Meet Your Own Internal Leadership Team
Transcript: Episode Two
This is the Feeling Leader Podcast with Kristen De Long, Doctoral Candidate and Licensed Master Clinical Social Worker. The information shared in this podcast is not a replacement for therapy or support from a mental health provider. And now, here's your host, Kristen DeLong, DSW-C, LMSW-C
Chapter: Introduction to Episode Two
In our last episode, we did a big overview of the brain and leadership and how they interact with each other. And you'll find in this podcast series that we will often talk about what is happening in that space between you and your team or others around you. We will continuously talk about regulation, fairness, belonging, and how you as a leader, especially in the social work, nonprofit, or human-serving settings, are constantly shaping the emotional and neural climate around you. But today, we are actually going to take a very deep look inside. Because before you influence anyone else's nervous system, your own is already rocking and rolling. So today I want to introduce you to your own internal leadership team. Now, before we begin, I want to name something important. What we are about to cover is an overview. The brain is wildly more complex than we can explore in a single episode. And I am not a neuroscientist. There are scholars, researchers, academics, and scientists who have devoted their entire careers to understanding each of these brain regions in depth. My goal here is not to oversimplify that knowledge, but to translate pieces that are most relevant for you to understand yourself as a leader. So maybe grab a pen and paper for this one or check out the meeting notes later for a refresher when you need it.
Chapter: CEO of the Brain
All right, let's get started. The prefrontal cortex is where we will begin. This is often called the executive center of the brain, and it sits behind your forehead. Dr. Dan Siegel, whose work on interpersonal neurobiology, which we will dive into in another episode, calls the prefrontal cortex the CEO of the brain. This region is responsible for higher order thinking, complex decision making, regulating emotion, interrupting bias, weighing fairness, and tolerating uncertainty. When you pause instead of reacting, when you choose a thoughtful response instead of a defensive one, or when you slow down and take a moment to reconsider your options, that is your CEO prefrontal cortex at work. When your prefrontal cortex is fully online, what you gain as a leader is not just better decision making. What you gain is the ability to hold complexity without shifting into reactivity. This region allows you to feel frustration, but still remain consistent. It allows you to stay reflective and it also allows you to weigh fairness alongside efficiency and check for some biases before they turn into action. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is deeply involved in cognition, self-control, fairness, and decision making. This is what enables you to inhibit impulses and regulate bias. When you catch yourself midway through an impulsive thought and reconsider your actions, and when you take some time before responding, this is your dorsolateral engagement. It makes ethical reasoning and fairness-based decisions neurologically possible. This is important for all leaders, but especially those in nonprofit and human-serving settings where decisions frequently affect vulnerable populations. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity supports equitable and ethically grounded choices by enabling leaders to pause, reflect, and counteract automatic bias-based responses. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, integrates emotion into decision making. It's not a removal of emotion from leadership. It is what allows emotion to be processed in a way that is more informing and less overwhelming. For example, if you are considering a decision as a leader and start thinking of the relational impact alongside the logistical, this region is active and supporting that function. It is helping you weigh risk, empathy, and consequence simultaneously. So here is something interesting about this area as it relates to power and leadership. In studies where there is damage or abnormalities in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, here's what researchers see: impaired decision making, deficits in cognitive empathy, prioritization of immediate gratification, over long-term stability, and reduced capacity to generate emotions. Okay, so there's that piece. Now, when researchers study the feeling of power, which is described as having control over the behavior and circumstances of others through reward and punishment resources, it changes how human brains respond to others emotionally in a way that is similar to the patients who have brain damage in that same area, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Okay, so now you have that piece. And the third piece of research that is interesting is that low activation in that ventromedial prefrontal cortex is also associated with reduced trust and impaired ability to process the value of social interactions. Putting these three pieces together, we might understand why some people in positions of power may experience decreased trust in social interactions, might have difficulty exercising empathy, or may be seen as impulsive or reckless in their decision making. What's really important for leaders to understand here is that this entire system is resource-dependent. The prefrontal cortex consumes a significant amount of metabolic energy. It relies on oxygen, glucose, and relative stability. When stress rises, the body reallocates resources toward survival-oriented systems and rapid responses that are meant for survival. When that shift happens, working memory narrows, the ability to take in different perspectives becomes more difficult, cognitive flexibility completely decreases, and fairness reasoning requires more effort. These are the very capabilities that help define relational, thoughtful, and equitable leadership, and they become harder to access. So when a leader finds themselves reacting more quickly than they intended or struggling to hold nuance under pressure, what could be happening is a temporary reduction in prefrontal capacity. The CEO is still there. She just has fewer resources available at this moment. So with the prefrontal cortex as your, you know, C-suite, let's talk about the limbic system as the emotional core.
Chapter: Limbic System
Located deep within the brain, it is primitive. It is adaptive, fast, and absolutely essential. The limbic system includes several structures that shape how you experience threat, store memory, regulate stress hormones, and interpret social cues. For leadership, this matters because the limbic system often activates before the prefrontal cortex has fully evaluated what is happening. The amygdala is one of the most well-known structures within the limbic system. It plays a central role in threat detection and fear processing. It is constantly scanning for cues of risk, both physical and social. And important to note, the brain does not distinguish sharply between social threat and physical threat. A critical email, silence in a meeting, perceived exclusion in the workplace, and public disagreement can activate similar neural pathways as more tangible or physical dangers. So when the amygdala perceives a threat, it prioritizes speed over precision. It increases arousal, it prepares the body for action. At the same time, it reduces activity in the prefrontal cortex, you know, the CEO we were just discussing. Oxygen and glucose are redirected towards systems that support those rapid responses, limiting the amount of those resources available for working memory and conscious processing, inhibiting those essential problem-solving functions and reducing a person's ability to think clearly. When a leader feels threatened, maybe in a situation of pressure, conflict, uncertainty, or relational tension, the amygdala is likely responding and the prefrontal cortex capacity for thoughtful integration is harder to access. If this moment has happened to you, you have not lost your values or who you are as a leader, your survival system just temporarily gained priority. As part of the limbic system, the hippocampus adds another dimension. It is deeply involved in memory function, formation, and retrieval, especially in linking emotional experiences with your cognitive interpretation. The hippocampus helps you recognize patterns by connecting current events and past experiences. When something feels familiar, like you've experienced it before, that recognition is often hippocampal activity, integrating memory with the present perception of an experience. This hippocampus activity from lower instinctive regions toward higher reasoning centers is meaningful for leadership because it helps leaders make meaning of past events, learn from interpersonal interactions, interpret team feedback, and guide organizations during periods of change. Pattern recognition in the hippocampus allows for learning from past experiences and anticipating challenges ahead. But it also means that unresolved stress or repeated dynamics can influence how events are interpreted or how predictions are made about the future. And the final piece that we will be discussing in the limbic system is the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus regulates hormonal responses, including the release of stress hormones and oxytocin. Oxytocin is associated with trust and helps promote bonding, cooperation, and relational openness. Stress hormones prepare the body for mobilization. These biochemical processes shape relational climate in ways that we do not consciously direct. The hypothalamus has an important role in the HPA access or the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal access, which is the body's central system for regulating the stress response. When a leader or team member encounters a stressful or threatening situation, the hypothalamus triggers the HPA access to release cortisol. While stress that is temporary is absolutely a natural part of our daily lives and work, chronic activation of this access can be detrimental to organizational health because of how high levels of cortisol impact your functioning. Now, understanding this in yourself as a leader also provides some important understanding for how you can help your team as well. We will talk more about how a leader is able to create psychological safety and also be a source of co-regulation in other episodes. But think of this for now. Leaders who can foster a safe and secure base and provide support for their team's basic psychological needs help to downregulate the HPA access in their team members. By reducing this neuroreception of threat, the leader can help prevent the hypothalamus from flooding their systems with stress hormones and allowing that prefrontal cortex to maintain access to much-needed oxygen and glucose resources for creative problem solving and innovation and collaboration.
Chapter: Dynamic Interplay in the Brain
Do you see how interconnected this all is in you and in your team? What's happening all within you is also happening all within your team.
All right, so as we step back, we see how all of these regions form a very dynamic relationship. The prefrontal cortex supports integration, fairness, and regulation. The limbic system supports detection, emotion, memory, and mobilization, and under safe and calm conditions, these systems coordinate, but under stress, the balance completely shifts. The amygdala becomes more dominant, the prefrontal cortex becomes less resourced. Working memory is reduced, emotional tone intensifies, reactivity increases. This interplay is what shapes leadership under pressure. When we start to view these experiences not as personality or character flaws, but rather neurobiological shifts, just shifts in our neural prioritization within ourselves. We can better see it in others as well. Okay, let's take some time to think about this information. Some of this you might have already known before, and some might have been new pieces of information to add to your understanding as a leader and as a human.
Reflection:
As you reflect, I want you to consider the following prompts. When you think about yourself as a leader, especially under pressure, what tends to happen? Do you notice that you stay steady and reflective? Or do you feel your body shift quickly? Some tension, some sense of urgency, maybe some defensiveness? Can you recall a recent stressful moment as a leader? How did it feel? When you're thinking about that moment, I want you to just envision how your internal resources might have been shifting inside of you to handle that perceived threat. Stay in a place of inquiry. This reflection is not meant to be a judgment, like, oh, I really should have handled or responded differently in that moment now that I know. No, it's just holding that consideration of neural prioritization happening inside of you. Can you expand your understanding of yourself? What happens when you do? Does it carve out some additional self-compassion? Think about this for just a moment.
The Brain Network See-Saw
What you experience in your leadership capacity at any given moment is not the activity of just one region, but rather the dominance of one network over the other. We are going to talk about the default mode network and the task positive network, which is also referred to as the executive network. We will also talk about the salience network. And we did touch on these three in the first episode. We're going to go a little bit more in depth for this episode, but these are three self-organizing mental networks that function dynamically to maintain a coherent sense of self and guide behavioral responses to the environment. The default mode network supports internally directed cognition. It becomes active when the mind turns toward reflection, autobiographical memory, future simulation, and perspective taking. This is the network that allows you to construct narratives, not only just about yourself, but about others too. It supports the capacity to imagine how a decision might be experienced by somebody else, to situate current events within a broader timeline, and to evaluate meaning rather than just outcome. From a leadership context, the DMN handles social awareness, empathy, and moral reasoning. It allows leaders to tell stories about themselves and others, which can either boost or undermine self-esteem depending on how the network is utilized. The task positive network, or the executive network, in contrast, becomes active when individuals are engaged in logical reasoning, analytical thinking, focused attention, logical sequencing, and goal-directed problem solving. This network narrows attention in order to increase efficiency. It reduces distraction and supports execution. In leadership, this network allows plans to move from concept to implementation. It helps to manage competing demands, engage in decision making, and respond to charged situations. These are all great skills for leaders to have. Together, these networks influence how leaders shift between self-reflection and analytical reasoning. Research in the nonprofit settings shows how this balance is necessary for promoting resilient organizational functioning and building psychological safety within your team. Now, here's the tricky thing. Neuroimaging research consistently shows that when the default mode network increases in activation, the task positive network suppresses, and vice versa. I want you to picture a Seesaw in motion and place default mode on one side and the task positive on the other to visualize how this relationship works between the two networks. For leaders, this creates inherent tension. Perspective taking and analytical execution cannot be maximized simultaneously. One must momentarily be quiet for the other to dominate. This means a leader who is deeply focused on, say, data analysis, may have a reduced capacity for attuned, empathetic communication in that same moment. This neural constraint is relevant in human serving spaces where leaders often have to move quickly between complex tasks. Rapid switching increases that cognitive load. So it is vital that there is pacing and intentional switching of the transitions between these modes. Here's where the salient network comes in. So the salient network regulates this tension and acts as a mediator and decides which of these other two networks should take priority at any given moment. The salient network through the amygdala constantly scans the environment for essentially friend or foe signals. And this is through a process called neuroception. Under optimal conditions, this system helps decide what is in an individual's emotional best interest and directs cognitive resources accordingly. A leader can move from reflection into action and back again without friction. Empathy helps to inform decision making and execution follows without a loss of relational awareness. Under constant stress or threat or threat perception, things in this area begin to change. When threat perception and stress becomes chronic and the salience network and the default mode network are excessively activated, like we were discussing earlier, amygdala activation biases the salience detection toward urgency. So over time, signals that might otherwise be processed as neutral are now flagged as very significant. The salience network begins to overprioritize potential danger. As stress hormones increase and prefrontal resources decrease, the brain's ability to shift flexibly between networks diminishes. A leader may become locked into task execution, focusing intensely on control and structure because the system interprets efficiency as safety. Alternatively, a leader may remain internally directed in that processing space, repeatedly simulating outcomes and revisiting decisions without moving forward because uncertainty is perceived as too big of a threat. The issue is not that one network is better than the other, it is that dominance becomes disproportionate to the context at hand.
Chapter: How to Support Transitions between Networks
So, what do we do with this Seesaw as a leader? You might be wondering what you can do to help. The goal here is really centered on integration rather than favoring one network. Leaders cannot genuinely be empathetic and analytic at the exact same moment due to neural constraints. However, leaders can develop response flexibility to exercise more fluid transitions that allow them to access both. But if you're wondering how to support one network and then the other, I'm going to go over a few ways for each network. In order to support the task positive network, here are a few things that you can do. The first, of course, is stress regulation. Some practices like mindfulness can slow down the autonomic nervous system and allow the task positive network or the executive network to regain control for thoughtful decision making. Engaging in step-by-step tasks can also help force a shift into TPN from DMN. And finally, my favorite is allowing the default mode network to wander intentionally. And this would be done by going for walks or doing yoga. This helps prevent the default mode network from experiencing overactivity later. I think of this like making sure you get your dog out for a walk so that she does not get the indoor zoomies later. Let's talk about the default mode network. If you're feeling like you'd like to support an easier transition out of task-positive network and into default mode network, well, once again, stress regulation. Beyond that, reflective exercises like journaling as well as taking digital breaks can help support the DMN. And maybe the hardest of all, researchers say a really good thing to support and shift into default mode networks is to practice doing nothing at all, including looking out a window or relaxing without a goal. All right, so you just took a tour through your own internal leadership system. The executive center that helps you weigh fairness and tolerate ambiguity, the emotional circuitry that scans for threat before you consciously even register it, and the networks that quietly toggle between reflection and execution all day long. And if you're anything like me, you might be noticing that this makes leadership feel both more complex and strangely more human. So much of what we label as good leadership or strong leadership or alternatively poor leadership is often just the visible expression of which neural systems have priority in that moment. When stress rises and your thinking narrows, that's just a resource shift. When you feel yourself getting more rigid or more urgent, your system is trying to create safety the fastest way it knows how. When you get stuck replaying conversations or imagining outcomes, that's your default mode network working overtime, trying to anticipate and protect. Understanding this doesn't excuse harm that we can unintentionally cause, but it does give you leverage and understanding. It allows you to interrupt a shame spiral that says, I should be better than this, or I should have done better or known better, and instead, you know, really inquire about what is happening within you at that moment. Ask yourself questions like, am I resourced? Am I regulated? Am I switching too quickly between execution and empathy? Are those demands requiring me to toggle too fast? And it's not giving my brain space to transition. For leaders who are in the social work, nonprofit, and human serving spaces, those demands can make us feel like we have to toggle quickly. But the research shows us that you cannot be deeply analytical and deeply relational at the exact same millisecond. Your brain simply doesn't work that way. But you can become more skillful at moving between those modes with intention instead of being pushed and pulled back and forth by the external pressures of your work. This is where leadership development from this space comes in. It's not necessarily not having those demands that push and pull us. It's not perfect emotional control, but it's noticing it when it's happening, recovering when needed, repairing also when needed, but essentially building practices that keep your prefrontal CEO resourced enough to stay online when it matters the most. This is especially important for leaders who hold power. You remember what we talked about, you know, the experience of power itself potentially dampens emotional and empathetic processing over time. That's not because someone is inherently uncaring. It's because certain neural circuits get less exercised, which means leaders who care about equity, fairness, and relational integrity have to be intentional about staying connected to perspective taking and reflection. So we don't all just drift naturally or wake up and become integrated, reflective leaders. We have to practice this. The more that you understand your own internal system, the more compassion you can extend outward. When someone on your team reacts defensively, you might see amygdala activation instead of disrespect. When someone seems stuck in analysis paralysis, you might recognize a network imbalance instead of incompetence. That shift alone changes how you respond. And the point of this episode was so that you could see that in yourself.
Chapter: Closing Thoughts and Call to Action
So maybe this week you don't try to overhaul anything. Just start noticing. Notice when your body tightens in a meeting. Notice when you move into rapid-fire task mode. And notice when you avoid reflection because it feels uncomfortable. Don't judge it. Just stay curious. The more aware you become of your own internal leadership team, the more choice you actually have. And that's where real leadership influence begins, not in what you say to your team, but in how you manage the invisible processes shaping you before you even speak. In future episodes, we will be connecting this even more explicitly to how leaders create psychological safety and are a source of co-regulation. But for now, let's just sit with this. Your brain is not separate from your leadership. It is your leadership. And the more integrated you are internally, the more integrated your impact becomes externally. I'll see you next time.
Note on Current Research Used:
Researchers like Wing have examined leadership through a neuroscience lens and found something striking across transformational, charismatic, and even destructive leadership, that emotion is always present, vision, fairness, trust, identity, that they all have underpinnings. And leadership is not just about strategy, but it's deeply emotional and biological. Scholars like Daniel Siegel have helped us to understand integration, the idea that effective functioning comes from linking different neural systems rather than suppressing parts of ourselves. And that framework shapes how we think about regulation in leadership, not as control, but as integration. And applied researchers like Keen and Geldenhuys have taken these ideas into leadership development more directly, looking at how large-scale brain networks, like the ones we talked about in the episode today, need to work in balance. And when those systems fall out of homeostasis under stress, leadership shifts. When they're integrated, transformational capacity increases. So you can check out all of these resources and other material for this podcast episode and every episode in the meeting notes.