#119: Human Flourishing

In Episode #124 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause brings together four ideas from Champions Summit 2026 and recent conversations that challenge how leaders make decisions, respond to pressure, and find their place. From making difficult trade-offs to finding an advantage in insecurity, Jayson examines practical ways to respond to urgency, question assumptions, and build a stronger sense of belonging. First, drawing on his conversation with Jill Urbanoski, Jayson argues that prioritization is not just about what matters. It is about making trade-offs explicit. An "even over" statement helps teams choose between two worthwhile outcomes before competing priorities pull them in different directions. Next, Jayson reflects on a thought shared by CFO panellist Eileen Marikar at Champions Summit: insecurity can be an advantage. When it prompts preparation, listening, and better questions, doubt can become a useful signal rather than something to hide. Then comes a practical experiment inspired by Linda Radner's experience in emergency care. Keep a one-week triage log of every supposed emergency and sort it into three categories: "bleeding out," "urgent care," or "go home." How many situations truly need an immediate response? Finally, Nimrat Dhariwal challenges the assumption that belonging depends on someone else's approval. What changes when you decide you belong first? Jayson also highlights Level 52's upgraded Leader 360, which connects colleague feedback with an organization's priorities, values, goals, and KPIs. Together, these ideas offer practical ways to lead with greater clarity and awareness. Episode timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:52 When everything is important, what actually wins? 05:29 Your insecurity might be your advantage 08:07 The one-week triage-log experiment 11:35 Belong to yourself first 14:26 The new Leader 360 Prefer to watch? Find the full video episode of The Executive Commute on the Level 52 Inc. YouTube channel. Learn more about Level 52 Inc.: https://www.level52.ca/ Subscribe to Level 52 Inc. on YouTube for full conversations, clips, and more leadership content. Follow Jayson Krause LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

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 Prefer to watch? Find the full video episode of The Executive Commute on the Level 52 Inc. YouTube channel. Learn more about Nimrat Dhariwal: https://www.level52.ca/about/ Subscribe to Level 52 Inc. on YouTube for full conversations, clips, and more leadership  

In Episode #122 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by prioritization expert Jill Urbanoski, owner of Euda Prioritize, to explore why strategy succeeds or fails in the trade-offs leaders make after the plan is set.   Jill spent years as a chief of staff to a CEO and sat on an executive team at a large finance organization. That experience gave her a front-row view of how strategy, decision-making, competing priorities, and limited resources collide in real organizations. Her central argument is simple: prioritization is not a list. It is the practice of deciding which good thing wins when two good things are in tension.   Jayson and Jill unpack strategy-led prioritization, the role values play in difficult decisions, and Jill's use of "even over" statements to make trade-offs explicit. They also explore psychological safety, decision rights, sunk costs, why stopping work is so difficult, how leaders can prioritize under pressure, and what "disagree and commit" looks like after a decision is made.   The conversation ultimately comes back to execution. A brilliant strategy can still fail when leaders do not have the structures, language, and discipline to make clear trade-offs and communicate them consistently.   Episode timestamps:   00:00 Meet Jill and why prioritization is her focus 01:34 What prioritization really means 03:59 What leaders mistake for prioritization 05:33 Competing priorities across an executive team 06:03 Strategy-led prioritization 10:56 Why prioritization determines strategic success 12:51 Staying adaptable without losing the strategy 15:50 Why smart leaders struggle to prioritize 18:17 Making the implicit explicit 21:15 Psychological safety and hard trade-offs 24:43 How values shape priorities 26:43 The "even over" method 31:06 Sunk costs and knowing when to stop 35:04 Why subtraction matters 37:49 Resolving competing priorities 41:23 Can everything be the number-one priority? 43:52 Prioritizing under pressure and uncertainty 46:02 Deciding what deserves your time and energy 48:08 What to ask before accepting a new commitment 52:03 Applying "even over" to a major transformation 57:38 Prioritization true or false 59:25 Where leadership teams should start 1:00:22 Why consensus is a myth 1:02:29 The worst prioritization advice 1:03:34 Communicating priorities after the decision 1:05:47 What "disagree and commit" actually means 1:07:29 The one prioritization principle to remember 1:08:11 Where to find Jill Urbanoski   Prefer to watch? Find the full video episode of The Executive Commute on the Level 52 Inc. YouTube channel.   Learn more about Jill Urbanoski: https://eudaprioritize.com   Subscribe to Level 52 Inc. on YouTube for full conversations, clips, and more leadership content.   Follow Jayson Krause LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

In Episode #121 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by business and enterprise value creation coach Linda Ratner to explore resilience in leadership, life, and business, and why a resilient company cannot depend on the owner carrying everything alone.   Linda's path spans emergency-room nursing, entrepreneurship, scaling Impact Urgent Care to seven locations, selling to private equity, and eventually coaching business owners and leadership teams. She explains how triage, staying calm under pressure, setting clear priorities, building accountability, and putting the right people in the right roles became essential leadership disciplines.   The conversation then goes deeper into Linda's personal story. She shares experiences of childhood instability, abuse, loss, and rebuilding her life after leaving home with $200. Her perspective on resilience is not about ignoring hardship. It is about maintaining faith that circumstances can change, taking ownership of what you can control, and continuing to act even when the path forward is difficult.   Jayson and Linda connect that personal resilience back to business: culture must be modelled, difficult conversations require clear standards, owners need to let go of work others can own, and resilience has to be distributed across people, systems, financial discipline, and leadership accountability.   Content note: This episode includes discussion of childhood abuse, sexual abuse, addiction, and suicide.   Episode timestamps:   00:00 From ER nurse to business coach 03:12 Triage, calm, and decision-making under pressure 08:20 Building structure around priorities and accountability 10:23 Why leaders do not need to do everything themselves 12:00 What Linda learned about being a CEO 13:27 Lessons from the ER and developing people 18:32 What makes a business owner coachable 19:50 Difficult conversations and broken promises 21:26 Why leaders avoid accountability 24:57 Ownership starts with the leader 27:15 Living your values and modelling culture 30:40 Staying connected as a company grows 32:20 What CEOs need to stop doing 35:34 Linda's earliest experiences with hardship 37:00 Childhood instability and learning to cope 39:13 Leaving home and building a new life 43:24 Making meaning after sexual abuse 45:44 Putting herself through school without guidance 48:13 Discovering resilience 49:21 Linda's definition of resilience 51:05 Taking ownership of your life 54:48 Grief, anger, and loss 56:52 The mindset that carried Linda through adversity 58:35 Purpose and helping others 1:00:35 What hardship taught her about control 1:03:11 Agency, acceptance, and what you can control 1:05:24 Building a resilient business beyond the owner 1:06:56 Where to find Linda Ratner   Prefer to watch? Find the full video episode of The Executive Commute on the Level 52 Inc. YouTube channel.   Learn more about Linda Ratner: https://www.ratnerconsult.com   Subscribe to Level 52 Inc. on YouTube for full conversations, clips, and more leadership content.   Follow Jayson Krause LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

In Episode #120 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause steps back from four recent conversations to ask one leadership question: what actually changes people?   Across discussions with Steve Rice, Dr. Ted Vokes, Chris Foy, and Murray Rodgers, a pattern emerges. Leaders often spend their energy trying to improve behaviour directly, but the stronger lever may be the conditions that shape behaviour in the first place.   Jayson revisits Steve Rice's case for human empowerment over human resources and why engagement efforts can miss the deeper relationship between people and their work. He then draws on Dr. Ted Vokes' work on dark traits and dark-activated behaviour to explore how culture can influence whether harmful patterns spread inside a team.   From there, the episode turns practical. Jayson shares a two-week coaching experiment inspired by Chris Foy: ask one frontier-pushing question, ask only one question at a time, and leave enough silence for thinking to happen. He closes with Murray Rodgers' reframing of imposter syndrome and the idea that the grass may be greener on the inside.   The episode also includes a preview of Champions Summit and a reminder about Level 52 leadership offsites.   Episode timestamps:   00:00 Four conversations, one leadership question 05:09 Culture, dark traits, and the 20% + 20% 09:48 The frontier question and the coaching experiment 14:46 The grass is greener on the inside   Prefer to watch? Find the full video episode of The Executive Commute on the Level 52 Inc. YouTube channel.   Subscribe to Level 52 Inc. on YouTube for full conversations, clips, and more leadership content.   Follow Jayson Krause LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

In Episode #119 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by educator and human flourishing advocate Steve Rice to explore what it means to live, work, and lead from the inside out.   Steve shares how his own path moved from achievement, external validation, and a career that did not feel like an authentic fit toward a life centred on calling, purpose, and work as an expression of who he is. He describes the difference between living from the outside in and the inside out, and why fear often remains present when people move toward meaningful growth.   The conversation explores Steve's faith-informed view of human flourishing, including the shift from achieving to receiving, the role of spirituality and historical wisdom traditions, and his distinction between positional and possessional leadership. Jayson and Steve also examine how those ideas translate into organizations through human empowerment, spaces for ideas, and cultures that help people become more fully themselves.   They discuss the Office of Possibilities, Humanitas, disruptive innovation, and why new ideas may need to be built separately but in service to the larger organization. Steve also explains why human flourishing is not simply self-improvement, using the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly as a metaphor for becoming something fundamentally different rather than polishing the current version of yourself.   The episode closes by connecting human flourishing to AI and the future of work. Steve argues that technological progress should be paired with an equally intentional effort to rediscover what it means to be human, framing this moment as the beginning of a possible human revolution.   Episode timestamps:   00:02 Human flourishing, innovation, and humanpreneurship 00:31 Steve Rice's path to human flourishing 03:16 Learning to listen to your life 04:41 When work becomes joy 05:35 Is your work an expression of who you are? 07:59 Saying yes to a calling 09:58 Making fear your ally 12:39 Preparing people for an unknown future 14:00 Drawing out what is already inside people 16:14 Vertical versus horizontal living 17:49 Spirituality beyond religious language 20:13 The Office of Possibilities 22:47 Rediscovering desires beneath obligation 23:10 A practical 10-minute reflection practice 24:59 Achieving versus receiving 30:15 Agency, participation, and relationship 35:53 Positional versus possessional leadership 37:42 The personal and societal cost of outside-in living 39:25 When the vertical informs the horizontal 43:53 Human empowerment versus exploitation 45:40 Building an expression-driven culture 48:10 An Office of Possibilities inside an organization 49:16 Building a human flourishing academy 51:49 Why the work of flourishing is messy 54:53 Building innovation on the edge 57:35 Separate, but in service to the organization 59:16 What human flourishing actually means 1:03:46 Why a better version of yourself is not enough 1:07:03 Human flourishing and organizational flourishing 1:09:52 Will AI help or hinder human flourishing? 1:11:45 The business case for human flourishing 1:16:38 Exploitation versus expression 1:17:06 The human revolution 1:20:29 Where to learn more about Steve Rice 1:21:29 Leadership through the lens of human flourishing   Prefer to watch? Find the full video episode of The Executive Commute on the Level 52 Inc. YouTube channel.   Subscribe to Level 52 Inc. on YouTube for full conversations, clips, and more leadership content.   Follow Jayson Krause LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

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. Follow Level 52 Inc. on YouTube for full conversations, clips, and more leadership content. Follow Jayson Krause 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 Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Voc2qOmcqGKfqy6CDiZOw 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 Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Voc2qOmcqGKfqy6CDiZOw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/  

It's been a busy summer at Level 52. Rather than publishing our regular August newsletter, we spent the month recording conversations for The Executive Commute podcast with leaders, entrepreneurs and coaches who challenged my thinking in unexpected ways. Some conversations confirmed things I believed. Others completely overturned them. This month's newsletter is a collection of ideas I haven't been able to shake.