The NeuroLeadership Edge is a leadership podcast for executives, founders, and senior leaders who carry real responsibility and make decisions under constant pressure.
Hosted by neuroscience-based leadership expert Claire Hayek, the show examines what actually happens when leaders are under stress, managing uncertainty, and navigating high-stakes moments that shape teams, culture, and results.
Through a mix of solo episodes and candid conversations with experienced leaders, you’ll hear how decisions are made when the pressure is real, how emotional load impacts performance, and what it takes to lead with clarity, authority, and resilience over time.
If you’re a leader navigating change, pressure, or reinvention, and you want an edge that actually translates into action, this podcast is for you.
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He ran fishing boats at 13. Now he invests in deep tech with Abe Murray
Episode 58
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 • Duration 28:01
At fifteen, Abe Murray was hiring and firing crew members, some of whom had pulled knives on him, to keep his family's fishing business alive. There was no adult coming to fix it. He was the adult. Decades later, he is a General Partner at AlleyCorp leading deep tech investing across aerospace, energy, manufacturing, and robotics, following fifteen years at Alphabet across Android, Google AI, and Verily.
In this episode, Claire and Abe unpack the rule his father gave him as a teenager, a rule that happens to match exactly what neuroscience shows about regulation under threat. They talk about why there is no single fix for chaos, only the discipline of doing the next right thing. Abe explains how an introvert who says he hates networking built a network that spans a thousand people across the world, simply by building things he loved with people he liked. And in the rapid fire round, Abe gives his one word for leading under pressure: smile.
Abe was also part of the research behind Claire's upcoming book, The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption, and his perspective on pressure appears in the closing pages.
Topics Covered
Growing up in a family aquaculture and fishing business
Stepping into an adult leadership role as a teenager during a financial crisis
His father's rule for separating emotion from action
The neuroscience of regulation under real threat
Why there are no silver bullets, only lead bullets
Rebuilding a network as an introvert engineer without traditional networking
Authenticity and intention as the foundation of connection
What You'll Learn
Why separating emotion from action is a trainable skill, not a fixed trait
Why authenticity, not extroversion, is what actually builds followership
Why there is no single fix for leading through chaos, only the discipline of doing the next right thing
How to reframe networking as curiosity instead of performance
Why "no silver bullets, only lead bullets" outperforms waiting for the one right answer
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Opening: The teenager running a fishing business with no adult left to fix it
[00:01:00] Introduction: Welcome to The NeuroLeadership Edge and today's guest, Abe Murray
[00:02:00] Guest Introduction: Abe Murray, General Partner, AlleyCorp
[00:03:00] The pressure moment: stepping up at fifteen when the family business needed him
[00:05:00] What it felt like to be a teenager carrying adult financial stakes
[00:08:00] His father's rule and the family history of building through hardship
[00:10:00] The story that stuck: put other people first, get over yourself
[00:13:00] What Abe wishes more leaders understood about leading through chaos
[00:17:00] Why he calls himself an introvert who hates networking
[00:21:00] Authenticity, intention, and the ambivert balance
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
A Global Benefits Leader On Why The Plant Doesn't Lie About The Soil With Scott Floyd
Episode 57
Wednesday, August 26, 2026 • Duration 25:37
Scott Floyd has spent nearly 30 years learning how to know when it's time to repot. Fifteen of those years were in his family's business, where he learned conflict, stakeholder management, and what it means to wear different hats with the people you love. He left, not out of frustration, but because he recognized a specific, nameable feeling: complete. From there he moved into a large US organization, and eventually into his current role leading global benefits and wellbeing at Cisco Systems, supporting employees and families across more than 80,000 people in over 95 countries.
In this conversation, Scott and Claire dig into the plant and soil image that Scott uses to check in with himself: are you still growing, or are you the plant that's quietly yellowing while everyone waits for the leaves to fall off before they notice? They talk about the difference between loyalty that serves you and loyalty that costs you, why pressure is data and not the enemy, and the specific, practical resets Scott uses to interrupt reaction and get back to clarity, including a hack for that moment someone cuts you off in traffic.
Scott is one of the leaders whose story helped shape Claire's upcoming book, The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption, out September 9.
Topics Covered
Knowing when to leave the wrong environment, even a good one
The plant and soil metaphor for career and growth readiness
Family business dynamics: succession, life integration, unique pressure
The concept of "feeling complete" as a decision signal
Treating discomfort and pressure as data instead of something to endure
The prefrontal cortex as the brain's CEO and how to access it under stress
Small resets that interrupt the survival pattern
Loyalty and fear as the two forces that keep leaders stuck too long
Multi-generational workforces and learning in the age of AI
Neuroplasticity and why it's never too late to build a new pattern
What You'll Learn
Why staying loyal to the wrong context can quietly cost you your growth
This CFO led billion dollar deals. one HR question broke his blind spot with Paul Allen Thompson
Episode 56
Wednesday, August 19, 2026 • Duration 27:19
Paul Allen Thompson has spent decades inside the kind of transactions most executives see once in a career: mergers, spinoffs, deals with fixed deadlines and zero margin for error. As CFO of Integro Bank, he built a reputation on being effective under pressure. But in this conversation with Claire Hayek, Paul goes back to the moment that pressure-tested his own leadership blind spot.
He walked his team of fifty into a room, announced a major spinoff, and left the meeting convinced it had gone perfectly. High energy, everyone locked in, ready to go. Then his HR partner, Margaret Sweeney, asked him one question about how he thought the meeting landed. His answer revealed the gap. Not everybody in that room loved deals the way he did.
Claire and Paul unpack what happened in that moment, why it took an outside voice to name an assumption Paul had never examined, and how that single exchange reshaped the way he leads people through high-stakes work. They talk about the real difference between empowering a team and over-managing one, why trust is the foundation that lets people move without waiting for perfect information, and why the instinct to keep pushing forward and the instinct to stay attuned to your people are not opposing skills. They are the same skill, and it is trainable.
Paul also shares what he asks his teams before any major initiative begins, why decision rights matter more than most leaders think, and the mindset shift that let him stop fearing failure and start treating every outcome as information.
Paul is one of the contributors to Claire's upcoming book, The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption, out September 9th.
Topics Covered
Leading high-stakes financial transactions under fixed deadlines
The blind spot that comes from being good under pressure
How one HR conversation exposed an unexamined assumption
Building a culture of trust during major transactions
Balancing empowerment with over-nurturing
Decision-making without perfect information
Why moving forward and staying attuned to your team are the same skill
What You'll Learn
Timestamps
Mentioned in This Episode
The Pressure You Put on Yourself Has Nothing to Do With Your Success with Boaz Gilad
Episode 55
Wednesday, August 12, 2026 • Duration 27:20
Topics Covered
Losing a public company in a hostile takeover
The brain's threat detection system under prolonged uncertainty
Why certainty, even brutal certainty, can bring relief
The difference between losing a battle and losing a war
A solo 2,400 kilometer cycling trip as a rebuild strategy
Identity fusion with title, role, and status
The neuroscience of a sudden perspective reframe
Ego, achievement, and "drinking your own Kool-Aid"
Self-imposed pressure versus objective results
Pressure-Proof Leadership™ and the upcoming book
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Opening: 36 construction sites, a hostile takeover, and two words: "Game over"
[00:01:00] Introduction: Welcome to the NeuroLeadership Edge and today's three takeaways
[00:02:00] Guest Introduction: Boaz Gilad, founder of Zenith Clubhouse and author of The Zenith Code
[00:03:00] The room where "game over" was said
[00:04:00] Holding onto hope while the cash position was already collapsing
[00:05:00] Walking into the negotiation believing they wanted to work it out
[00:06:00] Realizing his intention and their intention were never aligned
[00:07:00] The nervous system still wanting to fight even after it's over
[00:08:00] What peace of mind actually feels like after total effort
[00:09:00] The anger that comes first, and why
[00:10:00] Claire on the neuroscience of uncertainty versus brutal certainty
[00:11:00] How the brain releases a resource it was burning for months
[00:12:00] The Gettysburg reframe: losing a battle is not losing the war
[00:13:00] The decision to cycle from New York City to the Florida Keys
[00:14:00] Three weeks, 2,400 kilometers, and what the road gave him
[00:15:00] Why the body kept fighting even after the mind moved on
[00:16:00] The gas station moment in South Carolina
What It Is Actually Costing You (The Numbers Nobody Tracks)
Episode 54
Wednesday, August 5, 2026 • Duration 11:51
Topics Covered
Where the cost of pressure actually lives
The personal cost of holding a calm exterior under sustained pressure
How unresolved tension raises a leader's baseline over time
A real story from the book: a CEO, a misaligned decision, and a $900,000 cost
Why trust, not money, is the real casualty of unaddressed pressure
A direct reading from Chapter 4 of The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You
The one question to bring into your next leadership meeting
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Welcome and introduction to the NeuroLeadership Edge
[00:00:35] Episode context: third installment in the Calm Under Fire series
[00:01:16] Recap: episodes one and two on pressure and identity patterns
[00:01:44] Today's promise: what the pattern is actually costing you
[00:02:03] The personal cost of pressure begins with small holdbacks
[00:02:52] The calm exterior and what it costs underneath
[00:03:30] How carried tension raises your baseline over time
[00:04:35] Introducing Nadia's story from the book
[00:04:57] One leader, one deal, one broken agreement
[00:05:29] The breakdown: sign-offs, stalled decisions, stalled projects
[00:05:59] Mapping the cost with Nadia, one layer at a time
[00:06:44] The number: nearly $900,000
[00:07:19] Nadia's reaction and the deeper cost of trust
He's Spent 35 Years Walking Into Companies On Fire With Howard Brownstein
Episode 53
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 • Duration 27:48
Topics Covered
Walking into a live federal raid as a crisis consultant with no formal authority
Denial as the primary enemy in corporate turnarounds
How a low Vietnam War draft number shaped Howard's path into crisis leadership
Medical triage as a direct model for business crisis leadership
Why leaders default to what is comfortable instead of what is necessary
The specific self-interrogation questions that catch blind spots early
Pressure-Proof Leadership™ as the installed system behind Howard's habits
"Don't get caught in the thick of thin things"
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Opening: Why waiting one extra day on a problem can make it impossible to fix
[00:01:00] Guest Introduction: Howard Brownstein, President, The Brownstein Corporation
[00:02:00] The day federal agents raided a client company before Howard arrived
[00:07:00] The Vietnam War draft lottery and the decision that shaped Howard's steadiness
[00:13:00] Triage as a model for business leadership
[00:16:00] Why the bias toward comfort is so hard to catch in ourselves
[00:19:00] How to start building the habit of catching your own blind spots
[00:21:00] Connecting triage instincts to Pressure-Proof Leadership™
[00:23:00] Rapid fire questions with Howard Brownstein
[00:26:00] Closing thoughts and where to find the show
What You'll Learn
Why waiting one extra day on a problem can make it impossible to fix
The specific bias that convinces good leaders everything is fine when it is not
How to apply medical triage logic to business crisis decisions
50 Countries, 26 Years What Pressure Actually Does to Leaders at the Top with Gillian Muessig
Episode 52
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 • Duration 29:27
Topics Covered
What sustained pressure does to decision-making at the top, from Gillian's 26 years across 50 countries
The story of losing her husband while running a company, and being carried without knowing it
Co-regulation as a biological process, not just an emotional one, and what it reveals about brain based leadership
Seeing the whole chessboard: the trainable skill of calm authority and high stakes decision making under stress
How functional boards of directors actually work, and why founders should build one early
Founderitis and why some companies stay lifestyle businesses instead of scaling
The link between autoimmune disease, chronic stress, and the tendency of women to carry others' emotional load
Why the words leaders use shape team culture leadership across families, schools, and enterprises
Authenticity and vulnerability in leadership, and why hiding both increases founder mental health risk
Executive mindfulness and self-care as an operational discipline, not an afterthought
Gillian's closing advice for leaders navigating uncertainty right now
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Opening: What happens to a leader's nervous system when the floor disappears
[00:01:00] Welcome to the NeuroLeadership Edge and introduction of Gillian Muessig
[00:02:00] Gillian Muessig, Managing Director at Mastersfund™, joins the show
[00:03:00] Why pressure is personal, not corporate, and what that does to the body
[00:07:00] The image of the chessboard: calm authority under pressure
[00:08:00] Why founders should build a real board of directors early, not late
[00:09:00] The story begins: the night Gillian lost her husband
[00:10:00] How her business partner, Anne Kennedy, quietly carried her through it
[00:13:00] Claire names the neuroscience: co-regulation and nervous system safety
[00:16:00] What Anne handled that Gillian never even knew about
40 years of high stakes decisions. The one thing that never changed with Keith Blakely
Episode 51
Wednesday, July 15, 2026 • Duration 29:45
Topics Covered
The 1981 boardroom decision that changed the trajectory of Keith's career
How financial pressure narrows strategic thinking
What calm authority looks like in a real moment of crisis
The role of the people around you under pressure: partners who hold versus partners who hijack
Why cash is the single greatest pressure point for startup founders
The frozen $100 million IPO during the 2007 Bear Stearns collapse
The importance of timing in high stakes decisions
Self trust and confidence as the foundation of leadership decision making
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Opening: A 24 year old walks into a boardroom with everything on the line
[00:01:00] Introduction: What this episode will cover
[00:02:00] Guest Introduction: Keith Blakely, Founder of The InVentures Group
[00:03:00] Setting the scene: The VC meeting Keith walked into at 24
[00:06:00] The handshake deal and the Saturday summons
[00:08:00] Sitting in the lobby: the power move and the reveal
[00:10:00] The financial stakes: a pregnant wife, three kids, and no other offer
[00:12:00] The walkout: what Keith said and what happened next
[00:14:00] The alternative investor and the twenty year build that followed
[00:15:00] Claire breaks down the neuroscience of calm authority under threat
[00:17:00] The importance of who surrounds you under pressure
[00:18:00] Four decades of pattern recognition: where pressure breaks founders most
[00:21:00] The hidden cost of pressure driven decisions
[00:23:00] The frozen $100 million IPO during the Bear Stearns collapse
[00:25:00] The lesson on timing
[00:25:00] Rapid fire: what Keith wishes more leaders understood
[00:27:00] Claire's book and closing CTA
10,000 Executive Interviews. Here's What the Best Ones Did in 90 Days with Neill Marshall
Episode 50
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 • Duration 24:01
Topics Covered
Why the first 90 days of a leadership role shape everything that comes after
What the brain is doing during a leadership transition that most executives never account for
Values threats and why they register in the brain as survival
The origin of The First 90 Days leadership series
Why the brain values behavioral evidence over verbal statements
Symbolic actions: the mattress story, the ICU pumps, bussing the table, the parking lot garbage
Trust as a system and why it determines whether strategy gets implemented
Oxytocin, safety signals, and how trust travels across a team
Push versus pull leadership
What 10,000 executive interviews reveal about what the best leaders have in common
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Opening: 30 years, 10,000 executive interviews, and the pattern that had nothing to do with strategy
[00:00:39] Introduction: The NeuroLeadership Edge and the three takeaways for this episode
[00:01:37] Guest Introduction: Neill Marshall, Chairman and Co-Founder, HealthSearch Partners
[00:02:31] The moment Neill walked away from a senior role at a major national search firm
[00:04:52] The neuroscience of a values threat and why the brain registers it as survival
[00:05:47] The shift: why a placement was never where the work ends
[00:07:07] The origin of The First 90 Days leadership series
[00:07:49] The mattress story: the CEO who moved into the hospital
[00:09:31] Why the brain values behavioral evidence over verbal statements
[00:10:29] Trust versus strategy in complex environments
Calm under fire series- E2- control, silence, speed, compliance, collapse. Which one is running you
Episode 49
Wednesday, July 1, 2026 • Duration 13:59
Topics Covered
The five pressure archetypes: control, silence, speed, compliance, collapse
How each archetype forms as an adaptive response, not a personal flaw
Claire's personal story of choosing compliance in a high-stakes career moment
The gap between a pattern that helped once and a pattern that runs unchecked
Timestamps
[00:00:00] Opening story: the meeting where a VP's comment triggered a reaction Claire chose to hold back
[00:02:00] Welcome to The NeuroLeadership Edge and introduction to the Calm Under Fire series
[00:03:00] The three takeaways for this episode and introduction to the five pressure archetypes
[00:03:30] Archetype one: Control
[00:04:00] Archetype two: Silence
[00:04:45] Archetype three: Speed
[00:05:30] Archetype four: Compliance
[00:06:00] The story continues: how compliance played out in that meeting
[00:08:45] Archetype five: Collapse
[00:09:00] Why every archetype made sense at the time it formed
[00:09:30] What happens when a pattern keeps running after the conditions that caused it have changed
[00:10:00] How awareness interrupts the pattern in the moment
[00:11:15] Preview of the upcoming book and the research behind it
[00:12:00] Pressure archetype assessment and early readers group
[00:12:45] Closing and subscribe call to action
What You'll Learn
The five patterns leaders default to under pressure and why each one made sense when it first appeared
What it costs when a pressure pattern keeps running long after the original trigger is gone
How to recognize your own default pattern in real time, before it takes over the moment
Why naming the pattern is the first step to choosing a different response.
Mentioned in This Episode
Pressure Archetype Assessment: https://clairehayek.com/pressure-archetype
Early Readers Group for The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption: https://clairehayek.com/book
Book release date: September 9, 2026
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Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
Decision rights and ownership on high-stakes projects
Reframing failure as part of the process
Why your own excitement under pressure can blind you to what your team is actually feeling
The one question that separates leaders who drive results from leaders who drive people away
How to build trust fast enough to move a team through uncertainty
What to ask your team before a high-stakes project begins
Why waiting for certainty often costs more than it protects
[00:00:00] Opening: The excitement that blinds leaders to their own team
[00:01:00] Introduction: Claire Hayek and what this show is built to do
[00:02:00] Guest Introduction: Paul Allen Thompson, CFO, Integro Bank
[00:03:00] The spinoff announcement and a team of fifty
[00:05:00] HR partner Margaret Sweeney asks the question that changed everything
[00:06:00] Paul's reaction: "It's like I went through a black hole"
[00:08:00] What changed: caring for the team as a leadership priority
[00:10:00] Why naming an unexamined assumption takes boldness
[00:11:00] How this shows up in Paul's leadership today
[00:12:00] Building a culture of trust during high-stakes transactions
[00:14:00] Making decisions without perfect information
[00:15:00] Why the brain treats delay as safety when it's actually cost
[00:17:00] Paul's contribution to Claire's upcoming book
[00:18:00] Rapid fire: the one word that describes Paul under pressure
[00:20:00] The leadership belief Paul let go of
[00:21:00] The Kobe Bryant mindset: process over outcome
[00:23:00] What every leader should ask their team before a high-stakes project
[00:25:00] The Pressure and Performance Scorecard and the book launch
[00:26:00] Paul's closing words and the Steve Jobs quote that stuck with him
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
[00:17:00] Claire on identity fusion, status, and survival patterns
[00:18:00] A neurological reframe that some spend years in therapy to reach
[00:19:00] Drinking your own Kool-Aid and the weight of collected titles
[00:20:00] "I'm many other colors": rebuilding identity beyond one role
[00:21:00] Why the pressure you put on yourself has nothing to do with your results
[00:22:00] Pressure as fuel versus pressure as addiction
[00:23:00] The scoreboard is objective, pressure is subjective
[00:24:00] Rapid fire: what Boaz wishes he had known at the height of it all
[00:25:00] Claire's closing resources and the Calm Under Fire book
[00:26:00] Boaz's final word: live to your full commitment
[00:27:00] Close: where to find Boaz and next week's episode
What You'll Learn
What your brain does in the moment everything falls apart, and why the clarity that follows is not a coincidence
The specific mindset shift that separates leaders who rebuild from leaders who stay stuck
Why the pressure you put on yourself has nothing to do with your actual results
How to separate your identity from your title before a crisis forces you to
A practical reframe for treating a setback as one chapter, not the whole story
Mentioned in This Episode
The Zenith Code by Boaz Gilad — book, framework for top performance as a system
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
[00:07:47] What happens when trust becomes the casualty
[00:08:39] How hidden costs get filed away instead of addressed
[00:09:29] The question to carry into your next meeting
[00:10:11] Reading directly from Chapter 4 of the book
[00:10:59] Book pre-access details and closing message
Mentioned in This Episode
The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption — pre-access sign-up: https://clairehayek.com/book
Calm Under Fire podcast series (episodes one and two referenced)
The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You is coming September 9, 2026. Preorder here.
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
The self-interrogation questions that surface blind spots before they become emergencies
Why cash functions like oxygen in a company under pressure
How early life pressure can build the steadiness leaders rely on decades later
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
[00:17:00] Why the words leaders use shape team culture leadership
[00:19:00] Raising CEOs the way you raise children, and the responsibility that comes with it
[00:20:00] Founderitis and why some founders cannot share the load
[00:22:00] Authenticity, vulnerability, and founder mental health
[00:24:00] Gillian's ongoing struggle putting herself last on her own list
[00:25:00] Rand Fishkin's book Lost and Founder and the growing conversation about burnout
[00:26:00] Rapid fire: the one thing every leader should stop saying
[00:28:00] Gillian's closing advice for leaders navigating uncertainty right now
What You'll Learn
Why calm authority under real pressure comes from learning to separate yourself from the situation, not from suppressing how you feel
What it means to be carried by someone else when you are too deep in it to recognize you need it
Why the words a leader uses are never just communication. They build or collapse the people around them
Why high stakes decision making improves when leaders learn to see the whole chessboard, not just the immediate crisis
Why stress resilience is rarely about age or experience, and almost always about whether real support exists around a leader
Mentioned in This Episode
Pressure and Performance Scorecard (free diagnostic): https://clairehayek.com/pp-scorecard
The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption, early readers list: https://clairehayek.com/book
Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin (referenced by Gillian as her son's book on startup burnout and honesty)
Mastersfund™ (Sybilla Masters Fund), gender-lens venture capital fund led by Gillian Muessig and Anne Kennedy
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
What You'll Learn
Why financial pressure is the fastest way to destroy strategic thinking
What calm authority actually looks like in a real moment of crisis
How the people you build around you either hold the structure or crack it
Mentioned in This Episode
The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption by Claire Hayek, releasing September 9, 2026: clairehayek.com/book
The InVentures Group: theinventuresgroup.com
Advanced Refractory Technologies (Keith's first company, founded 1981, acquired 2001)
OnCore Golf Technology (formerly Encore Golf Technology in intro; verify exact name before publishing)
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
[00:11:53] The ICU nurse and the pumps that mattered more than the strategic plan
[00:12:54] Claire on trust, nervous system contagion, and her upcoming book
[00:13:29] Going deeper on symbolic actions and why leaders dismiss them
[00:14:24] The CEO who bussed the table during search committee dinners
[00:16:16] The new president who picked up garbage in the parking lot on day one
[00:17:17] Why gestures are registered in the brain at a whole different level
[00:18:24] Rapid Fire: intentionality, pulling instead of pushing, mimicking the greats
[00:19:47] The one thing the best leaders all have in common: they attract
[00:20:37] The Pressure and Performance Scorecard and how to join the early reader group for Claire's book
[00:22:39] How to connect with Neill Marshall
[00:23:22] Closing: lead boldly, stay human, turn every challenge into a gift
What You'll Learn
Why the first 90 days can make or break a leader, and what your brain is doing during that window
The science behind why symbolic actions carry more weight than strategic announcements
What it looks like to lead with trust as a system
Why behavioral evidence builds trust faster than any verbal commitment
How one small, visible act early in your tenure can shape culture for years
The difference between pushing people and pulling them, and why pulling is leading
The First 90 Days leadership series by HealthSearch Partners
Pressure and Performance Scorecard (free 4-minute diagnostic): https://clairehayek.com/pp-scorecard
Claire's upcoming book, The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You: Calm Under Fire in the Age of Disruption, releasing September 9, 2026. Join the early reader group: https://clairehayek.com/book
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
The Leadership Skill Nobody Taught You is coming September 9, 2026. Preorder here.
Subscribe to The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast for brain-based strategies to lead with clarity, courage, and impact. clairehayek.com/podcast
The NeuroLeadership Edge Podcast is produced by Claire Hayek. All opinions are those of the host and guests. For more leadership resources, visit clairehayek.com
