Neural Leadership
Human Skills for Today's Leaders
Entirely New Challenges
Trust in leadership is collapsing inside organizations. Many employees are disengaging, leaving, or quietly withdrawing in response to unresolved conflict or a breakdown of trust with those leading them. At the same time, the demands of leadership are changing faster than most leaders—or organizations—can adapt.
The rise of AI, volatile markets, and unrelenting disruption are placing extraordinary pressure on teams, systems, and individuals. Burnout, disengagement, and talent churn are reaching record highs. At the same time, expectations for emotional intelligence, inclusion, empathy, and adaptability have never been higher.
“The challenges facing today’s leaders—an AI revolution, record levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout, overwhelming distraction, widespread disengagement, and the collapse of institutional trust—are unlike anything we've previously been trained to handle.”
New Solutions From Science
Traditional models of leadership are failing to meet the demands of this moment. Conventional leadership programs, designed for earlier generations in more stable, less overwhelming times, aren’t delivering the internal change leaders need to build trust, alignment, and loyalty.
But neuroscience and psychology are giving us a roadmap to the mental and emotional capabilities that matter most - and defining neural practices that can train them into the brain. We can’t read or listen our way to self-awareness, empathy, or compassion. But through intentional neuroplasticity, we can train experiences into the brain to BECOME self-aware, empathetic, and compassionate.
“The mental and emotional capabilities behind effective leadership and work are not fixed traits - they are trainable skills.
Unlike traditional leadership or wellness programs, IOSM teaches practices that train the neural networks that shape how we think, feel, relate, and perform—producing change in the moment and transformation over time.”
The Neural Leadership Course
Neural Leadership is a next-generation development program for leaders at every level of the organization. Unlike traditional courses that teach ABOUT mental and emotional leadership capabilities, this program teaches the science and neural practices to systematically develop them.
The course is interactive, experiential, and designed to build progressively, from foundational neuroscience to practical applications for personal effectiveness, core leadership capabilities, relational and interpersonal skills, and the ability to foster a culture of shared purpose, psychological safety, and continuous improvement.
Learning Portal and Network
Neural Leadership includes 12 hours of live, instructor-led training, delivered online or onsite—supported by a companion Learning Portal integrated into the IOSM Global Network.
The portal provides access to class recordings, slide decks, guided practices, additional self-paced learning, journaled research, expert video insights, and class-wide collaboration—along with network-wide access to curated content, members, and topical forums.
Plan Your Program
Each Course includes
- Twelve hours of interactive live training
- Led by expert instructors and delivered online or onsite.
Customize Your Schedule
- Four half-day live workshops (recommended)
- Two full-day live intensives
- Eight 90-minute live classes
- Eight 90-minute self-paced videos
Tailor Your Program
Courses are modular by design and can be tailored to your learning objectives, strategic focus, or scheduling needs—at no additional cost. This ensures the program you deliver aligns with your team, timeline, and goals.
Neural Leadership Course Outline
Workshop 1. The Neuroscience of Personal Effectiveness
Understanding subliminal brain operations and how they can be interrupted and reshaped are the building blocks for neural leadership. Our first objectives are to wake up, intentionally resolve stress, and regain attentional control.
Understanding the non-conscious brain
Exiting autopilot to awareness
Resolving stress, anxiety, and burnout
Sharpening focus and attention control
Workshop 2. Neural Leadership Skills
The most critical leadership capabilities today are mental and emotional skills that can be applied to create trust through authenticity and integrity—tackle challenges with a positive and growth mindset—rapidly adapt to new changes and uncertainties, with the confidence and cognitive strength to make the right decisions.
Creating personal trust and loyalty
Modeling positivity and a growth mindset
Adapting to change and uncertainty
Making better decisions under pressure
Workshop 3. Neural Relationship Skills
We’re leading a multigenerational workforce—increasingly organized into a flat, networked, hybrid work model—through unprecedented disengagement and disruption. Interpersonal skills may be the most critical determinant of leadership effectiveness today.
Cultivating emotional intelligence
Creating self, situational, and social awareness
Controlling the experience and expression of emotions
Developing empathy, compassion, and other prosocial traits
Workshop 4. Human-Centered Organizational Skills
In the AI-driven organization, leaders will be increasingly responsible for cultivating the shared purpose, trust, alignment, and engagement that move the organization forward. As automation accelerates, strong, effective, and human-centered leadership becomes more critical than ever.
Aligning cultural purpose and shared values
Creating an environment of psychological safety
Creating an environment of inclusion and belonging
Modeling well-being, mental strength, and resilience