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Leadership Training
that lasts beyond Monday
In leadership - as in life - you have to work with your brain’s natural wiring, not against it.
You’ve been to professional development that inspires in the moment—but fizzles by Monday. That’s not what you’ll get with Dr. Irene Salter. As a Stanford-trained PhD neuroscientist and award-winning educator, Irene brings two decades of experience making the science of how we think, feel, and lead practical and powerful for leaders and their teams.
Workshops
Hands-on, minds-on professional development
Step into a workshop where leadership isn’t just talked about—it’s lived. Irene creates spaces where participants practice new leadership skills in real time. Each exercise sparks aha moments that shift perspectives. Participants leave with practical, actionable tools they can use immediately.
Communication
Emotional Intelligence
Teamwork
United Way of Northern California
Audience: North State women leaders (Women’s Leadership Collective)
Length: 90 minutes
Description: Bring to mind someone you consider to be an exceptional mentor. It may be easy to describe their character or personality (e.g. supportive, kind, thoughtful, wise, empathetic, encouraging…), but what are they actually doing? What behaviors, attitudes, and words do they use, and more importantly, can I learn those skills? This workshop breaks down what great mentors do, then you’ll get a chance to practice those skills with one another.
Leadership
Identity
Emotional Intelligence
Confidence
California Association of Museums
Audience: California Association of Museums for the Centering Equity Project
Length: 90 minutes
Description: Impostor syndrome can be a major challenge, particularly for underrepresented groups and rising leaders. Interestingly, the 70% of leaders who have experienced impostor syndrome demonstrate better interpersonal skills than their peers. This roundtable offers a space to share our experiences, to explore why it paradoxically makes us better, and to try out strategies to navigate our impostor feelings.
Change
Confidence
Vision
University of California
San Francisco
Audience: University of California San Francisco, General Neurology Department
Length: 60 minutes
Description: You have a gorgeous vision. Now what? Think of it as a journey. In this hands-on workshop, you’ll identify research-backed strategies to:
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Identify travel obstacles and areas of uncertainty
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Surround yourself with strengths and companions along the way.
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Leave our session with a clear roadmap to achieve your goals.
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Retreats
Not your average team getaway
What if your next team offsite was an experience unlike any other? Imagine holding a live porcupine to explore the science behind how fear of the unknown can be approached with playfulness and curiosity. Picture your team using both body and mind to navigate portable team-building elements that demand trust, resilience, and creativity. Irene’s team retreats offer unforgettable lessons that transfer directly back to the workplace.
Communication
Confidence
Teamwork
California Assessors Council
Audience: California Assessors Council, for the Northern California Annual Conference
Length: Half Day
Description: Who loves feedback and evaluation? Anyone? Anyone? There’s fascinating science and psychology behind how we communicate with one another, particularly around hard conversations like giving feedback. Explore the eight communication fundamentals, use them to develop a script for a challenging conversation you need to have right now, and discuss ways to improve communication in your workplace.
Teamwork
Communication
Leadership
Identity
Leadership Redding
Audience: Leadership Redding, for mid-year retreat, in partnership with Project Discovery
Length: Full Day
Description:It’s hard to get people with different perspectives working together—especially in a polarized world. But that’s exactly what our communities need: coalitions of diverse leaders taking action on what matters most.
Participants will explore root causes of polarization, practice tools to find common ground, and gain skills to work more effectively as a team.
Leave inspired, equipped, and ready to create real change. (Wear casual clothes. We’ll be actively playing outdoors.)
Balance
Stress
Resilience
Vision
Charter Schools Development Center
Audience: Charter School Development Center, at their Annual Conference
Length: Half Day
Description: School employees often spend their days fire-fighting and juggling never-ending to do lists and the needs of others, leaving little time and energy for the people and activities that make life worth living. In this summit, we’ll explore why this is so common, how to change it for yourself, and how to change it for your team.
Training Series
Culture change that lasts
Irene once worked with a group struggling with no clear leader at the helm, lots of drama, and hurt feelings. A year later, they emerged with a self-designed plan for leading together, a collaborative spirit, and restored relationships. That’s the kind of lasting transformation Irene’s multi-session trainings create: leadership growth, courageous conversations, and a culture where people thrive.
Leadership
Identity
Teamwork
Vision
Kindred Hearts
Audience: Kindred Hearts leadership Team Development
Length: 10-session series, each 90 minutes
Description: In the rush of day-to-day leadership, it’s easy to lose sight of who you are and what you bring to the table. This training series offers space to reflect, grow, and lead with intention. Through guided exploration of your unique strengths, values, passions, and purpose, you'll come to deeply understand your authentic leadership style, strengthen core management skills, and help bring the Kindred Hearts culture to life.
Teamwork
Communication
Emotional
Intelligence
Pivot Charter Schools
Audience: Pivot Charter Schools Leadership Team Development
Length: Full day retreat followed by monthly one-hour workshops and office hours
Description: This yearlong professional development series strengthens Pivot Charter’s leadership team through hands-on learning in emotional intelligence, communication, and conflict resolution. Topics include the four-quadrant EQ model, emotion regulation, reading the room, conscious listening, giving feedback, and leading with empathy. Monthly sessions combine new leadership skills with reflection, action planning, and real-world application. Monthly office hours offer support for any team member with additional questions or “spot coaching” needs.
Participants will explore root causes of polarization, practice tools to find common ground, and gain skills to work more effectively as a team.
Leave inspired, equipped, and ready to create real change. (Wear casual clothes. We’ll be actively playing outdoors.)
Balance
Change
Vision
Connecting Waters Charter Schools
Audience: Connecting Waters Charter Schools Team Development
Length: Half day retreat followed by three months of group coaching
Description: This blended leadership series begins with a half-day retreat for site directors and leadership team members focused on identifying your leadership style and building stress resilience. Then, over three months of biweekly group coaching, leaders will learn to tame overwhelming to-do lists, stay productive amidst constant interruptions, set healthy boundaries, establish clear team agreements, and lead with a balance of candor (direct, honest, assertive) and compassion (kind, empathetic, relational). This series helps you build a culture where leaders—and their people—can thrive.
Keynotes
Customized and participation-driven
While best known for her science-infused workshops and retreats, Irene also delivers customized keynotes where active participation isn’t just encouraged, it’s expected - an approach that activates multiple parts of the brain, boosting engagement, memory, and emotional impact. Her keynotes blend what to do, how to do it, and the science of why it works, all in one cohesive package.
Balance
Stress Resilience
Teamwork
Shasta Regional Medical Center
Audience: Shasta Regional Medical Center, at Go Red for Women’s Health
Length: 20 minutes
Description: Women today are overwhelmed by constant demands on time, energy, and resources. The solution isn’t a pedicure or the occasional weekend getaway. The answer lies in understanding how our brains and bodies allocate precious resources—and working with our biology, not against it. Join leadership coach and PhD neuroscientist Irene Salter for an inspirational, interactive talk that leads you past overwhelm and into a place of thriving.
Leadership
Identity
Confidence
Emotional
Intelligence
Association of California School Administrators
Audience: Association of California School Administrators, at the Women’s Leadership Conference
Length: 30 minutes
Description:
There’s dozens of leadership styles to try on, but choosing one off-the-rack can feel inauthentic, like putting on armor or wearing someone else’s clothes. How can you create a leadership identity that’s completely authentic? The answer lies in the one-of-a-kind design of your brain at its very best. Join PhD neuroscientist and former school superintendent, Irene Salter, to identify the best in yourself and use it to bring out the best in others.
Change
Stress Resilience
Emotional Intelligence
Society for Human Resource Management
Audience: Society for Human Resource Management, for their Annual Summit
Length: 60 minutes
Description: Navigating a chaotic, uncertain workplace is tough—but this interactive “playnote” makes it fun. Table teams take on leadership roles in a volatile HR scenario. Along the way, participants explore neuroscience concepts and two proven change models: Chip and Dan Heath’s Elephant/Rider/Path Analogy and William Bridges’ Transition Model. You’ll leave with insights on stress, decision-making, and collaboration no matter what kinds of crazy life throws at you.
She blends science with story
Clients consistently highlight Irene’s rare ability to integrate research-backed tools with resonant storytelling. Whether it's leadership identity, impostor syndrome, or communication strategies, she presents information that is both intellectually rigorous and human-centered.
You present a wonderfully unique combination of soft squishy support and hard scientific facts.
You model humanity, compassion, and empathy for us while also providing plenty of research-based resources that we can delve into on our own time
This helped leadership become a tangible, real thing versus an abstract concept.
You have inspired our staff with so many great tools. We really adored your session and cannot thank you enough for working with us.
WHY
do clients love working with
Irene?
She creates transformational experiences - not just trainings
Rather than cookie-cutter sessions where you might as well just watch the TED talk online, Irene crafts engaging, active learning experiences that participants describe as life-changing, energizing, and deeply impactful. Her sessions draw upon over twenty years as an award-winning educator to elicit deep growth and actionable insight.
I got SO much out of this session. 10/10 I highly recommend!
This was more helpful and amazing than I ever anticipated.
The time FLEW by. Irene kept us engaged all day.
The presentation itself and the group interactions with like-minded individuals was so beneficial to connect the dots in self discovery.
The walk outside was a brilliant engagement strategy I’ve never seen at a conference like this.
This presenter runs the session as an excellent teacher using the strategies that help engage participants and promote retention.
She meets people
where they are
Irene is praised for her approachability, emotional presence, and adaptive expertise. She meets each individual and organization at their unique starting point and walks alongside them with encouragement, clarity, and care.
Your expertise and ability to meet people where they are is astounding. No matter what we have asked you, you have provided helpful, positive, and measured support.
Irene has a passion for what she does and it shows - and is contagious.
I didn’t even know I had a leadership style…until this helped me reflect. 🥰
Irene, your training and leadership has been life changing, both personally and professionally. I appreciate how you show up with a smile and positive energy regardless of the day.
We’re a better organization for having worked with you.
See Irene in Action!
October 6-8
CSDC 2025 Conference
Irene returns in 2025 to the CSDC conference to present three topics:
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Healing the Healers: Mind-Body Skills for Resilient Schools
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Empowering Others: How School Leaders can Coach instead of Rescue
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Revamp Evaluations to build a Stronger Board-Director Partnership
Whether your board-executive partnership is thriving, strained, or somewhere in between, you’ll leave with a concrete action plan to strengthen your board-director partnership.
Meet Irene Salter, PhD
Irene’s pride and joy is interweaving science and storytelling to help leaders thrive, not just survive. Uniquely positioned on the speaking and training circuit as a Stanford-trained PhD neuroscientist, she brings over twenty years of experience as a science educator to make the neuroscience of how we think, feel, and behave accessible and actionable for leaders in any industry.
In leadership, as in life, it’s essential to work with your brain’s natural wiring, not against it.
A dynamic and engaging presenter, Irene has received two teaching awards and delivered thousands of hours of content. She’s equally at home in intimate corporate retreats or packed auditoriums. Her signature approach combines hands-on, minds-on audience engagement with meaningful, research-backed strategies to improve team performance. Every attendee leaves with fresh insight and a concrete action plan to put it into practice.
