Be Curious, Not Judgmental: The Neuroscience of Leading Construction Teams with Roxanne Evans (Episode 96)

Be Curious, Not Judgmental: The Neuroscience of Leading Construction Teams with Roxanne Evans (Episode 96)

In this episode of Hoots on the Ground with No Bullshido, host Adam Hoots is joined by Mike Chiles and special guest Roxanne Evans, owner of Brain Balance in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. This conversation picks up where an earlier episode on neurodivergence left off — diving deeper into how the brain develops, how technology and modern lifestyles are widening developmental gaps, and what construction leaders can do about it.

Roxanne brings a rare combination of perspectives: a former educator, a mother of four boys, and an operator of a Brain Balance center for nearly a decade. Her journey into brain health began with her own son’s struggles with attention, focus, and emotional regulation — and the transformation she witnessed after going through the Brain Balance program became the foundation of her life’s work.

The conversation dives deep into:

• Why the brain’s base operating system — built from birth to age three — determines how we process and respond to everything around us
• How developmental gaps that were once one to two years are now three to five years wide, starting in kindergarten
• Why the real problem isn’t just screen time — it’s the absence of physical movement that compounds the damage
• The two behavioral profiles Roxanne sees most on job sites: turtles (shut down and withdraw) and race cars with no brakes (always busy, rarely productive)
• Why a worker on their phone may not be lazy — they may be overwhelmed and avoiding a task they couldn’t process
• How a leader’s own emotional regulation sets the tone for the entire team
• What mirror neurons are and why some workers can’t learn by watching — no matter how many times you demonstrate

Roxanne also answers a question that lands for every leader in the room: why can you handle a five-alarm crisis at work with a calm two-level response, but blow up at home over something small? Her answer — that home is where the brain finally relaxes its performance — reframes the problem entirely and points toward practical solutions.

This is a rich, practical episode that challenges construction leaders to see their people through a new lens — not as underperformers, but as individuals whose brains may need different support to thrive. Because when leaders build better brains on their job sites, everybody wins.

Key Takeaways:

Everything Starts in the Brain: How the brain perceives, processes, and responds to information determines behavior on and off the job site. Gaps in this base operating system show up as attention struggles, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty completing tasks.

The Developmental Gap Is Wider Than Ever: Where prior generations saw a one-to-two-year developmental gap, today’s workforce is seeing gaps of three to five years. The age of full brain maturity has shifted from 25 to around 35, meaning many workers are functioning at a younger cognitive and emotional level than their age would suggest.

Tech Isn’t the Only Problem — It’s the Absence of Movement: Screens keep the brain’s fight-or-flight system perpetually activated, but the deeper issue is sitting still. Physical movement — especially bilateral activity like walking, crawling, and weight training — is essential for building brain function, processing speed, and emotional regulation.

Turtles vs. Race Cars: Workers tend to fall into two profiles when overwhelmed: those who shut down and withdraw (turtles), and those who stay constantly busy but accomplish little (race cars with no brakes). Recognizing which type you’re dealing with is the first step to leading them effectively.

Phone Use May Signal Overwhelm, Not Laziness: When a worker reaches for their phone instead of completing a task, they may be avoiding it because they were overwhelmed by instructions they couldn’t fully process — not because they don’t care. Curiosity, not judgment, is the right response.

The Leader’s Regulation Sets the Team’s Regulation: Culture starts with the leader. A calm, curious, regulated leader creates safety that helps even dysregulated team members stay in a learning state. An unpredictable leader keeps everyone in fight-or-flight — which shuts down learning entirely.

Mirror Neurons Matter in the Trades: Not all workers can learn by watching. Some brains haven’t developed the mirroring capacity to accurately replicate a demonstrated skill. This isn’t defiance or laziness — it’s a gap that, once addressed, can unlock strong performance.

Meeting Design Can Unlock Better Performance: Keep meetings to 20 minutes or less, allow movement, build in physical resets, and create shout-out moments that get people clapping and engaged. These aren’t soft perks — they’re neurological tools that keep brains in a state where learning and retention are actually possible.

The Home vs. Work Regulation Gap Is Real: Many leaders hold it together under pressure at work but lose their cool at home over small things. Home is the brain’s safe place — where it relaxes into its default regulation patterns. The fix isn’t trying harder; it’s building better brain regulation so the gap between settings shrinks.

 

EPISODE QUOTES:

• “Everything starts in the brain. How the brain perceives information sets the tone for how it processes — and then how it responds.”
• “We used to see a one-to-two-year developmental gap. Now we’re seeing three to five years, starting in kindergarten — and those trajectories just keep widening.”
• “It’s not the screens alone. It’s the absence of body movement that’s creating the bigger problem. When our body moves, it tells our brain information — and our brain can grow and change based on that.”
• “When someone’s on their phone instead of doing the task, they may not be lazy — they might be overwhelmed and avoiding looking incompetent. Be curious, not judgmental.”
• “My regulation sets the tone for everyone else’s. If they know they’re safe with me, they can stay in a learning state instead of fight-or-flight.”
• “At work you hold it together because there are consequences. At home, they love you no matter what — so the brain relaxes into its default patterns. That’s why you blow up over the small stuff at home.”
• “What we want is for their life to be enriched because they worked with you. Not just that we required them to perform — but that we taught them how to be well.”

 

RESOURCE LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Brain Balance Centers 

Brain Balance – Lee’s Summit, MO 

Brent Darnell International – Emotional Intelligence in Construction 

Yerkes-Dodson Law (The Goldilocks Rule)

GUESTS FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE:

Roxanne Evans — Owner and Director, Brain Balance of Lee’s Summit, MO. Former educator, mother of four boys, and community leader. Roxanne opened her Brain Balance center in 2015 and has spent nearly a decade helping children and adults build the neurological foundation for attention, emotional regulation, learning, and performance.

Mike Chiles — Lean construction leader, educator, and co-host of the Chiles Brothers conversations on the podcast. Mike is based in the Kansas City area and has a heart for community, construction, and bringing better tools to the people who build.

Adam Hoots  — Host/Producer of Hoots on the Ground and Lean builder focused on respect for craft and field leadership.

 

ABOUT HOOTS ON THE GROUND PODCAST:

The Lean Builder’s absolutely, positively NO Bullshido podcast. Join host Adam Hoots and his guests as they dig deep into the topics that matter most to those in the field. With stories from the trenches, lessons learned, and plenty of laughter, this podcast is for the men and women doing the hands-on work of construction.