Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Douglas Mapp spends a lot of time thinking about how people think. More specifically, he spends time understanding how different people can improve their cognitive function also known as brain skills that are responsible for using their work tools for better communications, productivity, or to tackle unforeseen obstacles in their workplaces.  

Mapp himself is extremely good at relating well with people at any given moment. He can internalize how someone responds and adjust his conversational skills to cater to their comfort level. To take it a step further, Mapp believes teaching other people to do the same could improve workplace culture, collaboration, and a company’s success level. 

“Cognitive function is the foundation of everything we do in business,” Mapp said. 

These foundational cognitive skills include soft skills like auditory processing, working memory, long-term memory, reasoning, problem-solving, metacognition, and spatial processing. 

“I like to think about these as the physics of our brain,” Mapp said. “Improved brain skills directly impact how we produce outcomes because it minimizes our mistakes while reducing risk.” 

Mapp has extensive experience in brain training children and is a board-certified cognitive development professional. Since 2018 he’s been focused on teaching children how to think, not what to think. The company he has worked with trains the cognitive skills children use to think, read, learn, remember, and pay attention.  

“With children, when their brain is incapable of running a mental race, they drop out,” Mapp said. He doesn’t mean literally dropping out of school, instead, he means the child begins to tune out the teacher or stops paying attention in the classroom. “What I started to realize is that it’s the same way with adults at work. We make 20,000 decisions during each workday. It’s not a luxury to prepare ourselves or our teams for maximum performance, it’s a necessity. We will go as far as our collective brains will grow,” he said. 

We first featured Mapp in 2022, when he enrolled in the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center’s (KEC) 100 Knoxville Program. It was around that time when Mapp launched his own company called ThinkUp, which is centered around adult brain performance, specifically in the workforce.  

ThinkUp uses a digital test that’s used widely in the field of cognitive psychology. The test helps ThinkUp measure where individuals are deficient. Mapp said brain functions are split into 16 broad skills. The test does not look at any of the skills individually but tests brain performance. 

Mapp believes that cognitive training for corporate employees can reduce the chances of error similar to how exercise reduces health risks. 

“Teams can be put through cognitive & noncognitive exercises over a specific period, proving to company leaders just how much more productive, efficient, engaged, and aware their employees can become,” Mapp said. 

So, why is this important? 

Mapp used another analogy to explain the value. If a child fails a test, they may have an opportunity to re-take it. Or, in most cases in K-12, the student will have the chance to complete extra credit assignments. However, in the corporate world, there are no retakes. 

It isn’t just about overwhelm or frustrations. With weak brain skills mistakes happen, key details are missed, and productivity suffers, and if it’s big enough it can even bankrupt a business.  

“There are rarely second chances in business,” Mapp said. “Which is why those strong brain skills are vital.” 

ThinkUp was a part of the current cohort of the KEC’s ‘The WORKS’ program. Mapp said the program was invaluable in opening doors and connecting him with viable corporate leads to launch pilot training. 

“My goal is to help companies improve their collective brain power so they can maximize not only their profits but also their impact,” Mapp said. 

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