Abstract The author is founding director of the Executive Mind Leadership Institute, and a professor at the Drucker Graduate School of Management. He notes that as leaders face constant uncertainty and disruption, concepts like growth mindset, positivity, and emotional intelligence are useful “but insufficient.” The body must be considered, as well as the mind. He explains that the nervous system “interprets experience, navigates pressure, and informs how we connect with others it is our most fundamental infrastructure.” He describes the Green Zone and says that “leaders who build Green Zone capacity don't just change their own lives, they change the climate of those around them, and, bit by bit, the culture we all share.” He outlines three zones; in his words, “The Red Zone is the domain of fight and flight…The Grey Zone shadows Red Zone exhaustion. …The Green Zone is not a comfort zone—it's an aliveness zone .” He provides an extended Green Zone leadership transformation case study of biologist Heather Dyer, who became CEO of the public water agency she worked for, in California. Hunter writes that “in 2023 and 2024, the agency received an Inland Empire Top Workplace award—a first for her organization…”
Jeremy Hunter (2026) studied this question.