Brain Squared Leadership Solutions

08/27/2026

ob-hugging isn't the problem. Broken rails are.

We've all read the headlines about employees clinging to their jobs in an uncertain market. But when we sat down with a client living this exact story, the real issue wasn't fear — it was structure. A flattened org chart, a role that had quietly absorbed everyone else's decisions, and no rails left to hold the weight.

In less than 70 seconds, I break down what's actually happening underneath the "job hugging" trend — and the structural fix that got one manager her hours (and her clarity) back.

Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/gPKyfwpZ

08/11/2026

Laurie Cozart, CEO of Brain Squared Leadership Solutions, shares: When something important ends, changes, fails, or falls apart, our instinct is often to restore it. Get things working again. Restore stability. Replace what was lost. Return to normal.
That instinct makes sense. But there's another question that deserves equal attention: what if returning to normal is exactly the wrong goal?

When something important ends, changes, fails, or falls apart, our instinct is often restoration. Get things working again.

07/20/2026

Most AI training has an expiration date.
Not because the instructors were wrong. Because they were teaching the wrong layer.
Knowing which tool to use is a perishable skill. Knowing how to think about AI ... evaluating output, knowing when to use it and when not to, and staying the human who decides that holds up.
New article: why the leaders navigating AI well aren't the ones who've mastered the most tools.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-most-ai-skills-have-expiration-date-what-doesnt-suldc

07/01/2026

You're clear on where you're going.

Your team is making their best guess.

That gap — between what's in your head and what your team can actually act on — is the most common place founder leadership quietly breaks down.

It's fixable. But it takes a system, not a speech.

Comment CLARITY, and I'll send you the 5 Rails Diagnostic.

Part 2 of 3 — Founders Series

06/22/2026

The same thing that built your company might be the thing now in its way.

Five places founder leadership quietly breaks: Clarity, Decision, Role, Accountability, Recovery.

They're not separate problems. They're a loop.

Which one's running your business right now?

Here is the link to the first installment of the newsletter series for founders.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5-rails-every-founder-eventually-hits-brainsquaredsolutions-ffulc/

Comment FOUNDER in the comments for the diagnostic tool

Part 1 of 3.

06/04/2026

Everyone told leaders to "be a coach, not a boss."

So they tried.

And in organization after organization, the conversations happened. The insights emerged.

And then... very little changed.

🧠 Here's what the neuroscience actually tells us:

Coaching works beautifully when the brain feels safe. Under pressure, the brain defaults to familiar patterns — not because leaders aren't trying, but because that's how we're wired.

So if coaching isn't producing lasting change, the question isn't "are we coaching the right way?"

It's: is the system ready for coaching to land?

In this video, I break down why coaching stalls — and what has to be in place for it to actually stick.

Full article below:



https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/coaching-conversation-everyone-having-one-nobody-wvcbc/

06/03/2026

Most performance conversations end with a direction.

"Improve by end of quarter."

The employee nods. Walks out. And has no idea what the finish line looks like.

The brain can't run a race it can't see the end of.

One question changes that:

"What does winning look like — for you, specifically?"

That's Question 6. That's the shift. Important to know and to do.

From my upcoming book, "Not a People Problem."

05/29/2026

My dad used to say: “It’s easier to walk on fire than to walk on eggshells.”

I didn’t really understand it until I did a fire walk at a Tony Robbins event in 2017.

Here’s the thing — the fire wasn’t what scared me.

What’s harder is what so many leaders face every day: the conversation they keep postponing. The feedback they soften until it means nothing. The truth they swallow to keep the peace.

And the painful irony? Staying silent rarely protects the relationship. It quietly erodes it. People almost always sense what isn’t being said.

Courageous leadership doesn’t mean being blunt or harsh. It means being willing to stay present and speak the truth — with care — even when it’s uncomfortable.

I wrote about this in this week’s newsletter, and mapped it to the 5 Leadership Rails™ — the structural conditions that make courageous conversations not just possible, but sustainable.

I’d love to hear from you: what’s a conversation you’ve been putting off? Drop it in the comments — even just the category (feedback, a boundary, a hard truth). You’re probably not alone.

🔗 Full newsletter linked in the comments below.

What's the most dangerous thing a leader can do? Not raise their voice. Stay silent. Eggshell leadership: where truth gets softened, feedback gets delayed, and clarity gets sacrificed for comfort. It costs more than most organizations want to admit. It costs trust. It costs development. It costs the...

05/28/2026

You've said it a hundred times.

"My door is always open."

You meant every word.

Here's what your employee's brain actually heard — and why it's quietly killing their performance.

50 seconds. Worth the watch.

05/21/2026

You worked hard to develop your people. But there's a good chance you've been accidentally stealing their wins.

I did it too — until I understood what was actually happening in their brain. 60 seconds. Worth it.