Executive Commute With Jayson Krause

Hosted by Level 52 | Jayson Krause

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100

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Executive Commute with Jayson Krause is your one-stop podcast to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to leadership in today's volatile and complex business environment. Each episode delivers expert insights, along with practical advice, on navigating the changes and challenges you face as a leader. Learn about the science of high performance, how to design a culture of innovation, feedback techniques that will have an immediate impact, using gamification for better results—the list goes on and on. Think of this podcast as having an executive coach sharing coaching nudges, actionable insights, and valuable resources with you in a bite-size format.

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September 23, 20261 hr 27 min

#118: Evil and Dark Leadership

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/

September 16, 202655 min

#117: The Power of Questions

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/

September 9, 202654 min

#116: Coherence Is the Price of Being Trusted Under Pressure

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/

September 3, 202617 min

#115 The Best Leadership Lessons From My Summer Conversations

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.

August 20, 20261 hr 1 min

#114: Leading When Nothing Is Certain

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 Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Voc2qOmcqGKfqy6CDiZOw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

August 5, 20261 hr 0 min

#113: Resilience Is Not Toughing It Out

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 Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Voc2qOmcqGKfqy6CDiZOw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

July 29, 20261 hr 10 min

#112: How Transparent Leaders Build Trust in Tough Times

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 Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Voc2qOmcqGKfqy6CDiZOw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/

July 22, 2026Episode 1111 hr 6 min

#111: The Practice of Curiosity and Why Leaders Default to Certainty

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 fails (and command and control takes over) A simple tool for pausing before you react What actually predicts whether a leader succeeds or fails If your meetings go quiet the moment you start talking, this one's worth the full hour. Follow Jayson Krause: YouTube: / @jaysonkrauseleadership LinkedIn: / jayson-krause 0:00 - Introduction 0:41 - The 360 Review That Changed His Leadership 3:43 - What Changed When "Podcast Tyler" Led Meetings 6:00 - Tracking Fixed vs. Growth Mindset After Every Call 8:41 - From Playful Trait to Deliberate Practice 10:05 - Why Tyler Wrote Curious as Hell 13:21 - Writing in Flow: AI as Collaborator 15:50 - The Self Curiosity the Book Forced to the Surface 17:31 - Defining Curiosity as a Leadership Practice 19:16 - The "No Time to Be Curious" Myth 22:03 - The Latin Root of Curiosity 28:44 - Weaponizing Curiosity 29:39 - Isn't a Leader's Job to Manipulate? 37:18 - Self Curiosity Comes First 39:19 - When Curiosity Isn't the Right Tool 42:17 - The Tactical Sigh 45:08 - Would You Rather: Curious vs. Safe to Be Curious Around 46:34 - Creating the Conditions for Curiosity 49:13 - The Nuclear Button 52:06 - The Cost of Reacting Instead of Leading 53:00 - True or False: Questions and Culture Health 56:02 - The Worst Advice About Curiosity 57:31 - "Tell Me More": Curious vs. Diagnostic Questions 59:38 - How to Know Curiosity Is Missing 1:02:42 - Know When to Call a Coach 1:04:51 - The Invisible Force Behind Leadership Success 1:06:26 - Closing Thoughts

July 22, 2026Episode 11058 min

#110: Your Empathy Might Be Making You a Worse Leader

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-stakes, high-performance teams - A simple starting point for building the empathy muscle If you've ever held back a hard conversation because you "didn't want to make it worse," or wondered whether empathy and high standards can coexist, this conversation will change how you think about both. Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Voc2qOmcqGKfqy6CDiZOw LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-krause/ 0:00 - Introduction 0:34 - How Roxana Became a Coach 1:28 - Coaching a Room Full of Experts 2:39 - What Qualifies Someone to Talk About Empathy 4:55 - Defining Empathy: Care Plus Trust 7:39 - Empathy Mapping and the Right Use of Empathy 10:07 - The Opposite of Empathy: Arrogance and Judgment 11:06 - Judgment vs. Appraisal 12:25 - The Case Against Empathy (Paul Bloom) 13:56 - When a Leader Has Too Much Empathy 16:09 - Balancing Empathy With Getting Things Done 21:08 - Naming the Emotion in the Room 23:52 - What Matters More Than Empathy: Feedback 27:14 - What Is Self-Empathy? 28:06 - True or False: Does Promoting Empathetic Leaders Spread Empathy? 29:00 - Power and the Erosion of Empathy 31:08 - "Care First" Leadership vs. Corporate Doublespeak 32:16 - Empathy in the Face of Layoffs 35:02 - The Real Roots of the Word Empathy 36:09 - True or False: Are Women Wired to Be More Empathetic? 38:10 - True or False: Does Empathy Lead to Fairer Decisions? 41:20 - Empathy in High-Performance Environments 42:53 - Can You Have Connection Without Empathy? 45:02 - Would You Rather: Deep Empathy for Your Circle vs. Moderate Empathy for All 49:09 - The Cost of Carrying Empathy 50:40 - A Real Example: Giving Feedback With Empathy 52:16 - Empathy as a Muscle: Where to Start 54:24 - The Worst Advice About Bringing Empathy to Leadership 56:26 - Closing Thought

July 2, 202655 min

#108: Why Burnout Isn't a Workload Problem

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 problem lets organizations off the hook The Yale finding that high engagement scores can be an early warning, not a win The petri dish question every leader should ask about their culture If your best people are running on fumes and your wellness budget isn't moving the needle, this conversation explains what's actually happening and where to intervene. Follow Jayson Krause YouTube: / @jaysonkrauseleadership LinkedIn: / jayson-krause 0:00 - "Get Out While You Still Can": The Story That Started It All 3:15 - Why Trust Dr. Foster on Burnout 7:38 - The Six Workplace Factors That Drive Burnout 10:16 - Compensation, Fairness, and Why Raises Don't Fix Toxic Workplaces 13:38 - Defining Burnout (and How It Differs From Depression) 15:25 - Stress vs. Burnout: What People Get Wrong 17:28 - The Noonday Demon: Burnout as a Collapse of Meaning 19:51 - The Petri Dish: How Burnout Spreads Through Organizations 22:15 - Growth Requires Stress: The Weight Room Analogy 25:32 - Should Burnout Be a Medical Diagnosis? 28:31 - Jayson's Own Brush With Burnout 31:53 - The Superhero Persona (and Its Kryptonite) 34:53 - Why Wellness Programs Fail 37:40 - Would You Rather: $1M Wellness Budget or Fire One Leader? 39:27 - True or False: Burnout Myths (and a Yale Surprise) 44:48 - High Achievement Without Sacrifice: Know Your Values 48:13 - First Signs of Burnout and the Simplest Way Back

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