Ruben Consulting Group

Ruben Consulting Group Specializing in the acceleration of executive leadership and business performance with a masterful, proven executive development methodology. Fear flourishes.

http://www.leadershiptangles.com Bottom line, I’m driven to unleash your success . For more than 20 years, I’ve partnered with the leadership teams and executives of Fortune 500, medium-size, and start-up firms. Together we straightened the path to increased collaboration, successful change, and accelerated performance. In industries ranging from high technology and clean technology, biotechnology

and life sciences to financial services and higher education, I observed persistent/recurring patterns that entangled success in disappointment. After studying these situations in depth, I developed the concept of Organizational TanglesTM. Tangles develop when interpersonal relationships, leadership, culture, structure, and communication don’t align. I’ve identified more than a dozen individual, team, and organizational tangles, including the Executive Brain Knot TangleTM, the New Executive Trip Wire TangleTM, and the Cross Functional Tug of War TangleTM. No matter what the tangle, the symptoms are the same. Emotions overrun reason. Conflict and blame undermine collaboration and accountability. Mistrust defeats teamwork. Communication fails. As the Tangle DoctorTM, I assess the situation to name the tangle and explain the tangle. I pinpoint which misaligned “threads" to pull to untangle the knot and get the company back on track for success. I draw from a huge toolkit to design and enable a pragmatic solution that builds on strengths and increases performance. Solutions include outcome-based executive coaching, team effectiveness offsites, conflict mediation, change integration, and strategic change management consultation. What’s got your company tied in knots? If you’d like to find out, let’s talk.

Within 45 minutes of planning together, their voices found a rhythm. Their body movements began to mirror each other. Id...
06/11/2026

Within 45 minutes of planning together, their voices found a rhythm. Their body movements began to mirror each other. Ideas flowed.

They didn't know it, but their brains were doing something extraordinary:

They were synchronizing.

That's what collaboration actually looks like, at the biological level.

More in The Neuroscience of Leadership: Rewire. Untangle. Lead. Available now on Amazon!



Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

Leaders have always dealt with uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.What's different now? Volatility.And volatility ha...
06/03/2026

Leaders have always dealt with uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

What's different now? Volatility.

And volatility has a special talent: it triggers fear.

When fear rises, leaders default to:
→ Control
→ Certainty
→ Speed
→ Blame

But those are exactly the moves that make complexity worse.

The Neuroscience of Leadership offers a roadmap for staying steady in a fast world, leading with clarity, curiosity, and courage even when the ground shifts.

Available now on Amazon!



Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

"Why do I keep doing this?"If you've ever asked yourself that question, in a meeting, after a difficult conversation, al...
06/02/2026

"Why do I keep doing this?"

If you've ever asked yourself that question, in a meeting, after a difficult conversation, alone at the end of a hard day, you are not alone. Your brain is doing exactly what brains do under pressure.

The Neuroscience of Leadership: Rewire. Untangle. Lead. was written to answer that question. Not with another leadership theory, but with the science behind why smart, capable leaders get stuck in patterns they can't seem to shake, and a practical path out. Every chapter includes Brain Boosts and Reflection Prompts designed to move insight into action.

The world's #1 executive coach, Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, put it this way:
"Marcia has written a book that every leader who has ever wondered, 'Why do I keep doing this?' needs to read. Rigorous, warm, and deeply practical, this is leadership development at its best."

- Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, Thinkers50 #1 Executive Coach and New York Times bestselling author of The Earned Life, Triggers, and What Got You Here Won't Get You There

If Marshall's words resonate, the book is waiting for you. Available now on Amazon!

Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

"In a time when leadership is often reduced to technique or biology, this book makes a meaningful contribution by linkin...
06/01/2026

"In a time when leadership is often reduced to technique or biology, this book makes a meaningful contribution by linking neuroscience with the inner work required for real transformation. It helps explain how and why we get triggered, reactive, and 'tangled,' while also pointing toward the deeper psychological development needed to lead with clarity and presence. This is a grounded and practical guide for leaders committed to growing their capacity in a complex world."
- Bob Anderson, Founder and Chairman of The Leadership Circle and Co-founder and Chairman of the Full Circle Group; coauthor of Mastering Leadership and Scaling Leadership

If you're a leader who suspects there's more going on beneath the surface than a skills gap, my book was written for you. It's available now on Amazon, link in bio. I'd be honored to have you read it.



Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

I want to tell you about Alex.He's the CEO of a company I call Triennial Designs, a fictional composite drawn from decad...
05/31/2026

I want to tell you about Alex.

He's the CEO of a company I call Triennial Designs, a fictional composite drawn from decades of working with real leaders in real organizations.

When we first meet Alex, he's about to walk into a meeting with his leadership team. The company is bleeding money. The board is demanding answers. And Alex is ready to find someone to blame.

What happens next and what happens inside Alex's brain is the heart of The Neuroscience of Leadership.

Because here's the thing: Alex isn't a bad leader. He's a human one. His nervous system is doing exactly what it was designed to do under threat: narrow focus, find a target, protect status.

The question isn't whether your brain does this too. It does.

The question is whether you can catch it before it catches you.

When was the last time fear ran one of your meetings?

Learn more in The Neuroscience of Leadership! Available now on Amazon!



Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

Sean had always led with relationships.Know the birthdays. Remember the kids' names. Close deals over shared laughs.It w...
05/30/2026

Sean had always led with relationships.

Know the birthdays. Remember the kids' names. Close deals over shared laughs.
It worked for 20 years, until it didn't.

Sitting alone at 8:30 PM, rereading an email that threatened to end his biggest client relationship, Sean started typing his usual response: "Tell them we're focused on relationships, not robots."

Then he paused. Deleted it.

And for the first time, he wondered: What if being trusted means having the courage to change?

That moment, that tiny shift, is what adult development looks like in real time.

More in The Neuroscience of Leadership, out now on Amazon!

Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

 #9A question worth sitting with this weekend:When have you caught yourself mid-blame and shifted toward accountability?...
05/29/2026

#9
A question worth sitting with this weekend:
When have you caught yourself mid-blame and shifted toward accountability? What helped you make that pivot? And how do you ensure you repeat that success?

Our first automatic response to a tricky challenge is almost always to look outward, at the circumstances, the team, the timing, the person who dropped the ball. That's not a character flaw. It's biology. The brain under threat moves fast, and blame is one of its quickest exits.

But some leaders learn to pause. To notice the pull toward blame before acting on it. To choose accountability instead, not as a performance of virtue, but as a genuine orientation toward what's true and what's actually within their control.

In The Neuroscience of Leadership: Rewire. Untangle. Lead., I call this the difference between a Tangled Leader and an Untangled one. The gap between them isn't talent or intention. It's awareness, and the practice of building it.

I'd love to hear your answer to the question above. Drop it in the comments!

And if you want to go deeper, the book is waiting. Available now on Amazon!



Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

C-suite leaders are finding their way to The Neuroscience of Leadership. And what they're saying is making my heart sing...
05/28/2026

C-suite leaders are finding their way to The Neuroscience of Leadership. And what they're saying is making my heart sing.

Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann has advised CEOs, served on boards, and led at the highest levels of global banking as President and CEO/Chairman of Banamex USA. Shalini Govil-Pai leads Google TV as General Manager at one of the most complex and fast-moving organizations on the planet. These are not leaders with time to waste on books that don't deliver.

Here is what they had to say:

"The Neuroscience of Leadership book is a treasure trove of insight gems! From brain boosts to reflective prompts, Marcia's extraordinarily well-researched and science-based book will change your approach to leading in uncertainty. This is essential reading for any CEO serious about leading well, especially during times of change and transformation at speed."
- Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, CEO Advisor, Board Director, Author of FitCEO: Be the Leader of Your Life, former Citibank President and CEO/Chairman of Banamex USA

"Marcia has written the leadership book that high-performing executives actually need, one that goes beneath the surface behaviors to the neuroscience driving them. The tangled/untangled framework is both immediately recognizable and genuinely transformative. I wish I'd had this ten years ago."
- Shalini Govil-Pai, General Manager, Google TV

Two industries. Two leadership journeys. One conclusion.

If you're a senior leader navigating complexity and change, this book was written with you in mind. Available now on Amazon!



Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

When you exclude someone from an important meeting or publicly dismiss their idea, their brain registers it as physical ...
05/27/2026

When you exclude someone from an important meeting or publicly dismiss their idea, their brain registers it as physical pain. Not metaphorically. Literally.

In 2003, UCLA neuroscientists Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman discovered that social exclusion activates the same neural circuitry as a physical injury. The brain does not distinguish between a broken bone and a broken sense of belonging. It hurts to be left out.

Psychological safety isn't a soft idea. It's a biological necessity. Learn more in my newly released book: The Neuroscience of Leadership: Rewire. Untangle. Lead.

Available now on Amazon!



Link to my book:
Print edition ($26.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ48KVSF
E-book edition ($9.95): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZ122GJ8

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