1 May 2026
The Psychedelics and Leadership Study
By: Fayzan Rab, M.D., and Bennet Zelner, Ph.D.
MAPS Bulletin: Volume XXXVI
TL;DR: Executives and founders are increasingly turning to psychedelics for a variety of reasons. Our research team is conducting the first systematic study to understand how prevalent psychedelic use is in this community, what motivations for use are, and what actually happens when business leaders use psychedelics. Participate in the Psychedelics & Leadership Study here or learn more at psychedelicleadershipstudy.com
A founder of a fast-growing startup books a weekend retreat in Mexico. Between board meetings and investor calls, she takes psilocybin with a guide, hoping to find clarity on a decision that will affect 200 employees. A week later, she restructures her leadership team and lays off a quarter of the organization, inspired by what she describes as a bold vision for what’s next.
If this sounds far-fetched, it’s not.
The New York Times recently reported on CEOs traveling together for psychedelic experiences, seeking everything from spiritual awakening to guidance on initial public offering (IPO) strategy. Entrepreneurs are livestreaming their sessions while tracking biomarkers. Centers and programs catering to executives have emerged across Canada, Europe, Costa Rica, and the United States. A cottage industry for business leaders has formed on the premise that psychedelics can unlock potential and generate breakthroughs on demand.
As researchers who study both leadership and psychedelics, we’ve noticed that the systematic evidence available for meditation or executive coaching simply doesn’t exist yet for psychedelics used in professional capacities—including evidence about what happens when they don’t work.
There are plenty of testimonials, compelling marketing, and podcast confessions that make for great stories.
What we don’t have are data on what actually occurs when leaders return from these experiences to boardrooms, strategy sessions, and decisions that affect people’s lives.
The question isn’t whether business leaders are using psychedelics. It’s what happens next.
Why are Leaders Turning to Psychedelics?
It does not require much imaginative effort to see why psychedelics would be attractive to the business world. Many of the induced traits from psychedelic use—greater empathy, resilience, sense of purpose, and capacity for connection—map directly onto qualities that leadership development programs have long tried to cultivate.
There’s only one catch. Nearly all of that evidence comes from clinical settings with trained therapists, careful screening, and structured integration support. The leadership context looks very different, and it’s been largely unexamined.
It is conceivable that psychedelic use in this context could give rise to more empathetic leadership, enhanced capacity to navigate complexity under pressure, and greater willingness to delegate and trust teams.
It’s also possible it could amplify less helpful traits: grandiosity, dismissiveness toward dissenting views, or the conviction that a single transformative experience grants special insight that others lack.
We don’t think either outcome is inevitable. But we do think the stakes matter. When leaders are affected—for better or worse—so are their employees, their consumers, and the communities their organizations serve.
Right now, our understanding of how psychedelics affect leadership relies heavily on anecdotes and marketing materials. Early research is underway, but we still lack the broad, systematic evidence needed to match the scale of the phenomenon. This study aims to help fill that gap.
Why This Matters: From the Lab to the Boardroom
Clinical research has shown what psychedelics can do in controlled therapeutic settings. But national survey data tell a different story about how most people actually encounter these substances: only 4% of psychedelic use happens in clinical contexts. When a CEO takes psilocybin at an executive retreat — against the backdrop of organizational pressure, market incentives, and institutional dynamics that may discourage pushback — the experience and its aftermath may look very different from what clinical trials capture.
Controlled clinical environments give us rich, detailed accounts of individual healing and transformation. That depth matters. But we also need breadth: a large-scale look at how psychedelics are being used by leaders in real-world contexts, outside of research labs and therapy offices.
What this study provides:
The study we are undertaking provides a systematic view across the leadership landscape. What draws some leaders toward psychedelic experiences while others steer clear? How do users and non-users differ in their leadership styles, motivations, and organizational approaches? What patterns emerge when we look across industries, company sizes, and varying levels of psychedelic experience?
By surveying a large, diverse sample—not just enthusiastic retreat-goers, but also skeptics, the curious-but-uncommitted, and those who’ve deliberately chosen not to engage—we hope to map how psychedelics intersect with leadership across a wide range of attitudes and experiences.
We’re Looking for Leaders Willing to Share Their Experience: The Good, the Bad, and the Complicated
We’re seeking participants who:
- Are 18 or older
- Hold leadership positions that affect teams and organizations—whether you’re in the c-suite, a founder, a senior manager, or an entrepreneur
Prior psychedelic use is not required. We’re interested in leaders’ motivations, perceptions, and attitudes toward psychedelics whether they’ve used them, are curious but inexperienced, or have chosen not to engage.
What participation involves: A 15-20 minute online survey, with optional follow-up interview.
What we’ll measure:
- Leadership traits
- What draws people toward psychedelics (or keeps them away) and is use motivated for personal, spiritual, or leadership development
- What substances, in what settings, and with whom psychedelic use occurs
- Perceived impacts on team dynamics, organizational relationships, and leadership effectiveness, including dimensions of social and ecological consciousness
- Organizational context (industry, size, scope)
- Open-ended reflections on how these experiences shaped leadership approach
Why Your Participation Matters
If psychedelics are shaping how leaders think, decide, and show up in their organizations, that matters beyond any individual’s personal growth journey. It affects workplace culture, employee wellbeing, and the broader question of how psychedelics are being normalized in professional life.
Right now, the public narrative is dominated by compelling stories about transformation and breakthrough moments. There is much value to these anecdotes but without a complete picture of use it leaves public discourse one-sided and incomplete.
What we still need is balanced evidence about what actually happens across a representative sample of leaders. Not just the breakthroughs, but also the false starts and disappointments. Not just increased empathy and openness, but also the risk of self-righteousness or overconfidence masquerading as insight. Not just expanded perspective, but also the possibility of narrowed judgment wrapped in spiritual language.
Our team—clinical researchers, leadership experts, former CEOs, business school faculty—are approaching neither as advocates nor skeptics. We’re approaching it as researchers who believe this phenomenon deserves serious, evenhanded investigation.
We’re here to understand what’s actually happening, in all its complexity.
Ready to participate? Take the survey here.
Want to learn more? Check out psychedelicleadershipstudy.com for more information.
Know other leaders who might be interested? Please share this study with your network. We need perspectives from people at all points on the spectrum, whether they’re experienced users, curious observers, or committed non-users.
Fayzan Rab, M.D.
Fayzan Rab is a researcher at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality, a psychiatrist, and an executive coach whose work focuses on leadership, ethics, and meaning-making in psychedelic experiences.
Bennet Zelner, Ph.D.
Bennet Zelner is an Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, whose work focuses on regenerative economics, leadership, and psychedelics.
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