Instituting the patterns of thought, feeling, and action you’ve
chosen: keynotes, masterclasses, and one-to-one coaching,
grounded in brain and behaviour science.
I speak, and I coach.
Dr Dorian Minors—brain scientist, Cambridge PhD, Associate Professor at Sandhurst.
I’m a brain and behaviour scientist. Cambridge PhD, a decade of
clinical practice, a former infantry officer, and now an Associate
Professor at Sandhurst, where the British Army trains its next
generation of leadership. I’ve spent fifteen years looking for the
instruction manual for the device in our heads. I never found one.
But the patterns are visible once you know where to look, and I’ve
made a career of showing them to people—officer cadets to FTSE
executives, Unilever companies, Sainsbury’s, the Fashion Pact.
Increasingly, that work is about AI. Automation isn’t new, but its
scale is, and so are machines that simulate human behaviour. A
“human in the loop” can only check a machine against a purpose, so
the harder problem sits upstream: getting the purpose right, and
keeping it right as it moves down a chain of people and machines.
That’s an ethical problem before it’s a technical one, and it calls
on an old leadership skill—setting clear intent—now asked of
people directing machines.
If you want me to do that for your people, this is where. Speaking,
coaching, and consulting.
Speaking
I speak
Keynotes, masterclasses, and guest lectures. I teach the patterns of
thought, feeling, and action that shape how people lead, decide, and
relate—why brains do what they do, and what that means for the
patterns we live by. Audiences leave with something that changes
them, not just something they heard.
Talks I often get asked for, each adapted to the room:
Stress is good—how high performance leaders view stress as
an asset, not a liability. One of the most valuable biological
technologies we have.
Successful Prophets—why charisma isn’t a trait leaders have
but a story followers tell. What that means for succession,
culture, and the fragility of single-figure organisations.
Neurotypica–why your brain reaches for the cheapest adequate
answer before it works harder. How to design decisions so the lazy
option is also the right one.
Moral Terrain–ethics training prepares you for the atrocity
you’ll never commit and ignores the small call that’ll actually
haunt you. A practical map for the decisions you’re not trained
for.
Commercial keynotes from £5,000. I discount for universities,
charities, and interesting problems.
Coaching
I coach
One-to-one, grounded in brain and behaviour science. Not
motivational platitudes or generic coaching frameworks. I
gather baseline diagnostics, evidence-based frameworks, and honest
conversations about what’s actually driving your patterns. We
measure where you start, and whether you move.
From £550/hr.
Consulting
I consult
Organisational work—culture diagnostics, leadership measurement,
programme audits—I now do with a colleague through Black
Cortex. If the problem is a team rather
than a person or an audience, start there.
I also take on pro bono work—high-impact problems, interesting
questions, aspiring leaders—capacity permitting.
scholarship into wisdom
Dr Dorian Minors
Associate Professor, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Get in touch
get in touch
dorian(at)btr.mt
Tell me the date, the audience, and the problem you want
solved.
A text-only version of this site is available at txt.btr.mt — same content, zero JavaScript, minimal presentation.
btrmt. (betterment) examines ideologies worth choosing. Created by Dorian Minors—Cambridge PhD in cognitive neuroscience, Associate Professor at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Core philosophy: humans are animals first, with automatic patterns shaped for us, not by us. Better to examine and choose.
Core concepts.Animals First: automatic patterns of thought and action, but our greatest capacity is nurture. Half Awake: deadened by systems that narrow rather than expand potential. Karstica: unexamined ideologies (hidden sinkholes beneath). Credenda: belief systems we should choose deliberately.
The manifesto. Cynosure (focus): betterment, gratification, connection. Architecture (support): inner (somatic, spiritual, thought) and outer (digital, collective, wealth).
Mission. Not answers but examination. Break academic gatekeeping. Make sciences of mind accessible. Question rather than prescribe.
Writing style. Scholarly without jargon barriers. Philosophical yet practical—grounded in neuroscience and lived experience. Reflective, discovery-oriented. Literary references and metaphor. Critical of systems that narrow human potential. Rejects "humans are flawed"—we're half awake, not broken.
About Dorian Minors. Started btrmt. in 2013 to share sciences of mind with people who weren't studying them. Background: six years Australian Defence Force (Platoon Commander, Infantry); a decade of clinical practice; Gates Cambridge Scholar; PhD cognitive neuroscience, University of Cambridge (2018–2024); currently Associate Professor, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he runs the ethical leadership module. Research interests: neural basis of intelligent behaviour; ritual formation and breakdown; ethical decision-making and leadership; judgement and intent when decisions are shared with AI; wellbeing.
External projects (links also available via Analects):
Neurotypica: Brain science guide for non-scientists