Surrender to Win: The Contrarian's Guide to Leading in Chaos
How to stop fighting the chaos and start using clarity to forge a new path.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Surrender to Win
We’re drowning in a sea of uncertainty.
The economy is a K-shaped mess, AI is either coming for your job or making you a billionaire (no one seems to know which), and political instability is the new normal.
In the midst of this chaos, what’s the average leader doing?
Falling into the “action trap”—a hamster wheel of frantic activity that feels like progress but goes nowhere.
In my latest conversation on the Finding Peak podcast, I sat down with Dr. Jessica Kriegel, a leadership expert who works with Fortune 100 CEOs, and she dropped a truth bomb that will make most leaders uncomfortable: the key to winning isn’t to fight harder, it’s to surrender.
That’s right. Surrender.
It’s a word that makes most of us think of weakness, of giving up. But as Jessica explains, this isn’t about waving a white flag.
It’s about a radical shift in mindset, a new framework for leadership that’s perfectly suited for our chaotic world.
Connect with Dr Jessica Kriegel
Website: https://www.jessicakriegel.com
Surrender to Lead book: https://amzn.to/4att9OR
The Action Trap: Are You Busy Being Busy?
We’ve all been there. The pressure is on, the goals are ambitious, and the only solution seems to be to do more.
More meetings, more emails, more initiatives. We’re addicted to the hustle, to the feeling of being busy.
But as Jessica points out, this is a failing strategy. It’s the leadership equivalent of trying to empty the ocean with a bucket.
This is especially true for leaders with ADHD, who are often drawn to the novelty and stimulation of new ideas and projects.
The action trap can feel like a playground, but it’s dangerous. It leads to burnout, scattered focus, and a team that’s constantly reacting instead of executing.
The Serenity Prayer for CEOs
So what’s the alternative?
Jessica’s framework is simple, yet profound.
It’s the Serenity Prayer, repurposed for the boardroom:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Let’s break that down:
Accept the things you cannot change: You can’t control the global economy. You can’t stop the advancement of AI. You can’t dictate how your employees feel when they wake up in the morning. Stop trying.
The courage to change the things I can: What can you control? Yourself. Your mindset. The way you show up as a leader. The experiences you create for your team.
The wisdom to know the difference: This is where the real work lies. It’s about drawing a line in the sand between what’s in your control and what’s not. It’s about trading the illusion of control for the power of influence.
This is the essence of the PEAK framework we talk about so much here at Finding Peak.
It’s about understanding your RealityOS, your internal operating system, and rewriting the code that’s holding you back. It’s about moving from a reactive state to a creative one.
Your Team Doesn’t Have a Technology Problem, They Have a Belief Problem
One of the most powerful insights from my conversation with Jessica is this: if you want to change how people act, you have to change what they believe.
And you don’t change beliefs with a motivational speech or a new company policy. You change beliefs with experiences.
As Jessica says, “Culture isn’t created in one big experience like a town hall speech. It’s created in thousands of daily experiences.”
Every interaction, every decision, every story you tell as a leader either reinforces or rewrites your team's beliefs.
This is where storytelling becomes a leader’s most powerful tool. Forget the spreadsheets and the data.
Data doesn’t move people. Stories do. Stories connect with us on a visceral, emotional level. They are the currency of belief.
The Future of Leadership: AI CEOs and Surrendered Humans
Jessica’s predictions for the future are both terrifying and exciting. She believes we’ll see the first AI CEO by 2026.
And she’s not talking about a robot in a suit. She’s talking about AI taking on the transactional tasks of leadership, freeing up human leaders to do what they do best: build culture, tell stories, and inspire belief.
This is the future of work.
It’s a future where the leaders who thrive will be the ones who have the courage to surrender, the wisdom to focus on what matters, and the ability to build a culture of belief in a world of chaos.
If you’re ready to break free from the action trap and start leading in a way that actually gets results, you need to listen to this episode.
It’s a conversation that will challenge everything you thought you knew about leadership.
This is the way.
Hanley
P.S. If you are prioritizing content, online visibility, and building influence in your market in 2026, upgrade to Finding Peak Paid Membership today!
Special Cyber Week Discount on Riverside
One of the tools I use every day in my content creation is Riverside.
In the first workshop in this series, I’ll walk through how I use Riverside to create once and produce over 11 pieces of content (just using Riverside).
As a long-time partner of Riverside, I negotiated a special 35% discount for Finding Peak audience members.
Then use code BF2025 at checkout to capture your discount.
Riverside is a fundamental tool in my marketing stack. Every video, podcast, and Instagram reel starts in Riverside.
…and next week I’m going to show exactly how I leverage Riverside to create endless content that will make it impossible for you to ignore in 2026.
