edmondson’s studies show that teams excel only when members feel safe to speak honestly.

Leadership as Enablement

Hess redefines leadership into The Four Es: Engage (as a lifelong learner), Embrace (uncertainty courageously), Excel (at managing self and otherness), and Enable (human development). This model turns managers into mentors who inspire meaningful relationships—echoing Satya Nadella’s transformation of Microsoft through empathy and purpose.

The result is a workplace where people can bring their “whole selves”—their intellect, imagination, and heart—to work. Purpose replaces profit as the ultimate motivator, though financial results improve as human flourishing rises.

“Work should be how people find meaning and express their unique contribution to humankind,” Hess writes, echoing John O’Donohue. Joy cannot exist where fear rules. Humanizing the workplace is how we reunite soul and performance.

Humanizing work is not sentimentality—it’s strategy. It unleashes innovation, trust, and collective genius by making people feel safe to be human again.

Teams are the crucible of Hyper-Learning. In chapter seven, Hess demonstrates that collaboration—not competition—drives creativity and performance. Caring, Trusting Teams turn shared vulnerability into collective intelligence.

Ingredients of High-Performance Teams

Caring, Trusting Teams combine diversity, shared purpose, common values, and rules of engagement. These aren’t slogans—they’re behavioral norms. Teams commit to candor, open-mindedness, quiet egos, and “yes, and” conversations. Every member is responsible for emotional safety.

Research supports this approach. Google found psychological safety to be the key predictor of team success. Paul Zak linked oxytocin to trust-building physiology. Jane Dutton’s “high-quality connections” show how positive emotions amplify engagement. Barbara Fredrickson’s concept of positivity resonance—“micro-moments of warmth”—describes how teams share synchronization of heart and mind.

The Tower of Care and Trust

Hess visualizes team development as a tower: connection leads to relating, vulnerability deepens emotional engagement, which builds safety, leading finally to trust. This model mirrors Carl Rogers’s therapeutic conditions—transparency, empathy, and mutual positive regard. By treating work relationships like counseling relationships, organizations foster growth.

Turning Meetings into Meaning

Hess’s practical workshops show how teams can build trust: start meetings with smiles, centering, and gratitude check-ins. He asks leaders to grade collaboration quality after each meeting—did we listen? Did everyone speak? Did we critique ideas, not people? Over time, these micro-practices rewire team culture from hierarchical to humane.

“Caring, Trusting Teams are built upon emotionally positive human connections,” Hess writes. They are not built on fear or compliance, but on the courage to care and the discipline to listen deeply.

When people truly feel safe to be themselves, collaboration becomes creativity; belonging becomes innovation. Caring, Trusting Teams are where Hyper-Learning stops being theoretical and starts being alive.

Conversation, Hess reminds us, is the medium of human learning. In chapter eight, he defines High-Quality, Making-Meaning Conversations as mutual dialogues where each person strives to be understood and to understand. These exchanges elevate thinking from competition to collaboration—from monologue to discovery.

Conversation as Collaboration

A “making-meaning” conversation isn’t about advocacy or winning. It’s about exploring differences with respect and curiosity. Hess traces this to Native American councils where leaders spoke in circles until true understanding emerged. He contrasts superficial debates with the deep dialogue described by William Isaacs in Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together—communication guided by empathy and mutual inquiry.

Enablers: Courage, Silence, and Inquiry

Such conversations depend on specific enablers: quiet mind, humility, and curiosity. Edgar Schein’s concept of “Humble Inquiry” encourages asking before telling. Carl Rogers’s reflective listening teaches nonjudgmental understanding. Hess lists practical prompts: “What do you mean?” “Why?” “What if?” “Yes, and…”—simple phrases that turn talking into learning.

From Dialogue to Collective Flow

At its highest form, conversation produces “collective flow”—when ideas and emotions synchronize across participants. Hess describes moments with EnPro leaders where imagination emerged spontaneously: “I have no idea where that came from.” Emergent thinking, coined by economist W. Brian Arthur, arises when minds operate in unison yet without control—creativity through connection.

“A High-Quality, Making-Meaning Conversation is not a debate—it is a discovery,” Hess writes. “It’s how humans liberate the magic of their collective minds.”

Mastering these conversations is the summit of Hyper-Learning. It allows individuals and teams to transcend ego and reach emergent insight—a state where learning feels like shared belonging, and wisdom literally flows between hearts and minds.

In chapter nine, Hess brings theory to life through EnPro Industries—a global manufacturing company that turned humanistic philosophy into corporate practice. Under CEOs Steve Macadam and Marvin Riley, EnPro exemplifies how an organization can “enable the full release of human possibility.”

Values and the Dual Bottom Line

EnPro’s credo unites business excellence and human development—the Dual Bottom Line. Profit and personal growth carry equal weight. Human flourishing drives financial results, not vice versa. The company’s values—safety, excellence, and respect—anchor compassion and competence in daily operations.

CEO Marvin Riley’s inaugural speech epitomizes servant leadership. He promised psychological safety for every employee, encouraged courage over perfection, and declared, “We must play to win—and the best idea must always win, regardless of title.” He also shared his personal development plan publicly—a rare act of vulnerability. By modeling humility, he redefined leadership as learning in public.

From Philosophy to Practice

EnPro operationalized Hyper-Learning through six core behaviors: open-mindedness, deep listening, curiosity, courageousness, mindfulness, and collaboration. These behaviors are taught in workshops and reinforced by 25 daily practices—such as meditation, gratitude, and journaling—and the innovative Meeting Management Worksheet used at every meeting to ensure reflection, inclusion, and accountability.

Even factory floor meetings begin with centering exercises and “I” statements. Sitting in circles erases hierarchy. Mood checks and pause breaks normalize emotional awareness. Hess underscores that none of these rituals are “soft.” They optimize human energy for better collaboration, creativity, and safety—critical for engineering excellence.

“As a Dual Bottom Line company, human development carries equal importance to financial performance,” EnPro declares. “There is no trade-off between the two.”

EnPro’s story proves that Hyper-Learning isn’t just personal—it scales. Through daily practices and courageous leadership, the company transformed manufacturing into meaning-making, showing that compassion and excellence can literally coexist in the same enterprise.

The final phase of Hess’s system—chapter ten—focuses on practical sustainability. Learning is a daily ritual, not an occasional event. Hess identifies why most self-improvement fails: lack of self-discipline and trying to do too much too soon. True Hyper-Learning builds through small, consistent practices that create lasting neural change.

Starting Small, Practicing Daily

Begin with a single behavior—one new way of being—and measure progress each day. Visualize success before meetings, breathe to stay calm, read your Daily Intentions, and reflect afterward. Gradually, integrate practices like meditation, journaling, gratitude, and micro-exploration (taking new routes, reading outside your field). Hess adapts Anders Ericsson’s research on deliberate practice to personal transformation.

Rewiring the Brain Through Exploration

Hyper-Learning physically changes your brain. Norman Doidge’s neuroplasticity research (in The Brain That Changes Itself) shows that focused attention and mental rehearsal create new neuronal connections. Hess encourages “improv training” and “explorer clubs” to stretch comfort zones—the brain grows by venturing into novelty. Small experiments—like taking a different grocery aisle—retrain your cognitive map for flexibility.

Curiosity and Joy as Lifelong Fuel

Hess closes by naming curiosity as the defining trait of Hyper-Learners. Ask daily: “What am I missing? What is new? What is different?” Use scientific thinking—hypothesis, experiment, reflection—to turn curiosity into learning. Combine reading, podcasts, reflective journaling, and gratitude rituals into a rhythm that keeps your mind limber and your heart open.

“You will feel good about yourself just by practicing the Hyper-Learning Behaviors,” Hess concludes. “May you experience its joy and magic daily.”

Hyper-Learning isn’t a destination—it’s a lifestyle. Through disciplined practice and joyful curiosity, you become both learner and creator, adapting gracefully to the speed of change while staying deeply human.