Finding Your Voice: Claire Hayek’s Mission to Redefine Mental Fitness for Leaders

Claire Hayek knows what it means to spend a lifetime searching for one’s own voice. Born with her mother’s umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, she entered the world without breath or sound. It is a metaphor, she says, for how long it took her to truly “own” her voice. “It took me fifty years to find it back,” she reflects. Now a neuroscience leadership expert, keynote speaker, and founder of Mind. Soul. Purpose (MSP) Teambuilding, Hayek is determined to make sure others don’t have to wait that long.

Her upcoming book weaves together her personal journey of resilience along with her thesis on mental fitness; from her life, growing up in Lebanon, immigrating to Canada, and navigating a dual life as both an engineer and musician, combined with a framework she believes is urgently needed in today’s workplaces. For Hayek, mental fitness is about cultivating the ability to quiet the inner critic, take up your own space, and be the ‘CEO of your brain.’

“We spend so much time of our lives being told we need to fit into one box: either an engineer, or become an artist, or an executive, or a leader. But the truth is, you don’t have to choose,” Hayek explains. “You don’t have to see yourself through tunnel vision. Just like elite athletes train both their bodies and minds, in the same way, professionals can reach an ‘athletic level’ in their own lives. Mental fitness is what will allow them to play at their best, to see the panoramic version of their lives. That means tapping into your full potential, owning your voice, and operating from a place where performance and well-being naturally reinforce each other.”

That tension between performance and well-being is one she has seen across decades in corporate leadership. Too often, she argues, leaders believe they must choose between driving results and preserving their mental health. But research, including studies on positive intelligence from Stanford University, suggests otherwise: those who build mental fitness actually perform better under stress, innovate more effectively, and inspire their teams more naturally.

Hayek’s own career is proof. She spent years toggling between engineering and music, often told she was ‘scattered’ or unfocused. In reality, the multiplicity of her identity was her strength. “For years, I was wearing different masks depending on the environment. I thought I had to be one or the other. But mental fitness taught me I could be both. Owning your voice means refusing to shrink yourself to fit expectations.”

That theme of finding one’s voice is central to her keynote, which she is set to deliver on various global stages. She recalls one of her most vivid moments: standing backstage at one of Montreal’s most renowned venues, preparing to perform after years of effort. “My inner critic was screaming at me, telling me I wasn’t good enough, that I didn’t belong there,” she says. “But when I walked out and opened my mouth to sing, the critic disappeared. That’s what mental fitness does. It turns down the dial on fear so you can step into who you are.”

Her message resonates strongly in today’s volatile workplace. Jobs are evolving rapidly under the pressure of AI, automation, and shifting industries. For students and young professionals, especially, the future can feel disorienting. Hayek argues that adaptability requires more than new skills; it requires identity formation. “When you know who you are, when you own your voice, you stop clinging to rigid definitions of your career. You understand you are more than one thing, and that makes you adaptable.”

Through MSP Teambuilding, she has built neuroscience-driven programs that help organizations foster resilience and engagement. Her workshops go beyond traditional icebreakers, often integrating music, creativity, and brainwave awareness to pull participants out of autopilot and into presence. In one exercise, executives are asked to rewrite the lyrics of a song to reflect their organization’s purpose and culture, a workshop that pushes them to step out of their comfort zone, tap into their creative right brain, and discover new aspects of their leadership.

Underlying it all is Hayek’s conviction that mental fitness can be trained just like physical fitness. Leaders, she says, can learn to catch self-sabotaging thoughts, shift perspective, and stay composed under pressure. “Mental fitness is about making your brain work for you, not against you,” she explains. “It’s practicing small, everyday moments of mindfulness, active listening, pausing to reframe a setback, choosing to find the gift in a challenge.” Over time, those practices strengthen neural pathways, increasing clarity, creativity, and resilience.

Hayek’s timing couldn’t be more relevant. A Gallup report states that only 21% of employees worldwide are engaged at work, with managers experiencing the largest drop. For her, this number underscores why her message matters now. “We’re living in a world where uncertainty is the only constant. Mental fitness is no longer optional; it’s the foundation for leading with strength, compassion, and creativity.”

As she steps into her next chapter as an author and global voice on leadership, Hayek is clear about her mission: to help people stop waiting decades to find their voice. “You don’t need to take fifty years, like I did. You can choose today to start owning who you are, to stop playing small, and to step into your full potential. When you do, performance and well-being stop being in conflict; they become partners and you can create the life you’ve always dreamed of.”