In this episode of the How to Lead – 2025 Edition series, Julia speaks with Dr. Fiona Kerr, a neuroscientist, engineer, and systems thinker, about how to lead a strategy day in a way that truly taps into the collective intelligence of the room.
Fiona begins with neuroscience: why proximity makes us smarter, how brains sync when people interact face-to-face, and what that means for the quality of thinking in a strategy session. She then explores how to design and steer, not control a conversation. From setting boundaries and naming non-negotiables, to using intuition, spotting weak signals, and asking the right questions, her approach is built around high trust, curiosity, and deep listening.
She also unpacks the role of leaders as both participants in the system and observers of it, holding a bifocal view that allows for creativity and rigour at once.
Listen to this episode to learn how to lead strategy sessions that go beyond sticky notes and PowerPoints and instead unlock clarity, ownership, and systems-level thinking.
About the Guest
Fiona Kerr
Dr Fiona Kerr is a globally recognised thought leader in human connectivity and synchronization, partnering with technology and leading future ready, resilient organizations. She is the founder of the NeuroTech Institute & FOCUS, and consults globally to a wide range of public and private sectors on building adaptive people, organisations and systems (including law, banking / finance, health, defence, education and the arts). Combining forty years in industry with qualifications in complex systems engineering, cognitive neuroscience, psychology and anthropology, Fiona offers unique insights on finding human centric solutions to emerging, complex problems, including how to shape and lead a changing environment which remains human centric, while technologically enabled.
In 2023 Dr Kerr was made a fellow of ATSE for her pioneering work on the positive impact of human proximity on complex problem solving, and in 2024 she became the Director of AIR (Applied Integrative Research) for MindChamps Holdings Pty Ltd in Singapore, to address how digital tools and human proximity impact the cognition of learning and virtual knowledge delivery, and to further work on building complex thinking skills at all ages from infants to CEO’s. A recognised authority on quality driven innovation, Fiona is an Ambassador of WINN (Women in Innovation) and a mentor for women leaders.
About the Host
Julia Middleton
Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.
In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.
Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.
Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.
More from this series
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Real Women. Real Insights. Real Leadership
Powered by
Women Emerging © 2025. All rights reserved