The Conscious Capitalists How Xapa's Christine Heckart Builds Trust and Psychological Safety in the Age of AI
What happens when AI disruption collides with the urgent need for human-centered leadership?
In this episode of The Conscious Capitalists’ Future-Focused Summer Series, hosts Timothy Henry and Dr. Neha Sangwan are joined by Christine Heckart - tech industry veteran, former CEO of Scalyr, senior executive at Microsoft and Cisco, and now founder of Xapa, an AI-powered leadership development platform. Together, they dive into how leaders can guide their organizations through radical uncertainty, exponential change, and the AI revolution without leaving their people behind.
Christine pulls from 30 years in Silicon Valley to reveal why 90% of AI transformation projects are failing - not because of technology, but because of people. She explains how leaders must anchor teams in trust, purpose, and psychological safety, while scaling leadership development across every level of the organization. The conversation highlights why human connection, empathy, and conscious capitalism are the real differentiators in an AI-driven world.
This is more than a discussion on technology - it’s a playbook for leading with both innovation and heart in a time when businesses face unprecedented change.
Listeners will gain insights into:
- Why most AI transformation projects fail - and how to avoid the trap
- The difference between trust and psychological safety (and why both matter)
- Practical ways to stabilize teams during radical disruption
- How to scale leadership development across every level of the company
- Why empathy and conscious capitalism are now business-critical skills
- How CEOs can balance AI-powered innovation with human judgment
- Why people-first leadership is the key to unlocking AI’s potential
Whether you’re a CEO wrestling with AI disruption, a leader striving to build resilient teams, or a founder seeking to combine innovation with purpose, this episode offers a powerful guide to leading with clarity, courage, and humanity in a time of radical change.
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This show is presented by Conscious Capitalism, Inc. (https://www.consciouscapitalism.org/) and is produced by Rainbow Creative (https://www.rainbowcreative.co/) with Matthew Jones as Executive Producer, Rithu Jagannath as Lead Producer, and Nathan Wheatley as Editor.
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- Timothy & Neha