What do documentary filmmaking, executive leadership, and Nelson Mandela have in common? According to Ingrid Gavshon — everything.

This week on Shrinks Rap, Dr. James H. Bramson sits down with Ingrid Gavshon — leadership communications expert, executive coach, award-winning filmmaker, and faculty member at University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business — for a conversation about storytelling, human connection, and the kind of leadership people actually want to follow.

Ingrid has spent her career helping leaders find their authentic voice — whether behind a camera, in a boardroom, or standing in front of a terrified MBA class trying not to die during a presentation. Drawing from her work producing a thirteen-part documentary series on Mandela, she shares the leadership qualities that made him transformational: presence, humility, deep listening, moral courage, and the ability to make people feel seen even in conflict.

Together, Jim and Ingrid explore:

• What modern leaders misunderstand about charisma

• Why storytelling is more powerful than authority

• How empathy changes workplace culture

• The surprising overlap between filmmaking and executive coaching

They also discuss how Ingrid uses filmmaking techniques, experiential learning, and coaching to help aspiring leaders at Haas develop confidence, emotional intelligence, and authentic executive presence — without sounding like corporate robots reading from LinkedIn posts.

Part leadership masterclass, part creative exploration, part value clarification for overachieving professionals, this episode asks a timely question:

In a world full of noise, what does it mean to truly connect?

Credits:

River is High, Ticketless Traveler

Carl Reisman, guitar, singer, and songwriter

Jenny Goodwine, vocals

James Singleton, bass

Johnny Vidocovich, drums

Dave Easley, steel guitar

Produced by Morgan Orion Reisman

for more information, carlreisman@gmail.com

Copyright 2025

WCMI networking group
A networking group for mindfulness-focused clinicians dedicated to learning together & collaborating for more information click here

In this timely and eye-opening episode of Shrinks Rap, Dr. James Bramson sits down with Veronika Mesheriakova, adolescent medicine physician, addiction specialist, and founder of Northern California Adolescent Speciality Center, to discuss the growing mental health and addiction crisis facing today’s teens. Dr. Mesheriakova completed her pediatrics residency at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital followed by a 3-year Adolescent Medicine fellowship at UCSF, and previously served as a faculty member in the division of Adolescent & Young Adult Medicine at UCSF. She will also be a featured speaker at the Human Potential Conference in Berkeley October 22nd. Together, we explore the rise in high-potency cannabis use, fentanyl exposure, vaping, and polysubstance use among adolescents—many of whom are struggling emotionally while simultaneously insisting, “Relax, Mom, I’m totally fine,” while wearing a hoodie indoors and surviving primarily on Takis and DoorDash.

Dr. Mesheriakova explains why today’s cannabis is not the “weed” many parents remember from earlier generations. With dramatically higher THC concentrations, heavy cannabis use can contribute to anxiety, depression, psychosis risk, motivational decline, emotional dysregulation, and addiction—particularly in developing adolescent brains. We also discuss the frightening rise of fentanyl contamination in counterfeit pills and recreational substances, turning experimentation into something potentially deadly. The conversation highlights how parents can approach teens without escalating shame, secrecy, or nightly hostage negotiations over vape pens, curfews, and screen time.

We also discuss why family involvement is critical to recovery, how many adolescents believe they could stop using substances if they wanted to—but often don’t yet believe they need to—and the important role medication can play in helping manage withdrawal, cravings, anxiety, and stabilization. Throughout the episode, Dr. Mesheriakova emphasizes that successful treatment is not simply about removing substances, but about helping teens reconnect with hope, purpose, belonging, and a future worth showing up for. The conversation balances realism with compassion, science with practicality, and clinical wisdom with humor—because sometimes surviving adolescence requires both evidence-based treatment and a very deep breathing practice for parents.

Credits:

River is High, Ticketless Traveler

Carl Reisman, guitar, singer, and songwriter

Jenny Goodwine, vocals

James Singleton, bass

Johnny Vidocovich, drums

Dave Easley, steel guitar

Produced by Morgan Orion Reisman

for more information, carlreisman@gmail.com

Copyright 2025

WCMI networking group
A networking group for mindfulness-focused clinicians dedicated to learning together & collaborating for more information click here

This week on Shrinks Rap: what happens when a theater guy walks into the boardroom and accidentally teaches Fortune 100 executives how to have feelings?

Dr. James H. Bramson sits down with Dr. Mark Rittenberg — executive coach, leadership whisperer, former actor, Fulbright Scholar, South African bridge-builder, and possibly the only man alive who can quote Shakespeare while fixing your corporate culture.

From Harvard to Soweto to Silicon Valley, Mark has spent decades teaching leaders how to communicate like actual humans instead of PowerPoint templates with pulse rates. We talk about his journey from the theater to the boardroom, the profound influence of Angeles Arrien, and why empathy may be the most radical leadership skill left in modern civilization.

Somewhere between authentic leadership, multicultural transformation, executive coaching, and stories that sound too cinematic to be real, we also explore:

• Why the best leaders know how to listen — and actually know their employees

• How acting and presentation skills can rescue broken organizations

• The origin story behind his Executive Coaching program at University of California, Berkeley

Credits:

River is High, Ticketless Traveler

Carl Reisman, guitar, singer, and songwriter

Jenny Goodwine, vocals

James Singleton, bass

Johnny Vidocovich, drums

Dave Easley, steel guitar

Produced by Morgan Orion Reisman

for more information, carlreisman@gmail.com

Copyright 2025

WCMI networking group
A networking group for mindfulness-focused clinicians dedicated to learning together & collaborating for more information click here