A podcast by Michael Brooks

The Psychology
of Scale

Exploring the minds behind fast-growing companies — the decisions, the pressure, the patterns, and the human cost of building something that endures.

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About the show

Where behavioral science meets high-growth leadership

Most podcasts ask how companies scale. This one asks why leaders behave the way they do when they do. What cognitive biases shape billion-dollar decisions? How does identity shift when your headcount doubles overnight?

The Psychology of Scale brings together founders, executives, investors, and researchers to unpack the mental models, blind spots, and human dynamics that make or break organizations at the edge of growth.

148 Podcast Appearances
5★ Listener rating
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The most dangerous moment for a company isn't when it's failing — it's when the psychology of the founder can no longer contain the psychology of the organization.

— The Psychology of Scale
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Michael Brooks Host & Creator
Your host

Michael Brooks

Michael is a strategist, writer, and thinker at the intersection of organizational psychology and high-growth business. He has spent years studying how the mental models of founders and executives shape — and sometimes distort — the companies they build.

Through The Psychology of Scale, Michael sits down with the leaders behind some of the most ambitious companies in the world to ask the questions that don't make the press release: the doubts, the pivots, the things they'd do differently, and the psychological patterns they've had to confront.

His conversations are known for their depth, candor, and intellectual rigor — cutting past the standard founder mythology to find the human story beneath.

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Latest episodes

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All Episodes
Ep. 048
The Founder's Ego Trap
Why the identity that drives early success often becomes the biggest obstacle to sustainable scale — and how to recognize it before it's too late.
52 min
Ep. 047
When Consensus Becomes a Liability
The hidden cost of alignment culture — and why the best-run teams actively engineer productive conflict into their decision-making.
44 min
Ep. 046
Hiring for the Company You're Becoming
How cognitive biases shape who gets hired, promoted, and trusted — and why the patterns that feel right in the moment compound into culture.
58 min
Ep. 045
The Trust Threshold in Remote Teams
Distributed work didn't break trust — it just made its absence visible. What science says about rebuilding it intentionally across distance.
47 min
Ep. 044
Pressure, Performance, and the Burnout Inflection
A conversation about the exact moment high performance tips into unsustainable — and what distinguishes leaders who course-correct from those who don't.
61 min
Ep. 043
The Storytelling Stack
How the narratives leaders tell about their companies — to investors, to customers, to themselves — shape strategy just as powerfully as the numbers.
50 min
Themes we explore

The terrain of scale

Founder psychology
Organizational behavior
Leadership identity
Decision-making under pressure
Culture & team dynamics
Cognitive biases in business
Hiring & talent philosophy
Investor-founder dynamics
Burnout & resilience
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