This episode is part of Podcasthon 2026, a coordinated global effort where thousands of podcasters dedicate one episode to raising awareness for a cause they deeply care about. In this episode, Claire Hayek introduces Leadership for All, an initiative by Mind. Soul. Purpose. Teambuilding that provides free access to neuroscience-based leadership development programs for underrepresented leaders, entrepreneurs, and communities. Claire shares her personal leadership journey, from growing up in war-time Lebanon to navigating high-stakes engineering and executive leadership environments. She explains how chronic pressure shapes the nervous system, why access to regulation tools matters, and how leadership skills ripple far beyond job titles. This episode invites listeners to rethink who leadership development is for, and how access changes everything.
00:00 – Why access matters in leadership
02:00 – Podcasthon and the purpose of this episode
03:00 – Claire’s leadership story and early pressure
06:00 – Engineering, high stakes, and regulation
09:00 – Who performs best under pressure and why
11:00 – Leadership for All explained
14:00 – Why access changes trajectories
17:00 – Why awareness itself is leadership
18:30 – How to get involved and next steps
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Podcasting for good: Why leadership should be for everyone.
[00:00:00] There are moments in leadership where you realize something very, very clearly. The problem might not be talent, it might not be motivation. Maybe the problem is access. I have met extraordinary people over the years. They're smart, they're capable, they're driven, and they're deeply committed.
[00:00:27] And I've watched them stall. Second guess themselves, have the imposter syndrome or just quietly burn out. And um, it's not because they lacked that potential, but because they never had. Access to the tools, the language, or the mental frameworks and resets that many leaders actually have and take for granted this episode exists because of that gap, and it [00:01:00] also exists because this week, thousands of podcasters around the world are doing something.
[00:01:07] Very special and rare. They're using their voice for something bigger than just content.
[00:01:23] Welcome to the NeuroLeadership Edge. I'm Claire Hayek. I'm a NeuroLeadership expert, TEDx speaker, founder of Mind, soul Purpose Team Building, and my work focuses on one thing, pressure breaks, leadership and team performance. We all know. And I designed the systems that actually prevent it. This show is about what actually happens in your brain when the stakes are high, and how to stay clear, anchored, grounded, and effective, and lead and show up with calm authority no matter what.[00:02:00]
[00:02:00] This episode is a little different. The NeuroLeadership Edge is very happy to participate in the fourth edition of podcast on for one week. Thousands of podcasts around the world are releasing special episodes to highlight a charity or initiative. They care deeply about. This is a coordinated global effort.
[00:02:27] It's very exciting. We're, we're not really fundraising. There's no transactions happening. It's just simply awareness, storytelling, and pure impact. Podcast on exists because traditional ways of supporting causes often reach the same small circles again and again and podcasting. Well, it does something different.
[00:02:52] As you already know. It reaches people quietly, whether you're listening to it in cars or you're taking a walk and listening. [00:03:00] Um, maybe you're just. Taking time off and moments of reflection and you, you go on, uh, the, the podcast of your choice and listen to something inspiring. It builds trust through voice.
[00:03:14] And this year I chose to dedicate this episode to an initiative that sits at the core of my work and my values, the program leadership for all. I did not grow up. Um. With my whole future mapped up for me, I didn't have a roadmap. Um, let me just take you back. So I, I grew up in, literally in uncertainty. I learned early what pressure feels like and the body, literally what it feels like when safety feels.
[00:03:51] Just like a temporary thing. It's not part of your day to day when decisions matter earlier than they should. Uh, and, and I'll, [00:04:00] I'll elaborate a little more on that. Uh, I grew up in Beirut and Beirut, Lebanon, uh, during the war, the Civil War, and, um. I'll tell you one thing, you know, that, that experience as a child shaped who I am today.
[00:04:15] Um, I constantly, uh, myself as well as my sisters and my family, we constantly lived in an uncertainty. We didn't know when we had to run for our life. Uh, at any moment, you know, we would hear news that, you know, brace for yourselves. You have to, uh, uh, run to the shelter. Because you know, they're anticipating, um, some attack of some sort.
[00:04:40] Um, when you're a child, you don't quite understand what's happening, but you can watch people around you and see how this is affecting your environment. And so your nervous system adapts to it, and this kind of becomes normal. It becomes your day to day. And, [00:05:00] uh, I have to say that. As a ward child, and I'm sure a lot of ward children out there or, or people that have lived through the war, whether you are a parent or a child, no matter what your age, uh, was at the time, uh, it does shape you in one way or another.
[00:05:17] And it does build resilience. It it, it gives you that ability to. Buffer in the pressure and reset and turn it into, into something that's gonna serve you and help you. And that's the only way to turn this experience into something that you can grow from. 'cause otherwise, what other choice do you have? I mean, you know, you, you gotta work through your trauma.
[00:05:46] You gotta face the fact that this has affected you in a way. It's not about pretending it didn't exist. It's actually quite the opposite. But I don't wanna linger on on that. Let, let me continue with my story. And, and again, I'm very [00:06:00] open. If any of you wanna share their, your stories or comment, please do so.
[00:06:05] I'd love to hear from you. I think it's very important to talk about these things. Well then, let's fast forward. We moved to, uh, Montreal in Canada. And of course, you know, there was, was the, the land where, you know, safety existed. Uh, uh, social security, we, we felt safe. We felt like there was hope. We could learn, we could grow, we can have a normal life.
[00:06:29] And thank you. Thank God for this. Um, and while I did is as I went to school, uh, later in my career, I chose really to study in engineering. And ironically, I chose an environment that is high pressure. Um, it's, it's engineering corporate systems. Um, I mean. Deadlines were so important. A missed deadline meant [00:07:00] millions of dollars that were lost.
[00:07:01] If you weren't collaborating, working effectively, if you weren't communicating well, um, if you were in your in focus grounded and your clear, clear focus, um, your decisions could be affected again. Resulting in, in a lot of money lost because of mistakes that could be prevented. So regulating under pressure was, was something that is extreme, was extremely necessary.
[00:07:30] And I wish, and I really wish that, um, people talk more about this. 'cause had I known at the time when I was much younger and, and working in engineering, I actually worked 20 plus years in engineering. Had I known how to manage my pressure, how to. Reset and turn any high pressure, high stake situation, um, within seconds into, uh, into calm authority, then I mean, I would've saved myself a lot of trouble and a [00:08:00] lot of, um, uh, headache really, but.
[00:08:05] I am a true believer that life happens for you and, and, uh, your experiences shapes who you are. And I think I probably wouldn't be sitting here talking to you about all this if I hadn't lived it myself, so absolutely no regrets. Uh, what I have liked it to be different. Absolutely. But you know what? Maybe this is what I needed to go through in order to be here and have a bigger impact because I have a story to tell because I lived through this, because I walk, I'm walking the talk.
[00:08:34] So let's look at, you know, quickly my, my, my, uh, experience in engineering. Uh, I took on a lot of leadership roles, a lot of responsibility, managing projects, managing teams, managing people at different levels of the organization where I need, I needed to be focused when I needed to be clear minded. Um, and, and it was hard to access, like I mentioned.
[00:08:57] But what I noticed again and again was this. [00:09:00] The people who actually performed best under pressure were not the most confident on paper. They were the ones who had, um, probably learned how to regulate, regulate themselves internally. They were able, they had that internal resilience to snap out of the stress, survival, fight or flight mode and back into their, um, an anchor grounded, excuse me, authority.
[00:09:28] Which I call our brain, CEO. Um, our prefrontal cortex
[00:09:35] had to grab some water here, so they had, uh, probably ways of dealing with it that, that, you know, they had to learn. Um. They were able to express what was happening inside of them. They had tools to recover faster. They had mentors, coaches that they took on coaching or they had ex exposure. Maybe that helped them make sense of pressure rather than fall, uh, a victim to it.[00:10:00]
[00:10:01] At the same time, I kept meeting leaders and entrepreneurs from, uh, underrepresented backgrounds who were carrying more weight with way, way fewer tools. They didn't know, they didn't have access to these amazing tools that could really help, um, uh, bring them, uh, and help them play at, at a high level, at their potential, their full potential.
[00:10:26] So these entrepreneurs, they were leading teams. They were building businesses, they're supporting their family, they're holding responsibility, and they were doing it without access to the kind of support many executives quietly rely on. Now that. Unfairness and that disconnect really stayed with me and at a certain point it stopped feeling acceptable to keep it that way.
[00:10:49] And this is why I am here talking to you about the Leadership for All program. Leadership for all is simple and concept. And. [00:11:00] Very powerful. In practice. You all know I'm the founder and CEO of Mind, soul Purpose Team building. And at MSP Team building, we work with organizations and leadership teams and executives around the world. When a company chooses to work with us, a portion of that investment.
[00:11:17] Directly funds free access to our leadership development programs, uh, which we call Leadership for All. And this is for entrepreneurs, individuals, future leaders, young leaders, uh, and communities who would otherwise never have access to them. Uh, this translate into free access to, um, you know, paid webinars, uh, free access to masterclasses, to workshops, uh, free access to leadership tools that are, uh, science-based rooted in neuro neuroscience, um, in rooted in emotional regulation, clarity under pressure, and human performance.
[00:11:58] It also means [00:12:00] dignity. It is, um, not about framing it as charity. Um, it's really about giving back same standards, same quality, and same respect they, that any of our clients would receive. Therefore, it's not, the program is not. Specifically for underrepresented leaders that don't have access to these tools, they are mixed in with many leaders out there that can afford it and they have access to it.
[00:12:36] So they get a chance to learn and, um, and create a network and, and get to know leaders that are walking, uh, in their shoes. Um, but they have maybe, uh, better access to these tools. And this is very important to us. We really wanted to make sure that people felt that, um, they had the same access [00:13:00] without feeling small, uh, with a, you know, uh, a different type of quality for these, uh, this coaching and these masterclasses.
[00:13:10] So leadership for all exists because leadership skills. As we all know, shape lives far beyond our job titles. When someone learns how to regulate their nervous system, their relationships change. Uh, they gain clarity under pressure. Their decisions change when, when somebody believes they belong in leadership spaces and they, you know, uh, overcome the imposter syndrome, their whole uh.
[00:13:41] Trajectory changes. Their whole hope for success changes. How they show up changes who they're being is completely different. So this program allows our work to ripple outward leadership for all program. [00:14:00] And well, we are, as you all know, uh, it's very tough for me to talk about this because. I feel it's crazy times, but I'm gonna stop there.
[00:14:13] We are living in a time where pressure is just normal and I don't find that normal. And I don't know if some of you share this, but you know, we're talking about economic pressure, organizational pressure, identity pressure, um. And, and it, and it really affects all ages, especially young leaders, young entrepreneurs, um, people that are trying to figure out their future.
[00:14:39] And there's a lot of disruption with everything going on and really moving very fast. Uh, I find that leadership is, is being tested in real time and when access to leadership development, uh, remains kind of, uh, um. Out of the way, [00:15:00] limited to, and, you know, focused or that access is, is, is, is focused and limited to certain rooms with certain budgets or certain profiles?
[00:15:10] Well, we reinforce a system that is basically excluding voices that we need to be part of the, the conversation and leadership for all is our way of interrupting that pattern. That misaligned pattern. It says, leadership development belongs to people, not just organizations. It brings it back to young leaders, any leaders at any level.
[00:15:40] It says also that mental fitness belongs to everyone who carries responsibility. It says impact multiplies when access to these tools. Available to everyone and this access expands. Um, as you may know or may not know, our work has [00:16:00] been recognized through, um, multiple awards like the webe Canada Rising Star Award, the C-C-I-C-L Innovation Technology Award.
[00:16:09] We are also recognized by Cisco for the Resilience Award as a supplier, as a diverse supplier. So. We really worked hard to, and I, I believe that these recognitions matter and, but what matters more is the quiet shift that happens when someone realizes they are capable of more, they are capable of more than survival.
[00:16:40] They are capable of more than the limits that they set for themselves. When people also realize that they were self-sabotaging, that they don't necessarily have been running their [00:17:00] life and taking control of their life because their brain is running the show under survival, under, under fight or flight.
[00:17:09] So this episode is part of podcast on, because podcast on reminds us that awareness itself is an act of leadership. When you use your voice intentionally, it really truly matters. Listening intentionally matters, sharing stories that resonate, that widen access matters Now. If this episode resonated with you, I invite you to learn more about Leadership for All program through Mind, soul Purpose team building@mspteambuilding.ca.
[00:17:47] And you can also reach out to me@clairehayek.com. If you're listening to this on audio, you can also reach me and all my links, all my socials, uh, under my link tree [00:18:00] link. And if you're watching this on video, you'll see a QR code here that you could. Um, have access to all these tools and all these websites.
[00:18:07] It's all listed there. Please do scan the cord and, uh, the code and reach out. And I really truly invite you to explore the broader podcast on initiative. I mean, it's amazing what what this initiative is doing. And this is the fourth edition basically. I would like to, encourage you to follow the show, the NeuroLeadership Edge podcast and share this episode with anybody that you know that might.
[00:18:37] Benefit from our services and most importantly, they value what this leadership for All program is doing. And, for any other information, again, you can reach out to me personally. I'll leave my email as well, Claire at MSP teambuilding.
[00:18:53] Do say, or please do connect with me on LinkedIn. So do follow. Share this episode and this podcast. [00:19:00] And as always, we are here weekly and we got tons of value to add. But if you enjoyed this episode specifically, the whole podcast FA, , initiative, please feel free to visit a podcast fa.org. That's P-O-D-C-A-S-T-H-O n.org, so you can discover many other charities through the voices and talents of incredible.
[00:19:26] Podcasters around the world.
[00:19:29] Thank you all for listening. Thank you for caring and thank you for being part of leadership that reaches. Further lead boldly. Stay human and turn every challenge into a gift, and I'll see you next week. Bye.