Member since September 2025
Dr. Yira (“Jee-da”) Muse served more than 25 years as a commissioned U.S. Air Force officer, with leadership experience across space, cyber, and nuclear operations. During a demanding command assignment, she saw a clear gap: people in high-stress environments weren’t being equipped with practical tools to protect well-being and sustain performance. That insight led her to pursue doctoral research in Hope Science and apply it to the real leadership challenges she faced in—and beyond—the military.
Today, Dr. Muse speaks and trains on Hope Science for diverse audiences, including K–12 school counselors, Vistage Worldwide, Inc. members, military veterans, hospital administrators, and senior citizens.
I believe that people don't have to stay stuck in reactive patterns or burnout cycles. My time in service showed me how leadership can either crush or cultivate human potential, and my research into Hope Science gave me the tools to do something about it.
Hope isn't just wishful thinking—it's a learnable, measurable skill that can transform how people lead, work, and live. I'm driven by the opportunity to take something as fundamental as Hope and make it practical, accessible, and actionable for emerging leaders.
I want to reach more people with these life-changing tools. I know this for certain: one High-Hope leader can transform a team, a team can transform an organization, and organizations can transform communities.
[SAMPLE STORY] When the troops under my command began to buckle from the intense pressures of their jobs, I realized we were ill-prepared to combat the negative effects of high-stress environments on mental and emotional health. There had even been suicide attempts. As I searched for ways to relieve the strain, I found out hopelessness is the #1 predictor of suicide, but Hope was a protective factor against it. Fortunately, Hope is a skill that can be measured, trained, learned, and improved!
Building Hope protects against chronic stress and burnout, and even improves performance in the workplace. Not only do higher-hope workers cope better with stress, anxiety, and burnout, they are 14% more productive, are more engaged, more innovative, and stay longer with their companies.
When I reflected on my career, I realized Hope skill-building was missing--despite Hope’s well-documented benefits to the workplace. This inspired me to form Waypowered Leadership, LLC, to speak and coach on Hope's role in leadership, performance, and wellbeing. I later expanded my mission to teaching military veterans the vital Hope skills they need to combat the relentless suicide rate among those who served.
I channel my military experience not as the main story, but as the foundation that gave me purpose and taught me resilience — now I pay it forward by connecting with people where they are and helping them build concrete pathways to where they want to be.
When workplace stress costs US companies $1.9T a year and 17% of employees are actively disengaged, leaders need evidence-based strategies to navigate uncertainty and drive performance. Through compelling research and personal stories, attendees learn how Hope-centered leadership protects against stress, burnout, and disengagement. Perfect for executive leaders and managers seeking actionable strategies to improve employee engagement, wellbeing, and performance improvement.
Designed for a broad military audience, this keynote weaves together a personal 9/11 missileer experience, an everyday example of military standards in action, and a plain-language introduction to Hope Science. Drawing on C.R. Snyder’s research-based framework of Goals, Agency, and Pathways, the talk shows how Hope is not wishful thinking but an outcome of disciplined goal-setting, adaptable routes forward, and the confidence to act.
The speech honors the shared ethos of service and the leadership habits forged through training, teamwork, and mission focus. It highlights how individuals and units build trust under pressure, navigate uncertainty, and sustain performance over time then translates those lessons into practical, actionable ways to lead at every level. It closes with a clear call to action: step forward to serve the mission, strengthen the team, and lead where you are through both formal roles and hands-on participation.
Half of US workers feel job stress on a daily basis which often leads to disengagement, anxiety, & depression. Current estimates are that 17% of the American workforce is in a state of active disengagement and depression, while depression and anxiety are on track to cost global companies $16 Trillion dollars in lost productivity by 2030 (McKinsey, WHO). Traditional wellness programs treat symptoms, not root causes. This session introduces Hope Science -- a research-backed framework known to boost employee engagement, improve job satisfaction, and decrease turnover. Attendees will learn the three components of Hope (Goals, Agency, Pathways) that reduce stress hormones while activating creative problem-solving regions of the brain. They’ll get practical applications for preventing disengagement and burnout, transforming career development conversations, and creating psychologically safe environments where employees thrive.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Implement Hope Science's three components (Goals, Agency, Pathways) to reduce daily job stress and transform disengaged employees into actively engaged, productive team members.
2. Design burnout prevention strategies that activate creative problem-solving brain regions while reducing stress hormones to create sustainable high-performance work environments.
3. Evaluate and redesign career development processes using hope-centered approaches that improve job satisfaction, reduce turnover risk, and build psychological safety for all employees.
[SAMPLE STORY] When the troops under my command began to buckle from the intense pressures of their jobs, I realized we were ill-prepared to combat the negative effects of high-stress environments on mental and emotional health. There had even been suicide attempts. As I searched for ways to relieve the strain, I found out hopelessness is the #1 predictor of suicide, but Hope was a protective factor against it. Fortunately, Hope is a skill that can be measured, trained, learned, and improved!
Building Hope protects against chronic stress and burnout, and even improves performance in the workplace. Not only do higher-hope workers cope better with stress, anxiety, and burnout, they are 14% more productive, are more engaged, more innovative, and stay longer with their companies.
When I reflected on my career, I realized Hope skill-building was missing--despite Hope’s well-documented benefits to the workplace. This inspired me to form Waypowered Leadership, LLC, to speak and coach on Hope's role in leadership, performance, and wellbeing. I later expanded my mission to teaching military veterans the vital Hope skills they need to combat the relentless suicide rate among those who served.
I channel my military experience not as the main story, but as the foundation that gave me purpose and taught me resilience — now I pay it forward by connecting with people where they are and helping them build concrete pathways to where they want to be.
When workplace stress costs US companies $1.9T a year and 17% of employees are actively disengaged, leaders need evidence-based strategies to navigate uncertainty and drive performance. Through compelling research and personal stories, attendees learn how Hope-centered leadership protects against stress, burnout, and disengagement. Perfect for executive leaders and managers seeking actionable strategies to improve employee engagement, wellbeing, and performance improvement.
Designed for a broad military audience, this keynote weaves together a personal 9/11 missileer experience, an everyday example of military standards in action, and a plain-language introduction to Hope Science. Drawing on C.R. Snyder’s research-based framework of Goals, Agency, and Pathways, the talk shows how Hope is not wishful thinking but an outcome of disciplined goal-setting, adaptable routes forward, and the confidence to act.
The speech honors the shared ethos of service and the leadership habits forged through training, teamwork, and mission focus. It highlights how individuals and units build trust under pressure, navigate uncertainty, and sustain performance over time then translates those lessons into practical, actionable ways to lead at every level. It closes with a clear call to action: step forward to serve the mission, strengthen the team, and lead where you are through both formal roles and hands-on participation.
Half of US workers feel job stress on a daily basis which often leads to disengagement, anxiety, & depression. Current estimates are that 17% of the American workforce is in a state of active disengagement and depression, while depression and anxiety are on track to cost global companies $16 Trillion dollars in lost productivity by 2030 (McKinsey, WHO). Traditional wellness programs treat symptoms, not root causes. This session introduces Hope Science -- a research-backed framework known to boost employee engagement, improve job satisfaction, and decrease turnover. Attendees will learn the three components of Hope (Goals, Agency, Pathways) that reduce stress hormones while activating creative problem-solving regions of the brain. They’ll get practical applications for preventing disengagement and burnout, transforming career development conversations, and creating psychologically safe environments where employees thrive.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Implement Hope Science's three components (Goals, Agency, Pathways) to reduce daily job stress and transform disengaged employees into actively engaged, productive team members.
2. Design burnout prevention strategies that activate creative problem-solving brain regions while reducing stress hormones to create sustainable high-performance work environments.
3. Evaluate and redesign career development processes using hope-centered approaches that improve job satisfaction, reduce turnover risk, and build psychological safety for all employees.
