Military Grit to Corporate Wisdom: Tony Crescenzo’s Path to Healing and High-Performance

Today, on Notable Leaders’ Radio, I speak with Tony Crescenzo, CEO of Intelligent Waves & Founder of Peak Neuro, LLC. He highlights his compelling journey from a resilient upbringing and military service to pioneering leadership insights and transformative healing with brain-training technology.

 

In today’s episode, we discuss:

Remember the importance of "always do the right thing." Tony’s grandfather’s timeless advice served as his moral compass, guiding him through every personal and business decision. He discovered that by valuing integrity, you foster trust and build a strong, lasting reputation.

• See adversity as an opportunity to grow and learn. Tony’s time in the military, especially the hurdles he faced as his military career came to a close, reminds us how much reputation truly matters. Welcome setbacks as moments to build character and become someone others truly respect and trust.

• To ease conflicts, try to understand the root of fear rather than just anger. Through his journey with anger, he learned that anger is really fear turned upside down. Embracing this awareness enabled him to transition from fear/anger to compassion and a deeper understanding of himself and others in times of challenge. Consider responding to anger with empathy—it can be a beautiful way to strengthen both your work and personal relationships.

• Prioritize your sleep and mental health with effective strategies. For instance, Tony saw wonderful improvements in his sleep, memory, and mood by using brainwave entrainment. Taking some proactive steps to care for yourself—such as getting good rest and keeping your mind clear—can truly make a significant difference in your happiness and productivity.

• Adopt the idea of "generals eat last" as your leadership guiding principle. As Tony beautifully shared, inspiring leaders always put their teams first, creating a warm environment full of trust and stability. When you focus on serving and supporting others, it gently builds loyalty and can significantly lift your team's performance. Embracing this approach can truly make your leadership journey more rewarding and fulfilling!

• Be open to new modalities of healing. Tony lived with PTSD for 30 years. He believed his anger and stress from his time in the military were a part of him and his life now. It wasn’t until he stumbled across a new assistive technology that he learned that was not the case. It is also inspired the creation of PeakNeuro, an AI-enabled platform that uses acoustic audio-entrainment to help veterans and leaders regulate stress, get better sleep, and improve human performance overall through cognitive resilience. Is anger and or stress driving your life? If yes, check out PeakNeuro. It may be just the help you have been looking for.

RESOURCES:

Complementary Resources:

• Enclosed Link to a published article about the science of PeakNeuro:

https://info.peakneuro.com/documents/2025JUN24PCSRwithTrainingSummary.pdf 

Guest Bio

Tony Crescenzo is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Intelligent Waves (IW), a veteran-owned, mission-driven systems integrator delivering advanced technology solutions in cybersecurity, systems engineering, data science, software development, and cognitive human performance to the U.S. government.

Simultaneously, he is the Founder of Peak Neuro, LLC, a neuroscience and AI-powered company. Peak Neuro harnesses proprietary neuroacoustic technology through a mobile app to enhance sleep, emotional resilience, and trauma recovery—especially for veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD, TBI, or chronic stress.

Website/Social Links

LinkedIn Social Media:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonycrescenzo/  

Intelligent Waves’ website: https:/www.IntelligentWaves.com 

Peak Neuro, LLC: https://www.PeakNeuro.com 

BOOKS

• UnSEALed: A Navy SEAL's Guide to Mastering Life’s Transitions by Mark Greene & Sheilby Rawson https://amzn.to/47qDR5P
  
  

Belinda’s Bio:

Belinda is a sought-after Leadership Advisor, Coach, Consultant and Keynote speaker and a leading authority in guiding global executives, professionals and small business owners to become today’s highly respected leaders. As the Founder of BelindaPruyne.com, Belinda works with such organizations as IBM, Booz Allen Hamilton, BBDO, The BAM Connection, Hilton, Leidos, Yale School of Medicine, Landis, and the Discovery Channel. Most recently, she redesigned two global internal advertising agencies for Cella, a leader in creative staffing and consulting. She is a founding C-suite and executive management coach for Chief, the fastest-growing executive women's network. Since 2020, Belinda has delivered more than 72 interviews with top-level executives and business leaders who share their inner journey to success; letting you know the truth of what it took to achieve their success in her Notable Leaders Radio podcast.

She gained a wealth of expertise in the client services industry as Executive Vice President, Global Director of Creative Management at Grey Advertising, managing 500 people around the globe. With over 20+ years of leadership development experience, she brings industry-wide recognition to the executives and companies she works with. Whether a startup, turnaround, acquisition, or global corporation, executives and companies continue to turn to Pruyne for strategic and impactful solutions in a rapidly shifting economy and marketplace.

Website: Belindapruyne.com

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