Brain Hacking & Trauma-Informed Leadership: Creating space for human ingenuity to flourish with Christina Goldschmidt Artwork

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Poets & Thinkers explores the humanistic future of business leadership through deep, unscripted conversations with visionary minds – from best-selling authors and inspiring artists to leading academic experts and seasoned executives.

Hosted by tech executive, advisor, and Princeton entrepreneurship & design fellow Ben Lehnert, this podcast challenges conventional MBA wisdom, blending creative leadership, liberal arts, and innovation to reimagine what it means to lead in the AI era.

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Poets & Thinkers

Brain Hacking & Trauma-Informed Leadership: Creating space for human ingenuity to flourish with Christina Goldschmidt

January 28, 2026 • Benedikt Lehnert • Season 2 • Episode 17

What if the only way to unlock ingenuity in our organizations is by showing up as authentic leaders who first and foremost know how to “hack their brain” and lead themselves?

In this episode, Ben sits down with Christina Goldschmidt, VP of Product Design at Warner Music Group and adjunct professor at NYU Stern. With her deep understanding of neuroscience and trauma-informed leadership, Christina brings a radically different perspective on how to unlock human potential in the age of AI, and why the future of business leadership requires us to embrace our most human qualities. Christina’s vision for management is about understanding our unique cognitive patterns and building organizations where everyone can access their ingenuity.

Key Ideas:

Procrastination as brain chemistry: learning to induce creative pressure without the downsides
Three modes of problem-solving: dialogue, liminal spaces (showers!), and unconscious processing
Why trauma-informed leadership creates better outcomes for everyone
Authenticity as permission: when leaders show up as themselves, teams can too
The apprenticeship crisis: how automation is eliminating the grunt work that teaches skills
Vision as the essential AI-age skill: knowing what you want before you can prompt for it
Curiosity as the antidote to fear in times of rapid change

Resources & References

Dopamine Nation by Dr. Anna Lemke

Notes on Being a Man by Scott Galloway

Connect with Christina Goldschmidt

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinagoldschmidt/

Website: https://www.cgoldschmidt.com/

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