Sources: 2026-08 / week-2
Claim ledger for "Why This Transformation Feels Harder Than the Last."
| Claim (as written) | Source | Link | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novel, unfamiliar problems draw on the capacity to reason in real time, tied to working memory and distinct from stored knowledge (fluid vs crystallized ability). | Cattell-Horn fluid/crystallized framework; working-memory-to-fluid link per this study | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749596X25000415 | verified |
| The adult brain restructures under sustained demand; London taxi drivers showed larger posterior hippocampi than controls, increasing with experience, with change appearing within individuals as trainees qualified. | Maguire et al., "Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers," PNAS 97(8), 2000; longitudinal follow-up Woollett & Maguire 2011 | https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.070039597 | verified |
| The adult human brain continues to generate new neurons well into later life. | Boldrini et al., "Human Hippocampal Neurogenesis Persists throughout Aging," Cell Stem Cell 22(4), 2018 | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29625071/ | verified |
| Container/contents distinction; capacity as a developable baseline; Neurometric as the organizational diagnostic that reads the capacity layer. | Vanaya NeuroTech, Module 01, Neurometric Essentials v1.0, sections 2.1-2.2 | Internal document | internal |
Re-angle note (Lyra revision)
Week 2 was re-angled from "the high performer who stalled" (an HR / talent-assessment frame, judged wrong altitude for a CEO audience) to the leader's own experience of a larger transformation. Consequences for sourcing:
- Peter Principle dropped. Benson, Li & Shue (QJE 2019) was the anchor for the old promotion-and-decline frame. Promotion criteria are an HR concern, so the citation is removed with the frame. It remains available for any future succession-specific piece, but does not belong at CEO altitude here.
- Kept: fluid vs crystallized, Maguire, Boldrini. The mechanism (novel demand draws on capacity, not the archive; capacity is developable) carries the new angle without the promotion framing.
- Positioning: the close now frames Neurometric as the organizational diagnostic that reads the capacity layer, per the guardrail's Positioning section, rather than as a new category.
Handling notes
- The two flags (fluid-capacity mapping; neurogenesis contestation) carry over from the prior version unchanged. Neuroplasticity (Maguire) carries developability on its own if Dr. Lyra prefers to cut neurogenesis.
- Beilock & Carr remains unused and in reserve (see week-1 sources), scoped to working memory and pressure.