What If Your Emotions Were Smarter Than Your Thoughts?

Based on a podcast with Christoffel Sneijders and Philipp Kobald

When Your Gut Has More to Say Than Your Boss

Somewhere between a burnout in Europe, a heartbreak in Australia, and a spiritual awakening in Spain, Christoffel Sneijders discovered something that most of us spend a lifetime avoiding: the truth that your head isn’t the only one running the show.

Turns out, your heart and gut have been trying to get a word in for years. You just weren’t listening.

The Boardroom Is Not Your Brain

Let’s start with the science. Sneijders, a master certified coach, clinical hypnotherapist, and visiting professor, doesn’t just dabble in metaphors. He’s talking about actual, measurable neural networks in your heart and gut — each with their own memory, decision-making capacity, and emotional intelligence.

Yes, your gut has 500 million neurons. That’s more than your cat’s brain. And your heart? It’s not just for heartbreak and cardio. It’s a full-blown emotional processor, capable of releasing oxytocin and influencing your immune system.

So why are we still making life decisions like we’re spreadsheets in suits?

The Trojan Horse of Transformation

Sneijders doesn’t walk into boardrooms waving incense. He walks in with results. “I use the Trojan horse approach,” he says. “They know I’m talking about three brains, but they don’t realize I’m rewiring their entire leadership model.”

In the business world, logic is king. But logic alone doesn’t build trust, inspire teams, or heal trauma. That’s where the heart and gut come in. Sneijders coaches CEOs to recognize which brain is dominating — and which one they’ve been ignoring.

And here’s the kicker: “Every CEO says, ‘Chris, that doesn’t sound smart if I’m always listening to just one brain.’” To which he replies, “Exactly.”

Trauma Wears a Suit Too

This isn’t just about leadership. It’s about healing. Sneijders’ own journey reads like a spiritual thriller: burnout, divorce, emigration, heartbreak, depression — and then, the breakthrough.

“I was disconnected,” he admits. “Walking on belief, not feeling.” It wasn’t until he hit rock bottom — twice — that he began to understand the somatic roots of trauma. That the body stores what the mind can’t process. That healing isn’t about thinking your way out. It’s about listening your way in.

He now works with clients facing everything from PTSD to cancer, helping them align their three brains. “Logically, they understand their trauma,” he says. “But their heart is still grieving. Their gut is still in fight-or-flight.”

The MBA Won’t Save You

If you’re waiting for Harvard to catch up, don’t hold your breath. “Most MBA programs train the gut brain,” Sneijders explains. “Win. Compete. Dominate. But they don’t teach collaboration. They don’t teach compassion.”

Imagine a world where business schools taught emotional alignment. Where leaders were trained to ask not just, “What’s the ROI?” but “What’s the human cost?”

Sneijders dreams of that world. And he’s not alone.

He recounts a moment in Qatar, watching a man collapsed near a train platform. Dozens of people walked past. “I felt guilty,” he says. “I should have done more.” That’s the heart brain speaking. The one that asks, “What does this say about us?”

The Quiet Revolution

This isn’t a spiritual rebrand. It’s a neurological revolution. And it’s already happening — in therapy rooms, in coaching sessions, in quiet moments of reckoning.

It’s happening when a CEO realizes that empathy isn’t weakness — it’s strategy. When a trauma survivor finally feels safe in their own body. When a podcast host in Vienna and a coach in Spain connect across time zones to talk about what really matters.

It’s happening when we stop outsourcing our wisdom to algorithms and start listening to the intelligence we were born with.

And it’s happening in places you wouldn’t expect. Sneijders describes working with an international risk manager whose team now volunteers monthly to clean up their community. “It’s not just about earning money,” he says. “It’s about giving back.”

Scarred, Not Slick

There’s a trend Sneijders and host Philipp Kobald both lament: the rise of the polished, mistake-free persona. The influencer-coach hybrid who’s never failed, never cried, never cracked.

But real transformation doesn’t come from perfection. It comes from scars. “We have scars on our heart, our soul,” Kobald says. “And we overcome these things. That’s where compassion lives.”

Sneijders agrees. “Life gives you lessons,” he says. “And if you learn from them, you become a better person.”

This isn’t about comparing wounds. It’s about honoring them. It’s about asking, “What did this teach me?” instead of “How do I hide it?”

The Long Game of Leadership

Sneijders isn’t just theorizing. He’s watching it play out. One of his clients, a top-ranked insurance executive, has led his team for over a decade with three-brain leadership. The result? The highest engagement scores in the company.

Contrast that with the gut-brain leaders who burn bright and fast — three years of quarterly wins, followed by a quiet exit and a scorched-earth legacy.

“Imagine if bonuses were tied to 30-year outcomes,” Kobald muses. “Managers would think differently.”

Sneijders nods. “They’d invest in people. In culture. In sustainability. Not just profit.”

“A Smile Is Your Umbrella”

Sneijders ends the conversation with something deceptively simple: “Smile. It releases oxytocin. It boosts your immune system. And it’s free.”

It’s not just Dutch pragmatism. It’s a reminder that transformation doesn’t always come in thunderclaps. Sometimes, it comes in the quiet decision to be kind. To be present. To be whole.

And maybe that’s the real revolution — not in the boardroom, not in the therapy chair, but in the everyday choice to live with heart, gut, and head aligned.

Guest Bio

Christoffel Sneijders is a Master Certified Coach, clinical hypnotherapist, psychotherapist, and visiting professor at IE Business School and Georgetown University, specializing in trauma healing and the neuroscience of the “three brains.”

Watch the full episode on the @HolisticCircle YouTube channel.

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By Philipp Kobald in cooperation with AI
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