Centaur Stage

What does it really take to stay steady when everything around you isn’t? In this episode, we explored how leaders navigated the emotional weight of uncertainty — balancing fear, responsibility, and constant change, often all at once. While strategy played a role, the conversation surfaced something deeper: how a leader’s internal state shapes not only their decisions, but the experience of everyo...

Opening Keynote | Cosmic Conference 2026 Grounded & Limitless: Leading Through Uncertainty Today’s leaders are navigating a level of uncertainty that is layered, prolonged, and constantly shifting. Decisions are being made faster, with less clarity, and under increasing pressure, while teams look to their leaders for stability and direction. In this opening keynote, Marilyn Zakhour (Founder &a...

What does it mean to lead not as a career, but as a form of service? In this episode of Center Stage, Marilyn Zakhour sits down with Muna AbuSulayman, one of the most influential voices in the Arab world across media, philanthropy, leadership development, and social impact. Named among the 500 most influential Muslims globally, Muna has spent her career shaping narratives, empowering communities,...

In this Season IV premiere of Center Stage, Marilyn Zakhour, CEO of Cosmic Centaurs opens a bold new chapter. After years of exploring global case studies and leadership lessons from around the world, this season turns the lens inward. It asks a powerful question: What can the world learn from leadership in the Arab world? Marilyn reflects on her own journey from declining media interviews in the...

What if visibility is not ego, but leadership? In this episode, we turn the mic on Cosmic Centaurs’ founder and CEO, Marilyn Zakhour, in a candid conversation about why leaders in the GCC and wider MENA region must step into public presence with intention, and what it truly takes to do it well. From cultural norms around humility and discretion, to structural gaps in media ecosystems and speaking...

In this episode of our Psych Safety in Focus webinar series, Marie Nakhle and Tala Odeh dive into the first of 4 Domains that shape whether teams can truly perform, learn, and adapt together: Inclusion & Diversity  Too often, inclusion is treated as separate from performance. In reality, it’s foundational to it. When people don’t feel included, unique voices go unheard, and psychological safet...

What really happens when leaders pause long enough to measure psychological safety—and then dare to talk about what they find? In this episode of Psychological Safety in Focus , we sit down with Mazuba Haanyama , independent consultant with over 15 years of experience working across tech, government, corporates, and civil society, to explore what measuring psychological safety looks like in practi...

This is the first of our Cosmic Centaurs Psychological Safety webinar series with a deep dive into the insights uncovered during our recent roundtable in Dubai, held in partnership with Sander Hoeken, Co-founder of The Fearless Organization Scan, where 18 HR leaders came together to discuss how psychological safety is understood and practiced across the MENA region. The session will be facilitated...

As part of our Psych Safety in Focus webinar series, this is a special follow-up session to unpack the biggest insights, themes, and breakthroughs from the global event. Marilyn Zakhour, CEO of Cosmic Centaurs, and Marie Nakhle, Psychological Safety Lead shared what they took from Psych Safety Day  🔹What Cosmic Centuars learned from the world’s leading researchers and facilitators 🔹Practical too...

A conversation with Russell John Cailey, CEO and Founder of Elham Studio and Almach AI, and Tala Odeh, Capability Development Lead at Cosmic Centaurs. As AI accelerates, collapses time, and democratizes knowledge, the world of work is undergoing a transformation unlike anything we have seen before. The question is no longer whether AI will replace some jobs. The real question is: What human capabi...

Workplaces are at their best when every individual’s strengths are recognized and supported. Together, Dr Molly Taylor & Tala Odeh will explore what neurodivergence truly means, the strengths it brings, and the misconceptions that limit progress.  Together, we’ll look at the everyday realities of neurodivergent employees and the steps leaders can take to design systems, cultures, and learning...

After seven weeks of exploring systems thinking through the lens of leadership, culture, and transformation, the 2025 Cosmic Conference comes full circle with a powerful closing conversation. Professor José Santos , Affiliated Professor of Practice in Global Management at INSEAD , joins Marilyn Zakhour to challenge and deepen the conference’s central idea: Is the system really the strategy? Togeth...

Culture isn’t the soft stuff, it’s the system that makes everything else work. In this lively conversation, Marilyn Zakhour and Tala Ode from Cosmic Centaurs unpack how culture shows up not in slogans or posters, but in the invisible systems that shape how organizations operate: how decisions are made, how meetings run, how feedback flows, and how people feel when they show up to work. Using the O...

Time is the one system every leader struggles to manage — and the one that reveals how well all the others work. In this energizing conversation, Diren Bhatia , entrepreneur, coach, and founder of Cloudscape Technologies , joins Tala Ode to explore how leaders and founders can redesign their relationship with time. From his own journey of moving from a 14-hour-day founder to a “part-time CEO,” Dir...

How do you nudge a 13,000-person organization to move from managing change to creating the conditions for change? In this conversation, Chun Feng “Breeze” Dong , Associate Director of Organizational Development at Roche , joins Marilyn Zakhour to share how she and her team applied systems thinking to enable large-scale learning, collaboration, and innovation across global teams. Drawing from years...

What does it take to lead transformation across one of the region’s most complex organizations, and make it human? In this powerful conversation, Ibraheem Sheerah , Chief Transformation Officer at Saudia Group , joins Marilyn Zakhour to share how he led one of the Kingdom’s most ambitious transformation journeys, reshaping not just an airline, but the ecosystem around it. Through stories that span...

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 an...

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, stru...

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 in...

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...

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 produ...

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 c...

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,...

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 organization...

AI is not just another wave of technological change, it’s reshaping the very systems that govern how we work, lead, and create value. In this episode, Imad Lahad , Global Chair for AI & Intelligence at APCO, joins Marilyn Zakhour to explore what it means to lead through disruption when the old playbooks no longer apply. Together, they unpack how leaders can:  🔹 Redesign business models and in...