At first glance, Biju Dominic’s debut book, Microstimuli, sounds like a book on Neuroscience. The very first page talks about the fact that 99.99 percent of the brain’s processes occur beneath the surface of conscious awareness. For some, this may conjure the memetic image of a submerged iceberg. Or of Freud’s murky ‘subconscious’ of suppressed childhood memories and hidden sexual desires. A field where no proof is ever offered and questioning it itself is construed as evidence of some unsolved childhood tension.

But Biju is quick to shoot these pop psychology memes down. He informs us that he will deal purely with what science and data has established about the brain and decision making. It is no secret that one of the biggest concerns around the economic viability of AI Data Centres comes from the calculations of energy consumed vs output delivered.

In a telling story, Biju brings to our notice how while playing Go, a Chinese strategy board game, certain moves by Google’s AlphaGo programme consumed 1,00,000 watts of power compared to just 20 watts by the human brain. Our brain is the most energy-efficient system known in the universe and it makes blazingly fast computations, which decides, among other things, the angle at which we will hold Biju’s book in our hands as we read it.

Biz potential

But Biju’s book is not a book on neuroscience. Instead, it should be treated as a book of possibilities on what Indian businesses can achieve. An oft-repeated lament is that Indian businesses do not innovate. At the headquarters of a large BFSI company recently, an argument was made for introducing a feature within their payment app to enable pocket money for younger kids. It was met with curiosity but also dilly dallying. What made them pay attention eventually was the fact that Google Pay introduced this very same feature two weeks later. Why did Google Pay beat them to it? It is a question worth pondering.

In another instance, a large Q-commerce company was able to capture the South Indian market by incorporating nuances from Applied Behavioural Science to establish ‘fresh’ as the most important attribute of its grocery offerings. Corporate India wants to claim its position as a top economic power in the world. It is important then that Indian companies, whether legacy or startups, avoid what the BFSI firm did and instead behave the way the Q-commerce company did. We need to analyse, understand and influence human behaviour so that we can create better products, brands and people.

Findings from neuroscience

It is here that Biju’s book shines. Human desire is memetic. We see possibilities and desire to copy it for ourselves. Biju’s book brings forth the latest findings from the world of neuroscience, and tells us the stories of interventions done in the Indian context. Business leaders in India have obviously read a diverse range of books on influencing human behaviour. I suspect though that for many founders and CEOs, this will be the book that tells them change is here and possible for us to implement.

Microstimuli does a good job of explaining how the brain makes decisions and ties it to solving the problems of the world using real life case studies. Is it possible to reduce deaths caused due to railway track crossing mishaps? Can we get folks to become healthier by walking more? Or how to solve for the easy sounding, but deceptively complex question of selling more ice-creams? Biju’s book first helps us understand what he and his team call ‘Microstimuli’, a disproportionately powerful trigger to influence behaviour. It then shares a framework with us on how to create one for our product, brand and people interventions.

Whether you are a curious student of human nature, or a stakeholder who takes decisions on or designs for impacting behaviour, this book is for you. I am fairly certain we will soon see Indian companies adopting a behaviour-first approach. For one thing, it is highly economical and scalable from a ROI point of view. And two, it is an idea whose time has come. After all, every business is in the business of influencing human behaviour.

(The reviewer is co-founder of 1001 Stories. He works with Behavioural Science and Context Architecture to design strategy for products, brands and people interventions)

Published on June 21, 2026