From Alumni to Invited Speaker: Bringing Evidence Based Psychology Back to the Jim Moran Institute. Burnout to Bandwidth.

Posted by: Dr. Justin D'Arienzo, Psy.D., ABPP

After being an Executive Vistage member for three years,  in 2022, I participated in and graduated from FSU’s Jim Moran Institute’s Global Entrepreneurship program (Jacksonville, Florida), an experience that meaningfully influenced how I operate and continue to grow my psychological firm. In January 2026, I returned to JMI not as a student, but as a featured speaker to deliver “Burnout to Bandwidth: Evidence-Based Psychology for Entrepreneurs and Executives.”

Burnout to Bandwidth: Evidence Based Psychology for Entrepreneurs and Executives

Mental performance is not a luxury for leaders. It is vital for us to both survive and prosper.

Entrepreneurs  and executives operate under sustained cognitive load, high uncertainty, and constant decision pressure. Research consistently shows that business owners experience higher rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, and role overload than the general population, and unmanaged stress directly impairs judgment, innovation, leadership presence, and employee retention.

This presentation integrated performance psychology, clinical research, and real-world leadership experience to provide practical, immediately usable tools for business owners and executive teams. We discussed the latest psychological research pertaining to leaders, psychological performance for leaders and entrepreneurs, and how to manage employee mental health.

What We Covered

Psychology and Business Performance

Psychology is embedded in every aspect of leadership: decision making, communication, risk tolerance, recovery, and resilience. Chronic stress and burnout don’t just affect well-being; they affect outcomes.

Performance Psychology for Leaders

Drawing from performance psychology models used with elite athletes, military operators, and high-stress professionals, we explored:

• Stress and arousal regulation

• Tactical visualization and imagery

• Self-talk and cognitive framing

• Goal-setting, focus, and energy management

• Stress inoculation and resilience training

These skills are trainable, measurable, and directly transferable to entrepreneurship and executive leadership.

Burnout, Motivation, and the Performance Curve

Leaders learned how challenge vs. threat appraisal affects physiology and cognition and how to stay in the optimal performance zone rather than tipping into overload or disengagement. We used the Yerkes Dodson Performance Curve to galvanize the importance of not moving past your tipping point.

Supporting Employees Without Medicalizing the Workplace

A major focus was helping leaders identify struggling employees while maintaining appropriate boundaries. Topics included:

• Trauma-informed leadership

• Psychological safety

• Communication strategies to support struggling employees

• Ethical support and referral (not diagnosis)

• Building systems that reduce unnecessary strain

• Direct psychological support vs. EAPs

Identity, Ego, and Sustainable Success

We examined perfectionism, imposter thoughts, executive loneliness, flow states, and the importance of maintaining strong non-work identities and fostering deep relationships with family and friends especially for founders and executives who carry disproportionate responsibilities.

A Full-Circle Moment

Returning to JMI as a presenter was both grounding and meaningful. The office complex where JMI’s office happens to also be the same building where I began my business in 2008 and where I grew from one office at the executive center to three offices, and then to purchasing two office locations. The Institute played an influential role in my continued entrepreneurial development, and it was an honor to contribute back this time as a faculty member and through the lens of evidence based psychology, leadership science, and clinical experience.

My work focuses on practical and evidence based skills to help high performing individuals and organizations operate with clarity, resilience, and effectiveness without burning out themselves or their people.

Bring This Training to Your Organization

This presentation is available for:

• Executive teams

• Medical teams

• Entrepreneurial programs

• Leadership retreats

• Professional organizations

• High stress industries

Formats available: keynote, workshop, half-day training, or customized executive session.

Contact Dr. Justin D’Arienzo to bring evidence based performance psychology to your leadership team. Contact us at [email protected] or 904-379-8094.

JAX SBEP Class XIX Agenda