Founded by faculty and fellows of Notre Dame, Harvard Medical School, and NYU Langone Medical Center
OUR FOUNDERS HAVE PRESENTED TO LEADERSHIP AUDIENCES AT
BorgWarner · Meta · Morgan Stanley · AQR Capital Management · D. E. Shaw · Fiera Capital · Allegis Group · Genentech · Northwell Health · Intermountain Health · Ohio Health · Keck Medicine of USC · Astellas Pharma · Blizzard Entertainment · Notre Dame Football
Leadership Training Has a Blind Spot
Most leadership development programs focus on skills, behaviors, and mindset. They overlook the biological and neural systems those skills depend on.
Sleep disruption degrades decision quality. Chronic stress impairs cognitive flexibility. Without understanding the neuroscience of emotion, empathy, and social cognition, leaders struggle to build trust, regulate under pressure, or lead inclusively when it matters most.
The Brain-Based Leader closes that gap. We train the systems underneath the skills: the sleep architecture, stress physiology, emotional neuroscience, and social cognition that determine whether your leaders can actually think, connect, and perform under pressure.
Traditional Approach
Brain-Based Approach
NEUROBIOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
Sleep
Stress Regulation
Emotion
Social Cognition
UNADDRESSED BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
Skills & Behavior Training
Skills & Behavior Training
Skills degrade under pressure.
Skills hold under pressure.
How Organizations Use This
Scale the Science
Enterprise e-learning that deploys through your existing LMS. Our flagship Neuroscience of Optimal Performance course covers sleep, stress, and emotion regulation, with additional modules spanning the full B.R.A.I.N.™ framework in development. Includes self-assessments adapted from established psychometric instruments, branching scenarios, and practical application tools.
Self-paced
SCORM 1.2
100-10,000+ learners
Modular
FLAGSHIP
Bring Us In
Live keynotes and workshops covering the neuroscience of sleep, stress, emotion, empathy, and social cognition for leadership audiences. Available virtually or in person.
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Our founders have delivered keynotes and workshops to leadership audiences at organizations spanning healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and technology.
The B.R.A.I.N.™ Framework
Five integrated pillars grounded in cognitive, affective, and social neuroscience. Each pillar strengthens the neural systems leaders depend on for sustained performance.
B
BIOLOGICAL BALANCE
Sleep, circadian health, physiological foundation
R
RELATIONAL RESILIENCE
Stress regulation, recovery, social buffering
A
AFFECTIVE ATTUNEMENT
Emotional awareness, empathy under pressure
I
INTERPERSONAL INTEGRATION
Social cognition, trust, psychological safety
N
NEUROPLASTIC RENEWAL
Recovery, learning, sustainable growth
What Changes When Leaders Understand Their Own Neuroscience
Sharper decisions under pressure
Sleep and stress regulation directly affect prefrontal cortex function, the neural basis of judgment, planning, and impulse control.
Fewer costly errors
Chronic sleep disruption and unmanaged stress degrade the executive functions that prevent mistakes, compliance failures, and poor judgment calls.
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Faster recovery between crises
Leaders who understand their stress physiology recover faster and help their teams do the same, reducing the cascade effect of sustained pressure.
Stronger trust and collaboration under pressure
Social cognition and empathy are neural processes, not personality traits. When leaders understand the neuroscience of perspective-taking and co-regulation, they build psychological safety even in high-stakes environments.
Built by Neuroscientists Who Work With Leaders
Jessica Payne, PhD
Founder & CEO
Harvard-trained cognitive neuroscientist and Professor at the University of Notre Dame, where she directs the Sleep, Stress, and Memory (SAM) Lab. Her 20+ years of research on how sleep and stress influence cognition, decision-making, and creativity forms the scientific foundation for the B.R.A.I.N.™ framework. Kavli Fellow, National Academy of Sciences. h-index: 44, 9,300+ citations, ~$5M in federal research grants.
Christine Payne, PhD
Founder & President
NYU-trained social/affective neuroscientist. Postdoctoral fellow at NYU Langone Medical Center's Child Study Center. Lecturer at the University of Notre Dame and Lead Instructor for the NeuroLeadership Institute. Her research in social cognition, empathy, perspective-taking, and emotion regulation forms the scientific foundation for the B.R.A.I.N.™ framework.
Ready to See What This Looks Like?
We'll send you a content preview showing what your leaders will experience, including sample lessons, self-assessments, and the science behind each module.