#121: Why Resilient Businesses Can't Depend on the Owner
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
In Episode #121 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by business and enterprise value creation coach Linda Ratner to explore resilience in leadership, life, and business, and why a resilient company cannot depend on the owner carrying everything alone. Linda's path spans emergency-room nursing, entrepreneurship, scaling Impact Urgent Care to seven locations, selling to private equity, and eventually coaching business owners and leadership teams. She explains how triage, staying calm under pressure, setting clear priorities, building accountability, and putting the right...
info_outline
#120: What Actually Changes People?
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
In Episode #120 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause steps back from four recent conversations to ask one leadership question: what actually changes people? Across discussions with Steve Rice, Dr. Ted Vokes, Chris Foy, and Murray Rodgers, a pattern emerges. Leaders often spend their energy trying to improve behaviour directly, but the stronger lever may be the conditions that shape behaviour in the first place. Jayson revisits Steve Rice's case for human empowerment over human resources and why engagement efforts can miss the deeper relationship between people and their work....
info_outline
#119: Human Flourishing
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
In Episode #119 of The Executive Commute, Jayson Krause is joined by educator and human flourishing advocate Steve Rice to explore what it means to live, work, and lead from the inside out. Steve shares how his own path moved from achievement, external validation, and a career that did not feel like an authentic fit toward a life centred on calling, purpose, and work as an expression of who he is. He describes the difference between living from the outside in and the inside out, and why fear often remains present when people move toward meaningful growth. The conversation...
info_outline
#118: Evil and Dark Leadership
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
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...
info_outline
#117: The Power of Questions
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
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...
info_outline
#116: Coherence Is the Price of Being Trusted Under Pressure
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
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...
info_outline
#115 The Best Leadership Lessons From My Summer Conversations
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
It’s been a busy summer at Level 52. Rather than publishing our regular August newsletter, we spent the month recording conversations for 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.
info_outline
#114: Leading When Nothing Is Certain
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
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...
info_outline
#113: Resilience Is Not Toughing It Out
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
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,...
info_outline
#112: How Transparent Leaders Build Trust in Tough Times
Executive Commute With Jayson Krause
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...
info_outlineThe 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/