In Episode #123 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by Level 52 executive coach and facilitator Nimrat Dhariwal to explore belonging, what creates it inside organizations, and why the most important place to begin may be with yourself.

Nimrat traces her relationship with belonging from childhood in Kenya, through adolescence in England, and into her career in Canada. Experiences of being treated as an outsider shaped how she entered teams and workplaces, even when an organization was creating strong conditions for inclusion. She explains how internal mental models, imposter syndrome, and the need for external validation can keep people from feeling that they belong.

Jayson and Nimrat unpack the reciprocal nature of belonging, the role leaders play in making different perspectives safe to share, and how trust, standards, favourites, and informal networks can shape who feels included. They also explore the tension between proving yourself and believing you are inherently worthy, and why Nimrat now enters new spaces assuming she belongs rather than waiting for permission.

The conversation also turns to values alignment, knowing when it may be time to leave an organization, misplaced loyalty, self-care, reverse mentoring, sensing the culture you are in, and the daily practices leaders can use to regulate themselves under pressure.

Content note: This episode includes discussion of racism and racial slurs.

Episode timestamps:

00:00 Why belonging has shaped Nimrat's life

02:01 From software engineering to leading people

03:25 Why inclusion alone may not create belonging

05:45 Understanding imposter syndrome

07:39 Skill gaps, purpose, and feeling like an outsider

09:41 Can diversity and belonging coexist?

10:40 Favourites, informal networks, and whose voice gets heard

13:11 What belonging actually means

14:37 Why belonging has to be reciprocal

18:40 Do you need to prove yourself every day?

23:23 The shift from proving yourself to inherent belonging

26:04 Why self-belonging comes first

28:40 Growth without constantly fixing yourself

31:21 Belonging inside a merit-based organization

34:05 How to know when it is time to leave

36:05 Loyalty to an organization vs. loyalty to yourself

39:31 From external validation to choosing to belong

41:34 Helping younger professionals find their voice

43:32 Reverse mentoring across generations

44:51 The worst advice about belonging

46:03 Learning to sense a team's culture

47:24 How leaders can read and shape a system

49:49 The choice to believe you belong

51:25 The invisible force behind leadership

53:30 Building the practice of self-regulation

54:55 Final reflection: belong to yourself first

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Learn more about Nimrat Dhariwal: https://www.level52.ca/about/

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The conversation explores the difference between influence and manipulation, why dark leaders are often drawn to power, how "kiss up, kick down" behaviour can hide for years, and why organizational culture plays such a critical role. Ted also discusses what he calls dark-activated behaviour: people who may begin acting destructively when the culture rewards or tolerates it.

In Episode #118 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by industrial-organizational psychologist Dr. Ted Vokes for a deep examination of evil, the dark tetrad, and what dark leadership can look like inside organizations.

Ted breaks down four dark personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism. He explains how these traits can show up in leaders who appear charming, capable, and impressive to those above them while exploiting, manipulating, intimidating, or destabilizing the people below them.

Jayson and Ted then move from recognition to response. They discuss how to protect yourself, set non-negotiable boundaries, contain damaging behaviour through clear expectations and behaviour management, and why organizations should act decisively when they have grounds to remove a toxic leader.

The episode closes with a more hopeful question: what protects leadership from becoming dark? Ted points to social and emotional intelligence, ego maturity, and the ability to be secure in your own power while making room for the power of others.

Episode timestamps:

00:00 Evil and dark traits in leadership

00:11 Ted's personal connection to dark leadership

03:47 Rethinking "hurt people hurt people"

08:24 Ted's background in industrial-organizational psychology

12:24 Understanding the dark tetrad

13:45 Narcissism

14:56 The dark, Goldilocks, and dazzling zones

19:15 Psychopathy

22:43 Psychopathy in executive roles

27:10 Why dark leadership can look delightful

28:15 Machiavellianism

29:43 Manipulation versus influence

31:47 Narcissistic theatre and self-serving causes

34:47 Machiavellianism in practice

37:54 Sadism

40:00 What workplace sadism can look like

44:23 How common dark traits may be

47:56 Culture as the antidote

49:00 Dark-activated behaviour

51:52 How culture can activate destructive behaviour

57:20 "What if I'm one of them?"

59:42 Working alongside a dark leader

1:03:00 Containment and behaviour management

1:06:39 Why not simply let them go?

1:08:04 The three outcomes of containment

1:11:00 Can people with dark traits change?

1:12:41 The worst advice for dealing with dark traits

1:16:52 Where the hope comes from

1:19:01 Boundaries are not negotiations

1:22:30 Where to learn more about Ted

1:23:37 The invisible force behind leadership success

1:27:27 Closing reflections

Prefer to watch? Find the full video episode of The Executive Commute on the Level 52 Inc. YouTube channel.

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

In Episode #117 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by Level 52 coach and facilitator Chris Foy to explore the power of questions and why strong leadership often requires letting go of the need to have every answer.

Chris explains the shift many leaders must make after being promoted for their expertise: moving from the person who solves the problem to the leader who creates the conditions for other experts to think, decide, and grow. Questions can build agency, accountability, curiosity, and capability, but only when they come from genuine wonder rather than an attempt to steer someone toward a predetermined answer.

Jayson and Chris unpack the difference between high-impact questions and leading or "ninja" questions, why "what" often creates more exploration than "why," and when asking too many questions can actually undermine leadership. They also examine the role of clarity in crisis moments and situations where a leader simply needs to set direction.

Chris introduces the WATCH framework for stronger questions: Wonder, Accountability, Transformation, Challenge, and High Impact. The conversation also explores discovery listening, the danger of rescuing people or "stealing the lift," and the shift from problem solving to solution enabling.

Episode timestamps:

00:00 The power of questions

00:31 Chris Foy's path to leadership coaching

01:28 Why leaders need to ask more and answer less

03:16 Defining high-impact questions

03:50 Questions as a quest for understanding

04:48 Leading with wonder

07:00 Leading questions and micromanagement

08:44 From expert leader to leader of experts

10:03 The pressure to signal certainty

12:35 Good questions versus bad questions

14:19 Creating safety and agency

16:02 Helping people find their own answers

18:13 Rescuing people and stealing growth

20:33 What it means to "steal the lift"

23:46 Questions that activate growth

25:17 Why "what" can work better than "why"

26:10 Ninja questions and the need for clarity

27:42 Do more questions equal better leadership?

29:29 When too many questions hurt leadership

32:53 Great leaders do not have all the answers

35:09 Finding the right question before the answer

36:00 Leading outside your technical expertise

39:07 What makes a question hard?

40:43 Chris Foy's WATCH framework

42:00 The pause after a powerful question

43:35 Simple questions, significant impact

43:54 Challenge, discomfort, and ego

46:07 Smartest person or best question asker?

47:41 Problem solving versus solution enabling

48:41 Where leaders should start

50:01 Discovery listening

51:56 The worst advice about questions

53:05 Balancing questions with clear direction

54:05 Pushing the frontiers of your leadership

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

In Episode #116 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by Murray Rodgers, author of The Psychedelic CEO, for a conversation about coherence, internal fragmentation, and the inner state leaders carry into every room

Murray describes coherence as a state with less conflict between our thoughts, emotions, and actions. It is not simply calmness. It is the ability to stay present, anchored in what feels true, and responsive to what a moment actually requires.

Drawing from his own experience of career success, depression, psychedelic work, being fired from a company he founded, and a decade of deeper personal work, Murray explains how external achievement can coexist with internal fragmentation.

Jayson and Murray explore why leaders transmit their internal state to teams, how anger and anxiety can become signals worth listening to, why truth can carry real social and professional costs, and what it takes to reduce the noise that keeps us disconnected from ourselves.

They also examine the role of psychedelics, breath, integration, and presence in Murray's journey, along with a central leadership question: can you remain coherent in a fragmented or toxic environment without simply avoiding what needs to change?

Episode timestamps:

00:34 Coherence and personal scar tissue

01:08 What internal fragmentation feels like

02:30 The primary wound and the authentic self

04:04 The path to The Psychedelic CEO

07:53 Why leadership development misses the inner state

09:50 Finding the signal in the noise

11:06 Defining coherence

12:01 What coherence feels like

13:49 Friction, achievement, and inner peace

15:17 Transforming emotion through integration

16:06 What fragmented leaders do to teams

18:39 Anger, joy, and the inner dialogue

20:12 Psychedelics and self-knowledge

21:32 The work of integration

24:15 What people misunderstand about coherence

25:37 Truth and the cost of coherence

26:55 The golden column of being

27:47 Presence as coherence

29:52 When standing in truth costs you

31:05 Coherence and responsibility for impact

32:00 Being fired for taking a stand

34:29 Imposter syndrome and ignored parts of self

35:09 Recognizing the quieter voice

36:15 The grass is greener on the inside

37:28 Would you rather: coherence or shared values?

39:02 Can you stay coherent in a toxic culture?

40:48 When coherence becomes ineffective

42:17 How to know you need more coherence

43:57 The simplest practice: breathe differently

45:13 What coherence feels like in practice

46:55 What coherent communities make possible

48:10 The worst advice about coherence

49:15 Less noise, more space

50:54 Slowing down to find the signal

52:31 The invisible force behind leadership success

53:55 Where to find Murray

Learn more about Murray Rodgers: www.thepsychedelicceo.com

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

In Episode #114 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by Cathie Saroka, Level 52 Coach and Facilitator and CEO of Goldray Glass, for a conversation about leading through uncertainty without carrying the weight alone.

Cathie has spent decades leading through recessions, business volatility, personal challenges, the pandemic, and constant change. Her experience has taught her that strong leadership in uncertain times is not about projecting certainty or having every answer. It is about building a team that can think, challenge, adapt, and solve problems together.

Jayson and Cathie explore why uncertainty creates fear and unproductive stories, how leaders can create clarity without pretending to know what comes next, and why values, trust, collaboration, and scenario planning become critical when information is incomplete.

They also examine the danger of theatrical certainty, the difference between composure and competence, why leaders need to make decisions with minimal viable information, and how to create an environment where people feel safe enough to surface the ideas and concerns that leaders need to hear.

Episode timestamps:

00:52 The myth of leading through uncertainty alone
03:12 Building a company in constant uncertainty
06:29 Choosing what deserves your focus
08:52 Cathie's experience as a "wartime CEO"
09:43 Leading Goldray Glass through the pandemic
12:20 What worked and what Cathie would change
14:28 Defining leadership through uncertainty
17:20 Creating conditions for adaptability
18:14 When following the plan becomes the problem
24:15 The danger of theatrical certainty
25:45 Cathie's biggest leadership mistake
29:02 Trusting your gut under pressure
30:21 What leaders misunderstand about control
33:08 Warning signs a leader is struggling
35:07 Scenario planning through best, worst, and likely outcomes
39:19 Building the team before uncertainty arrives
45:04 Composure, transparency, and vulnerability
47:56 Making decisions with minimal viable information
50:56 Using values to make decisions in chaos
54:13 Why the team matters more than having all the answers
59:56 Cathie's final lesson for leaders

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

In Episode #113 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by Level 52 coach and facilitator Lara Koretsky for an honest exploration of resilience, adversity, and growth.

Resilience is often described as the ability to bounce back or keep pushing when life becomes difficult. Lara challenges that definition. True resilience is not about returning to who you were before adversity or ignoring the toll it has taken. It is the ability to learn, adapt, recover, and create something stronger from the experience.

Drawing from profound personal loss, family challenges, burnout, career transitions, and years of developing leaders, Lara explains why resilience is not a fixed personality trait. It is a capacity that can be strengthened.

Jayson and Lara explore the five pillars of resilience, the difference between grit and grind, why workplaces often reward the wrong behaviours, and how perseverance can become toxic when it causes people to tolerate the intolerable.

They also examine an important leadership tension: how do you challenge people to grow without rescuing them, overwhelming them, or carrying their backpack for them?

Episode timestamps:

00:00 What resilience really is

00:40 Lara's experience with adversity

01:51 Resilience is a muscle

02:23 Lessons from Lara's father

03:24 Medical assistance in dying

04:21 Creativity through grief

06:21 Lara's career journey

08:58 Feeling least resilient

10:10 Learning from rejected feedback

11:19 The kintsugi metaphor

13:35 Moving beyond "bouncing back"

15:19 Owning your role in adversity

16:35 Defining resilience

16:45 Why grinding through is not resilience

17:31 Choosing where to persist

19:30 Recovery creates growth

20:13 Myths about resilience

21:09 When organizations reward burnout

23:28 Why leaders wait until it is too late

25:22 Building resilience proactively

25:31 The five pillars of resilience

29:09 Humour versus avoidance

30:29 Stealing opportunities for growth

31:38 Do not carry someone else's backpack

34:04 Choosing hope

35:22 Choice within resilience

35:57 The downside of resilience

37:47 Can resilience prevent growth?

40:58 Toxic perseverance

42:18 Grit versus grind

43:11 Knowing when to keep going

44:24 Strategic quitting

45:22 Organizational responsibility for resilience

46:08 Expanding people's capacity

47:50 Workload and real priorities

49:03 Why recovery is essential

49:29 Resilience and stress exposure

50:58 Training adaptability

51:50 How organizations create fragility

53:37 Hiring for resilience

54:48 Where leaders should begin

56:29 The worst resilience advice

56:45 The key lesson

57:09 Writing your resilience story

59:03 Stepping into the real work

60:00 Closing reflections

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In Episode #112 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by experienced entrepreneur, former CEO, and TEC Canada Chair Mark Terrill for a candid conversation about transparency in leadership.

They explore why transparency is essential for building trust, particularly during difficult periods, and why employees create their own explanations when leaders fail to communicate clearly.

Mark also explains why effective transparency does not mean sharing everything. Leaders must balance openness with confidentiality, timing, focus, and empathy. When handled poorly, transparency can become oversharing, venting, or an overload of information that creates more fear than alignment.

This episode will challenge you to consider what your team needs to hear, what you may be withholding, and how more intentional communication could strengthen your leadership.

Episode timestamps:

00:00 Can a leader become more transparent?
01:13 The cost of holding back
06:43 Why transparency builds trust
09:45 Transparency versus full disclosure
11:47 Mark's leadership journey
22:14 What transparency really means
26:22 Why openness is mistaken for weakness
31:04 What breaks when transparency is missing
31:54 Leading transparently through tough times
34:04 The illusion of transparency
36:55 Becoming a more transparent leader
37:48 Mark's greatest moment of self-doubt
42:10 Spotting a lack of transparency
44:42 Advanced transparency
49:03 The dark side of transparency
52:00 Transparency versus venting
54:04 The transparency paradox
56:01 When total transparency becomes harmful
58:21 Getting transparency right
61:37 Can transparency reduce honesty?
64:09 Damaging transparency advice
65:37 Can transparent leaders fail?
66:43 The importance of pivoting quickly
68:38 Final takeaway

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/