Behavioral Science Meets Technology Adoption — Will Leach, Mindstate Group
Messaging is not the same thing as meaning. And until executives understand that, 70% of technology transformations will keep failing for the same reason.
In this episode of Pivoting to Technology Adoption, host Donna P. Mitchell sits down with Will Leach — founder and CEO of Mindstate Group, behavioral science professor at SMU Cox School of Business, and bestselling author of Marketing to Mindstates — to expose what most CIOs, CTOs, and C-suite leaders miss when rolling out AI and enterprise change.
Will spent years building the Frito-Lay Smart Lab at PepsiCo — a $20 million behavioral science laboratory created specifically to close the say-do gap that traditional market research could not explain. His work has shaped behavioral strategy at PepsiCo, Mars, New York Life, and Amazon. In this conversation, he applies that same model to the most expensive failure point in modern enterprise: human resistance to technology adoption.
People make roughly 35,000 decisions every day. The vast majority happen at the non-conscious level. If your AI rollout, your change management plan, or your healthcare transformation is treating employees as rational actors who will respond to a clear email from leadership, you have already lost the room.
TOPICS COVERED:
• Why people make emotional decisions first — and what that means for every technology rollout
• The four-part behavioral model: goals, motivations, resistance, and biases
• The nine core human motivations that drive workforce behavior
• Why "messaging" is not "meaning" — and why your change management email gets buried
• The CEO hero trap: why executives mistake themselves for the hero of the story
• The Frito-Lay Smart Lab and the $20 million bet on behavioral science
• How to run a friction audit before launching enterprise AI
• Fear, status quo bias, and the cost of ignoring workforce psychology
• How behavioral science applies to physicians, nurse practitioners, and healthcare systems
CHAPTERS — FINAL (from edited video):
(00:00) Welcome and Introduction
(01:29) Meet Will Leach — From the U.S. Army to Behavioral Science
(03:13) How People Really Make Decisions — 35,000 Daily Choices
(05:51) The Four-Part Behavioral Model: Goals, Motivations, Resistance, Biases
(07:34) The Nine Core Human Motivations Driving Workforce Behavior
(10:32) AI Adoption and Workforce Fear — Reframing the Message
(15:13) Internal and External Customers — Bridging Employee and Customer Motivations
(18:03) Knowing Your Employees: The Esteem Lesson
(22:02) Messaging Is Not Meaning — Why Change Management Emails Fail
(24:30) Inside the PepsiCo Frito-Lay Smart Lab — The Say-Do Gap
(28:53) The CEO Hero Trap and the Friction Audit
(33:14) Fear, Status Quo Bias, and Active Resistance
(35:18) Behavioral Science in Healthcare — Doctors Are Still Human
(40:18) Healthcare Systems, AI Governance, and Cognitive Fit
(43:08) How to Connect With Will Leach
(44:30) Closing
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ABOUT THE GUEST:
Will Leach is the founder and CEO of Mindstate Group, a behavioral science firm in Dallas, and one of the world's leading experts on subconscious decision-making. Before founding Mindstate, he led behavioral research at PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Smart Lab and served as Vice President of Behavioral Labs at System1 Research. His work has shaped behavioral strategy at PepsiCo, Mars, New York Life, and Amazon. He is the bestselling author of Marketing to Mindstates, teaches behavioral design at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University, and is a U.S. Army veteran.
Website: mindstategroup.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/willleach
Book: Marketing to Mindstates
ABOUT DONNA P. MITCHELL:
Founder of The Transformation Authority™ and CEO of Mitchell Universal Network, LLC. Official Member of Forbes Business Council. 48 years of Fortune 500 experience across 5 industries, enabling 150,000+ professionals.
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Founder
Will Leach is the founder of Mindstate Group, where he helps leaders understand why customers choose and how to build decision confidence through behavioral AI. A behavioral research expert and marketing strategist, Will previously led PepsiCo’s Behavioral Science Lab and now advises executive teams across industries. His work applying behavioral science to brands like PepsiCo, Mars, Capital One, 7-Eleven, and Disney has helped leaders uncover the psychological drivers behind growth, brand loyalty, and strategic clarity.
He is the best-selling author of Marketing to Mindstates, which reached #1 in six Amazon categories and introduced a practical framework for understanding the psychological states that drive customer decisions. Today, Will works with executive teams to uncover the behavioral drivers behind growth, brand loyalty, and strategic clarity.
Will speaks and advises on behavioral science, AI-powered insight, and how leaders can make smarter decisions in uncertain markets.
