Pivoting Without a Plan: Jessica Billet on Predictability, Worth, and Brain-Based Leadership, Part 1

The Few Collective continues their series on unchosen pivots with guest Jessica Billet, a neuroscience-informed leadership and change management expert and the founder of Excelsior Professional Services, where she equips leaders and organizations with brain-based strategies to drive sustainable performance, reduce burnout, and lead change more effectively.She has worked with Fortune 50 companies on complex transformations including mergers and acquisitions, cloud transformations, succession planning, and enterprise change initiatives. Known for her ability to bring clarity to complexity, Jessica specializes in translating neuroscience, behavioral science, and habit science into practical leadership tools that actually change how people work.Jessica is a change management leader who was laid off after surviving eight rounds of layoffs amid constant leadership turnover. Eight months later, she still lacks a full-time role but has gained clarity, developing brain-based leadership and “rewire” workshops that treat resistance to change as a neurological signal. Jessica shares that the hardest impact was losing predictability, explaining how prediction error triggers stress physiology and can lead to compulsive checking behaviors similar to doom scrolling. She describes realizing she equated busyness with worth and created new daily containers to restore predictability, enabling her to publish two books, build 65+ hours of training, and help 30+ people earn their CCMP, ultimately shifting from chasing validation to pursuing alignment with her values.Find Amy CunninghamFind Candace LangstonFind Jessica BilletQuestions or comments, we'd love to hear from you...send us a text!To stay up to date with The FEW Collective Email us.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple or Spotify or where ever you get your podcasts. You can also follow all the behind-the-scenes content on Instagram & Linkedin.Recorded at The Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center.