Executive Commute With 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

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

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 psychede

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. 

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 t

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 leadershi

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 fu

A 360-degree review told Tyler Chisholm exactly what was wrong with his leadership: he filled every room, jumped to conclusions, and never let his team finish a sentence. His team had stopped contributing. They were just waiting to be told what to do. In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause talks with Tyler Chisholm, CEO and author of Curious as Hell, about the moment that feedback forced him to rebuild how he leads. Tyler unpacks the difference between the leader he was in the boardroom and the host he'd become on his own podcast, and how closing that gap turned curiosity from a personality trait into a daily discipline. They get into where curiosity actually helps, where it gets weaponized into control, and what it takes to build a team that feels safe enough to think out loud. They cover: The feedback that forced a leadership reset Curiosity as a practice, not a trait: self, relational, and strategic curiosity How questions get weaponized to control instead of learning Where curiosity fail

Empathy gets treated like a personality trait: you either have it or you don't. Roxana Radulescu, Level 52 coach and facilitator, argues that's wrong. It's a muscle, and most leaders are either overusing it, avoiding it, or using it to avoid the hard conversation instead of having it. In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause talks with Roxana about what empathy actually is (her definition: care plus trust), what it isn't (sympathy, agreement, an excuse to skip feedback), and where it goes wrong at the top of organizations. They dig into a Yale psychologist's argument that empathy fuels bias and tribalism, why holding more power tends to erode it, and whether "care first" leadership is a real strategy or just a nicer way to describe layoffs. They cover: - Empathy defined: care plus trust, not sympathy - The line between empathy and judgment - The case against empathy: bias, favoritism, and in-group tribalism - Why power erodes empathy (and what that means for executives) - Empathy's role in high

Welcome to The Meaningful Leader — July Edition. This month, we're looking at the invisible forces that shape how leaders and teams actually perform: the standards we fail to define, the belonging we misunderstand, the thinking environments we create, and the warning lights we ignore. Three of this month's sections were sparked by great conversations I had on The Executive Commute with Level 52 coach and facilitator - Jessica Heafey, Flow state advisor - Dr. Murray Heber, and author of Reality Check - Dr. Tianne Foster. Links to each full discussion are below. https://www.level52.ca/podcast-linktree  But the thread running through all of them is simple: meaningful leadership is not built by using better words. It's built by confronting what those words actually require. High performance. Belonging. Flow. Burnout. We throw these terms around like their meanings are obvious. They're not. And when leaders don't define them clearly, teams are left guessing, pretending, protecting, or quietly drifting. Let's get i

Most leaders think burnout comes from too much work. So they respond with wellness programs, lighter workloads, and lunch hour yoga. Then nothing changes. In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause sits down with Dr. Tianne Foster, physician, burnout researcher, and author of Reality Check, to unpack what actually drives burnout and why most organizations are solving the wrong problem. Trained across Canada, the US, and the UK, Dr. Foster became obsessed with burnout after a senior physician told her entire class to get out of medicine while they still could. Her conclusion: burnout isn't an individual weakness. It's a mismatch between people and the environment they work in, and it starts with leadership. In this episode: The six workplace factors that drive burnout (workload is only one of them) Why nurses turn down pay raises in toxic workplaces, and what that means for retention How to tell the difference between burnout, depression, and a hard season Why treating burnout as an individual

    Belonging gets mistaken for everyone getting along. But what if a team with no conflict is the clearest sign that belonging is missing? In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause sits down with Level 52 coach and facilitator Jessica Heafey to explore belonging, what it is, what it isn't, and the mistakes leaders make trying to create it. Drawing on a career that began in professional theatre, Jessica explains why being hired is not the same as belonging, why the difference between kind and nice matters more than most leaders realize, and why real belonging asks for discomfort rather than comfort. She and Jayson dig into the business case behind loneliness and disengagement, whether belonging has to be earned every day, what cults get structurally right and dangerously wrong, and the smallest first move any leader can make to turn things around.  

Most leaders think better performance comes from working harder. Dr. Murray Heber argues that mindset may be a much bigger factor than effort. In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause and Dr. Murray Heber explore the science of flow state, why high performers burn out, and how leaders can create the conditions for peak performance without relying on constant pressure. They discuss the difference between playing to win and playing not to lose, why curiosity is one of the most powerful tools available to leaders, and how confusion can sometimes be the pattern interrupt needed to break cycles of stress, anxiety, and overthinking. This conversation explores: what flow state actually is why grinding eventually stops working how leaders unintentionally block performance the relationship between curiosity and creativity why urgency can undermine innovation how to create the conditions for team flow Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JaysonKrauseLeadership File lives here: https

Most leaders are waiting to feel ready before they act. That mindset may be the thing keeping them stuck. In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause unpacks four leadership ideas from this month's Meaningful Leader newsletter and explores the deeper patterns underneath them. He breaks down why high-performing leaders struggle to stop carrying other people's work, why motivation follows action, how leaders mislabel emotions under pressure, and why "just be yourself" is often terrible leadership advice. This episode is about leadership under pressure, internal discipline, and the hidden patterns that quietly shape how leaders operate every day. Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JaysonKrauseLeadership 

Most people think motivation is something you either have or you don't. Alec Harrison argues the opposite. In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause sits down with Emmy-nominated composer Alec Harrison to unpack what motivation really is, why waiting for it is dangerous, and how action itself creates momentum. Drawing on his experience composing music for Monday Night Football, the FIFA World Cup, film, and television, Alec shares how his relationship with motivation evolved from chasing external validation to reconnecting with the love of the craft itself. They explore why many people quit too early, the danger of tying motivation to outcomes, and why meaningful progress often comes from simply "winning the day." Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JaysonKrauseLeadership LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

Most leaders think authenticity means "just be yourself." Julie Dupont argues it's much more disciplined than that. In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause and executive coach Julie Dupont unpack what authenticity really is, why many leaders misunderstand it, and how authenticity without self-awareness can quickly become destructive. They explore the tension between belonging and staying true to yourself, why emotional intelligence is essential to authentic leadership, and how leaders can stay grounded in their values without becoming rigid or performative. Julie also shares why authenticity takes courage, especially when standing firm comes with discomfort or rejection. Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JaysonKrauseLeadership LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/  

Emotional intelligence gets sold as the soft side of leadership. Most leaders either dismiss it or try to become warmer. Liz Doyle Harmer argues both responses miss the point entirely.   In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause sits down with transformational leadership coach and facilitator Liz Doyle Harmer to unpack what emotional intelligence actually demands of leaders and why the conventional approach to developing it is failing.   Liz coaches leaders and teams in fast-moving, high-stakes environments, and her work is built around a counterintuitive premise: what teams need from their leaders isn't a safer space, it's a braver one. In this episode:   Why emotional intelligence is a precision skill, not a personality trait The difference between a "safe" team culture and a "brave" one How leaders mistake warmth for genuine emotional skill What actually unlocks human potential in complex, fast-moving environments   The EQ capacity most leaders systematically underinvest in   Follow Jayson Kr

Most leaders are carrying patterns they know need to change. They see the gap. They want the reset. Then Monday shows up, the old habits walk right back in dressed as obligation, and the door gets opened anyway.   In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause synthesizes three conversations he hasn't been able to stop thinking about, with Dr. Nick Egan, Dr. Mike Peters, and Morgan Alexander, and builds them into one question worth sitting with: what part of your leadership needs to die, and are you actually willing to leave it dead?   In this episode:   - Why emotional reactivity is a gamble, not a leadership strategy   -The question that works better than "how do I want to show up?" when you're already triggered   -Why confidence built on competence eventually cracks   -The three words a CEO said that cracked his room wide open   -The values forensics test: what your calendar and bank statements reveal about what you actually value   -Why chasing values you don't hold leaves your real ones sitting

Most leaders think confidence comes from competence Dr. Nick Egan argues the opposite. In this episode of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause and executive coach Dr. Nick Egan unpack what real confidence is, why many leaders build brittle confidence based on competence, and how authentic confidence comes from internal resourcefulness instead. They explore why panic shuts down possibility, why "fake it till you make it" often backfires, and how leaders can develop confidence that holds up in unpredictable situations. Dr. Nick Egan is an executive coach and the author of Shift: The Art of Transforming Limitations, working with senior leaders across organizations including SpaceX, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JaysonKrauseLeadership LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/