NeuroConversant Leadership

Overcoming imposter syndrome is one of the biggest hidden challenges in leadership. In this episode, executive coach and speaker Mark Pittman joins Jeremy Doran to talk about why almost every leader deals with imposter syndrome, and why that feeling might actually mean you're growing instead of failing.

Mark shares a line that stuck with him: it's only imposters who don't get imposter syndrome. We break down what "fake it till you make it" really means once you strip away the hustle culture baggage, and why Mark reframes it as strategic vulnerability instead.

We also dig into one of the hardest shifts in leadership: moving from being the person who does the work to being the person who builds a team that does the work. Mark tells the story of a former boss who made his team's growth the real product, and never made it about himself.

Other topics we cover: how psychological safety gets built through small, low-stakes mistakes, why the person who asks the questions controls the conversation, and why debriefing after wins matters as much as debriefing after failures.

If you've ever felt like the only one without it figured out, this conversation on leadership, imposter syndrome, and psychological safety is for you.

Connect with Mark Pittman at https://concordleadershipgroup.com/ or https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcapitman/

Got a question about imposter syndrome or leadership coaching you want covered on a future episode? Email ⁠[email protected]⁠

On October 1st, 2013, healthcare.gov launched and crashed within hours. It wasn't a coding problem. It was a coordination problem.

A dozen different people all claimed to be in charge of the project. CMS believed one contractor was the lead integrator. That contractor didn't agree. Everyone shared the same goal, launch on time, but nobody had agreed on what success actually looked like or who got to make the call when priorities collided.

In this episode I break down what went wrong at healthcare.gov and how an engineer on loan from Google turned it around in about two months, not by touching the code, but by fixing how people talked to each other. Two daily standups. No finger pointing. Knowledge determines who talks, not rank.

I also touch briefly on the UK's National Savings and Investment Project as another example of the same pattern, then get into the three things every team needs when multiple people or organizations have to work together: a clear decision making process, upfront and ongoing agreement on success criteria, and the ability for anyone to speak up without fear of recrimination.If your team shares a goal but keeps hitting friction underneath it, this episode is for you.

Links to this week's article on stakeholder alignment: https://neuroconversantleadership.com/stakeholder-alignment-takes-more-than-just-common-goals/

More on the healthcare.gov turnaround: https://www.4sighthealth.com/healthcare-govs-death-defying-2013-launch-implications-govt-led-payment-reform/

The book is out. And I'm both relieved and completely in my head about it.

In this solo episode, I get honest about launch week. The marketing company sent more messages than I ever would have, and it made me feel icky watching people opt out. I hit the Amazon bestseller list, which felt great. And I got the kind of compliment on the book I never expected, from someone who's turned down thirty other requests for the same thing.

None of that fully quieted the voice asking if the book is actually any good.

So I looked into the research on imposter syndrome, and it turns out it shows up in two very different ways. One is the fear of looking unqualified, which stops people from asking questions. The other is not being able to accept it when you've actually succeeded. I don't have the first one. I ask questions all the time. I've got the second one, bad.

I share what I found, including a Stanford-based systematic review covering 14,000 people and a separate MIT study on how imposter thoughts actually show up at work, and what it means for how I'm handling compliments (badly) and asking for business (also badly, but for a different reason).

Email me at [email protected] and tell me: which version do you carry?

Link to the study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31848865/

Sixty two percent of managers say they struggle to work with Gen Z. Forty five percent of Gen Z say they don't know how to make themselves visible to their managers. Something is getting lost in translation.

In this episode I talk with Anjan Kasi, CEO of Vision X, about what's actually happening in that gap. Anjan works with IT managers and supervisors to turn early career talent into self led performers who don't need constant handholding.

We get into why Gen Z needs to understand the why behind a project before they'll fully commit to the what. Why managers who convey purpose and impact get far more from their teams than managers who just hand out tasks. And why Gen Z should stop waiting for an invitation and start making their thinking visible instead of just their output.

Anjan also shares the one habit managers can change starting today if they want better results from their early career talent.

Connect with Anjan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjan-kasi-sampath/

Check out his TEDx talk, nearing 270,000 views, on making wise choices when emotions run high at work.

Jonathan Lautermilch runs a book publishing company with his wife (the editor), a launch director, and a sound engineer, and none of them think the same way he does. He built it that way on purpose.

We start with how he manages a team whose brains work completely differently from his and from each other. He talks about hiring people who are willing to say no to him, and why that's saved the business more than once.

From there we get into delegation. Jonathan hands off the parts of the business he's not good at (by his own account, most of the tech side) and holds onto two things he won't budge on: the end goal and the team's core values.

We also talk about boundaries. Jonathan doesn't take texts at midnight, and he tells authors that up front instead of hoping it works itself out.

Along the way: psychological safety, why "do I want to be right or do I want to win" changed how he runs meetings, and the two questions he asks every author before they write a single word.

Jonathan is also the guy helping me publish my own book, so consider this an unfiltered look at what that's actually been like.

00:00 Introduction to Smart Publishing
02:49 The Power of Diverse Perspectives
05:32 Creating a Culture of Psychological Safety
08:37 Defining Goals and Priorities
11:22 The Spectrum of Author Engagement
14:01 Navigating the Writing Process
16:55 Building Trust and Communication
19:49 Consistency in Writing
22:52 Advice for Aspiring Authors
26:31 Final Thoughts and Resources

Find Jonathan at smartpublishingservices.com or on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonathanlautermilch

Welcome back to Season Two of NeuroConversant Leadership. I took a month off. Here's why, and here's what's different now.

I hit a wall. I was writing my book, building a college curriculum, writing a blog, sending a newsletter, and putting out this podcast every week. I actually thought about quitting one or two of them, maybe all three. It stopped being fun. It felt like a chore. So instead of quitting, I took a break to figure out what was actually sustainable.

Here's what changed. New tagline: how to connect with people who think, work, and see the world differently. It's also the subtitle of my book, which comes out July 28th. New intro and outro music, that's me on the drums. And a new rhythm going forward: podcast every week, blog or article every other week, newsletter on the weeks in between.

I also talk about why I kept my personal life separate from my work for so long, and why I'm done doing that. Drumming turned into a good metaphor for me. Two drums can look almost the same but sound totally different depending on how you play them. That's basically what happens when people who think differently work on the same problem. You need both.

If you've got a hobby or personal interest you haven't brought into your work yet, I'd love to hear about it. Email me at [email protected].

Over 80% of autistic adults with college degrees are unemployed. That's not a pipeline problem — it's a workplace design problem.

In this fireside chat recorded at an inclusion conference, I'm joined by Arianna DeAngelis, Training Manager at The Autism Project, for a candid conversation about what neuro-inclusive workplaces actually look like — and why the companies getting it right have a real competitive edge.

We talk about the damage done by the "high functioning" label, the difference between masking and code-switching, why your interview process is screening out great candidates, and the simple structural changes that make workplaces better for everyone — not just neurodivergent employees.

Subscribe to NeuroConversant Leadership on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. New episodes drop every Thursday.

If you are having trouble finding qualified candidates, or losing great talent and aren't sure why, visit www.NeuroConversantLeadership.com to get resources or to contact me.

What if the key to financial success isn't picking the right stocks — it's understanding how your clients think? Julina Ogilvie joins Jeremy Doran to share her journey from finance to wealth management and why communication, personality, and emotional intelligence matter more than most advisors realize.

In this episode:

• Why fear and greed drive every market decision — and how to work with that, not against it
• How to tailor your communication style to different client personalities
• The role of neurodiversity in financial planning and client relationships
• What behavioral finance reveals about how we really make money decisions
• How to help clients "stay the course" when volatility triggers panic

Connect with Julina Ogilvie:🌐 Website: https://www.PrincipleWealthPartners.com🎙️ Women on Wealth Podcast: https://julinaogilvie.net/podcast

Resources mentioned:

• JP Morgan's Autism at Work Program: https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/people-and-culture/autism-at-work
• Behavioral Finance Nobel Laureates: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economics/2013/summary/

Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Neurodivergent Leadership01:34 Julina's Journey in Finance03:38 Transitioning from Advisors to Individual Clients05:38 The Dance of Communication07:43 Understanding Client Personalities09:30 The Importance of Direct Communication11:18 Behavioral Finance and Emotional Decision-Making17:29 Exploring Money Stories20:29 Diversity in Finance24:45 Translating Complex Financial Concepts26:31 The Role of Behavioral Finance29:16 Conclusion and Communication Advice

Most people have strong opinions about DEI. Jeremy has a different take: drop the E for equity and replace it with a dollar sign.

In this solo episode, Jeremy reframes the DEI conversation around what actually drives business results — cognitive diversity and genuine inclusion. He makes the case that neurodivergent professionals represent an underutilized talent pool of 67 million Americans, and that the companies already winning (JPMorgan, Deloitte) aren't doing it out of social obligation. They're doing it because it works.

Topics include:

• Why equity is nearly impossible to define — and what to focus on instead
• The business case for cognitive diversity (30–140% productivity gains)
• How subtle exclusion costs you your best thinkers
• Practical hiring strategies to reduce bias and widen the talent pool
• What it means to be neuroconversant

What if the way your brain works isn't a problem to fix — but a strength to unlock? In this episode, Jeremy is joined by Lisa Richer, founder of Journey to Bloom and a neurodivergent success partner, who helps professionals move from stuck to success through her three-stage journey map: Clarity, Confidence, and Courage.

Lisa brings a deeply personal perspective — diagnosed with multiple neurodifferences later in life, she spent years in the corporate world masking, shutting down, and being told to "just do it my way." Now she helps individuals and organizations understand themselves first, so they can show up fully for others.

Key Topics:

• What "neurodivergent" actually means — and why the definition matters
• How common neurodivergence really is in the workplace (more than you think)
• The left-handedness analogy: reframing neurodivergence from condition to characteristic
• Lisa's 3 Cs: Clarity (internal), Confidence (relational), and Courage (systemic)
• Why the "messy middle" is where real leadership happens
• How companies like SAP and JP Morgan are proactively leveraging neurodiverse strengths
• Understanding your learning preference — and why it helps everyone in the room
• How to reframe "does anyone have questions?" so people actually respond
• Scaling inclusion from individuals to departments to systemic change

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Introduction to neurodiversity and leadership in technical workplaces
• 02:36 - Differentiating neurodiversity from cognitive diversity
• 04:02 - How common is neurodivergence in the workplace?
• 05:10 - The workday challenges faced by undiagnosed neurodivergent individuals
• 06:36 - Recognizing neurodifferences and the extra work of fitting in
• 07:44 - How inclusive programs like those at JP Morgan succeed by leveraging neurodiverse strengths
• 09:39 - Helping people advocate for themselves in communication and workplace settings
• 11:36 - Understanding yourself to improve communication and collaboration
• 12:09 - Building confidence with the 3 Cs: Clarity, Confidence, Courage
• 14:13 - Moving from manager to true leader through vulnerability and embracing the unknown
• 17:31 - Why courage means facing fear, not the absence of it
• 19:34 - Strategies that help neurodivergent professionals help everyone in the room
• 22:00 - The courage it takes to ask questions — and how to create space for them
• 27:39 - Working with individuals vs. organizations: where change really starts
• 30:27 - Reframing "ask me a question" to "share your insight"
• 32:58 - Lisa's one piece of advice for everyone

Lisa's closing advice: If you're thinking it, someone else is too — just ask.

Connect with Lisa Richer:

• Website: Journey2Bloom.com
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn & Facebook: /LisaRicher
• Instagram: @Journey2Bloom

Connect with Jeremy:

• Website: www.NeuroConversantLeadership.com
• LinkedIn: /jeremydoranspeaks