“A neuroscientist, a CEO, and an astronaut walk into a bar.”
Tammy Arseneau, founder and CEO of Cortical Consulting & Coaching, laughs as she says it, knowing it sounds like the setup for a punchline. But it’s also how she describes the Leadership at the Speed of Science Summit, which she is producing in Calgary on Oct. 1.
At the BMO Centre, the event will bring together executives, scientists, athletes, and an astronaut for a day designed less like a conference and more like a live show. The summit is already 70% sold out, with decision-makers from across Alberta’s business community reserving their seats.
Leaders today face relentless pressure and uncertainty. The Leadership at the Speed of Science Summit gives leaders and aspiring leaders a chance to step into that experience surrounded by peers from other organizations. The point is to blend the intimacy of leadership development with the scale of a public forum, where leaders can compare how they navigate pressure, anxiety, and opportunity.
Arseneau built the event with leaders of all levels in mind. Leaders don’t need more binders or frameworks, she says. They need a space where the unfiltered reality of decision-making is exposed. She wanted the summit to feel like the kind of leadership conversation where someone finally asks the question you have been avoiding, and suddenly the problem looks different. Only this time, this happens on stage, with the whole room in it.
“It’s convening the conversation together, across experts in neuroscience who understand what is happening beneath the surface,” she says. “Talking with leaders who are experiencing pressure, uncertainty and stress every day.”
Why leadership strain matters now
Executives across Canada know the weight of leading through volatility. From supply chains to workforce expectations, the list of demands rarely gets shorter. Leaders are being asked to deliver results while also supporting their teams through nonstop change.
“Leadership today is more complex than ever,” says Arseneau. “The world is changing fast, pressure is rising, and people expect more from their leaders. Leaders are being asked to drive results, support their teams, and stay steady through nonstop change. That’s a lot to carry.”
Coaching has become a mainstream tool to help leaders manage that load. According to Ivey Business School, 70% of executives who work with a coach report improved work performance, relationships, and communication, and 80% say their confidence increased. Research from Deloitte shows organizations that invest in leadership development and coaching-oriented skills are better equipped to manage the competing tensions of economic, technological, and workforce change.
The summit leans directly into that reality. Its design reflects how high-stakes fields train for performance under strain. Astronauts practice failure until calm becomes instinct. Olympians build mental conditioning alongside physical technique. Military teams rehearse decisions with partial information. Business leaders, Arseneau argues, have been slower to prepare in the same way.
“That’s the part leaders sometimes miss,” she says. “Strain shapes every decision, every plan, and every team. It is the environment strategy has to survive in.”
This is also the work Cortical Consulting & Coaching focuses on in its practice. The Calgary-based firm helps leadership teams make sense of change, strengthen decision-making in uncertain conditions, and build clarity when systems are under strain.
Inside a different kind of agenda
The agenda reflects Arseneau’s excitement and attention to detail. She wanted something executives would remember not for who was on stage, but for how it felt to be in the room.
“Traditional panels don’t always get to the essence,” she says. “So why don’t we do a talk show where these wonderful people have a conversation and you get to be a fly on the wall?”
The morning begins with Col. Chris Hadfield, who will set the tone for what it means to lead when clarity is scarce and risk is constant. Immediately after, Jay Ingram will host a live conversation with Hadfield, neuroscientist Dr. Matt Hill, and former Irving Oil CEO Kenneth Irving. The session is designed to pull out moments of candour about how leaders decide and perform when strain is highest.
There are playful touches too. The Neurotones will provide music between segments, and Hadfield is expected to sing with the band before lunch. The intent is to shift the rhythm and energy of the day so participants remain alert to the conversations.
The afternoon turns to application. Leaders can choose from three concurrent workshops before returning to hear the collective insights. Each workshop is built for interaction, giving leaders space to test ideas and apply new insights.
Training for failure before it counts
In The Edge of Performance, participants will step directly into the experience of performing under strain. Neuroscientist Dr. Araba Chintoh uses a live stress simulation to make the body’s reaction visible, while Olympians Duff Gibson and Crystal Phillips share how they built focus and mental conditioning in high-stakes competition.
The takeaway for executives is to not only prepare for success. Learn how to practice failure and recovery so staying calm becomes habit when your team is under fire.
Leading when the answers aren’t clear
In Beneath the Surface, neuroscientist Dr. Sarah Hewitt, Calgary entrepreneur Craig Latimer, and Jason Rakochy examine what it means to lead through ambiguity and complexity. With Nancy Penner from Cortical facilitating, they unpack decision fatigue, anxiety, and the tension leaders carry when calls have to be made with imperfect information.
The value for leaders is a deeper understanding of the stress response in times of change, along with strategies to keep themselves and their teams adaptable when there are no perfect answers.
Facing the human cost of leadership
The third workshop, The Science of Mental Health, pairs a CEO’s personal story with emerging research. Filmmaker Greg Hemmings will share his own journey of recovery, while Dr. Matt Hill and Dr. Leah Mayo of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute examine what the science says about practices ranging from meditation to neurofeedback to psychedelics.
For leaders, it’s designed as an invitation to think critically about wellness tools, understand how stress affects creativity and motivation, and consider how leaders can support themselves and their teams when the strain becomes personal.
In a recent conversation, Arseneau said the morning will “feel a little bit surreal,” but the sessions that follow are where the application becomes more tangible.
“The application of neuroscience is where I focus,” she says. “It’s not the theory. It’s ‘What does this mean for me, and what does this mean for my business?’”
A national leadership conversation
Arseneau sees the summit as an experiment in what happens when leaders and scientists compare notes in public.
“This summit is not about delivering a new framework,” she says. “It is a live, unscripted convergence between disciplines that rarely share the same stage.”
By putting leaders, scientists, and athletes in the same conversation, the event frames strain as a systemic reality organizations must learn to navigate. It creates a visible test for executives, showing how leaders from very different domains approach the same challenge.
“Military personnel, astronauts, and elite athletes are trained to perform under pressure. Why not leaders?” asks Arseneau. “This summit explores that question, not with answers, but with curiosity.”
There’s an opportunity to hear interesting stories, but for leaders the bigger opportunity is to experience the way preparation works for what leadership demands today and for the future.
By convening voices from science, business, and high-performance fields, these conversations can have national implications. Every region in Canada is wrestling with the same questions about how to lead through complexity, how to keep clarity when uncertainty is the norm, and how to sustain performance when expectations only grow.
The summit is rooted in Calgary but connects to a broader shift in how Canadian leadership is being defined in boardrooms, in research labs, and on stages where disciplines collide.
So what does happen when a neuroscientist, a CEO, and an astronaut sit down together? Calgary is about to find out.
Final shots
- Science helps explain how stress affects clarity, creativity, and the way teams function under uncertainty.
- Practicing for strain through reflection, simulation, and recovery prepares leaders to stay effective when the stakes are highest.
- Leadership today is less about having the perfect plan and more about creating the conditions to decide and adapt when the answers are incomplete.
Digital Journal is the official media partner for the Leadership at the Speed of Science summit. Tickets for the Oct. 1 event are available now.
