Parenthood is one of the most complex systems we’ll ever navigate — and for working parents, it often runs in parallel with another: work.

In this heartfelt conversation Faten Fathallah, Marie Nakhle, Marilyn Zakhour, Tala Odeh, and Zeinab Makke from the Cosmic Centaurs team join Hadeel Kabosh to explore how they design, adapt, and sustain systems that help them thrive as both professionals and parents.

Together, they reflect on:
🔹 How motherhood reshapes priorities, time, and definitions of success
🔹 Why community, communication, and boundaries are essential to balance
🔹 The rituals, processes, and rules that keep their households (and sanity) in check
🔹 What organizations can do to better support parents in the workplace

This conversation is a celebration of intention, imperfection, and the invisible systems that make it all work.

What does it mean to bring humanity back into our systems, and to see ourselves as part of them?

In this conversation, Dr. José-Rodrigo Córdoba-Pachón, Associate Professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, joins Marilyn Zakhour to explore the intersection of systems thinking, rituals, and the art of being. Together, they reflect on how leaders can find balance between doing and being, structure and spontaneity, efficiency and presence.

They discuss:
🔹 How philosophy, poetry, and systems thinking can inform modern leadership
🔹 The role of rituals in creating meaning, boundaries, and connection
🔹 Why reflection and lightness are essential to navigate complexity
🔹 How to design systems that leave space for silence, creativity, and humanity

This conversation invites leaders to slow down, question assumptions, and rediscover the simple, human truths at the heart of every system.

Innovation rarely fails because of a lack of ideas. It fails because the systems around it are built for compliance, not experimentation.

In this episode, Wissam Adib, Executive Coach and former Advisor at the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, joins Marilyn Zakhour to explore what it really takes to build systems that foster innovation at scale. Drawing on two decades of experience shaping national innovation frameworks in the UAE, Wissam shares lessons that apply to both governments and organizations everywhere.

Together, they explore:
🔹 How to build a system that makes innovation repeatable and sustainable
🔹 What it means to balance governance with experimentation
🔹 Why ambidexterity is a core leadership muscle
🔹 How leaders can separate themselves from the systems they shape
🔹 What organizations can learn from the UAE’s journey of embedding innovation

This conversation blends systems thinking, leadership, and strategy with practical insights from one of the region’s most experienced innovation architects.

In leadership, we often focus on strategies, frameworks, and structures. But what keeps systems alive are the people within them — their purpose, presence, and connection.

In this soulful conversation, Rawan Albina, Leadership & Wellbeing Academies Director at Chalhoub Group, joins Marilyn Zakhour to explore the human and emotional dimensions of systems. Together, they discuss how leaders can nurture balance, resilience, and meaning within complex organizations.

They explore:
🔹 What it means to fully occupy your place within a system
🔹 How comfort zones and flow coexist, and why both matter
🔹 How leaders can stay grounded while in constant motion
🔹 Why purpose doesn’t have to be grand, it can be as simple as opening hearts
🔹 Practical ways to bring connection, feedback, and mindfulness into everyday leadership

This episode is an invitation to slow down, listen deeply, and remember that every thriving system begins with a centered, conscious human being.

Most leaders want high performance. Few know how to sustain it.
In this energizing session, Stoyan Yankov, productivity & performance consultant, bestselling author, and co-creator of the PERFORM methodology, joins Marilyn Zakhour to unpack what it really takes to build teams that deliver results and stay energized.

Together, they explore how leaders can:
🔹 Design systems that balance productivity and people
🔹 Turn clarity, planning, and focus into everyday habits
🔹 Build cultures of ownership, communication, and resilience
🔹 Transform crisis and pressure into catalysts for better systems

This episode is packed with practical frameworks, from purpose and planning to mental toughness, and a powerful reminder that great systems aren’t built overnight. They’re built through consistency.

🎥 Watch now to learn how to perform better, longer, and with heart.

Metrics can tell you if you’re moving, but not whether you’re moving in the right direction.
In this conversation, Daniel Delati, Managing Partner at 360 Consulting, and Mazuba Haanyama, Independent Consultant, join Hadeel Kabosh from Cosmic Centaurs to explore what it really takes to design systems that make impact visible, measurable, and meaningful.

Together, they dive into:
🔹 How leaders can deliver impact by design strategies anchored in purpose
🔹 Why clarity and curiosity are the missing links in most measurement frameworks
🔹 How storytelling and listening help organizations communicate the “why” behind the numbers
🔹 What private sector leaders can learn from nonprofits about doing more with less

This dialogue goes beyond metrics, it’s a reflection on purpose, power, and the systems that sustain change.

🎥 Watch now to learn how to build systems that don’t just measure impact, but amplify it.

What if you could train your brain to think more effectively, to see connections, anticipate ripple effects, and redesign the systems you operate in?

In this episode of the 2025 Cosmic Conference: The System is the Strategy, Cosmic Centaurs CEO Marilyn Zakhour is joined by Dr. Derek Cabrera and Dr. Laura Cabrera, founders of the Cabrera Research Lab and professors at Cornell University. Together, they unpack what systems thinking really means and how leaders can move from firefighting to future building.

💡 In this session, you’ll learn:

• What systems thinking is and why it’s an essential skill for leaders.
• The six practical moves that can improve your systems thinking ability by 550%.
• How to apply systems thinking across contexts, from leading teams to raising kids.
• Why understanding and aligning mental models can resolve most workplace (and personal) conflicts.

🌍 Whether you’re leading a team, building a company, or simply trying to make sense of complexity, this conversation offers a simple, science-backed framework for thinking smarter about the systems that shape our world.

🎙 About the Speakers:
Dr. Derek Cabrera is a systems and cognitive scientist, author of Systems Thinking Made Simple, and founder of the Cabrera Research Lab at Cornell University.

Dr. Laura Cabrera is CEO and co-founder of the Cabrera Research Lab and a leading voice in making systems science accessible and practical across sectors.

Host: Marilyn Zakhour, CEO of Cosmic Centaurs, organizational and leadership development consultancy.

🧭 The 2025 Cosmic Conference Theme:
The System is the Strategy: How the most effective leaders shift from Firefighting to Future Building.

We often think of psychological safety as something created within teams — but what about the systems, structures, and incentives that surround them? 🌍

In this powerful Cosmic Conference 2025 session, Sander Hoeken, Co-Founder of The Fearless Organization Scan and Founder of CellSpace, joins Marilyn Zakhour, CEO of Cosmic Centaurs and Harvard Business Review author, to explore how organizations can build systems that sustain psychological safety at scale.

Moderated by Marie Nakhle, Senior Consultant at Cosmic Centaurs, this conversation moves beyond theory to offer tangible, system-level practices leaders can implement to make psychological safety part of how their organizations operate every day.

💬 In this session, you’ll learn:

• How HR policies, incentives, and physical space shape psychological safety
• Systemic practices that embed psychological safety across teams and functions
• How to balance safety with accountability for higher performance
• Why leaders often overestimate how much they hear from their teams
• How to adapt psychological safety to multicultural and high-context workplaces

🎙️ About the Speakers:

• Sander Hoeken has been at the forefront of transforming Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety into actionable tools through The Fearless Organization Scan, used by companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Merck, and Accenture.
• Marilyn Zakhour is the Founder & CEO of Cosmic Centaurs, a leadership and organizational development consultancy that has impacted over 90,000 individuals across 92 countries. She is also a university lecturer and the host of Centaur Stage.
• Moderator: Marie Nakhle, Senior Consultant at Cosmic Centaurs and Certified Psychological Safety Practitioner.