Own the gifts of your unique mind
Most executive coaching focuses on what leaders do: their strategy, their team management, their communication plans. These are important, but they're only part of the story.
The most brilliant leadership strategies will fail if the leader running them is overwhelmed, dysregulated, and heading for burnout.
My approach is different. I focus on upgrading your internal operating system.
This is Executive Function Coaching. Think of it as performance coaching for your nervous system.
Instead of just giving you a new leadership playbook, we strengthen the core mental and emotional capacity you need to execute any playbook, especially under pressure.
Helping leaders realize: suffering is optional
Hi: I’m Sira Laurel
I’m the CEO and founder of North of Normal, a double certified coach and consultant with an MBA and a Masters in Organizational Development. Oh - and 15 years of business leadership experience, 11 of which was spent as a Director of HR leading massive changes.
Still, my most transformative experience and education has come from living with a highly sensitive nervous system in a world that didn’t know what to do with that.
I understand the unique challenges that traditional workplaces place in front of their gifted employees. Employees who, with slight changes in their environment, would flourish more than most.
Today, I help other uniquely wired leaders develop the skills of self-leadership, trading self-doubt for self-mastery, so they can confidently create work-lives and businesses that work on their terms.
Partnering with individuals, team leaders, and organizations during pivotal moments of growth—emotional growth in particular—my specialty is getting you back on track and getting your people on board.
The result? Healthier work-lives, work cultures, stronger teams, and performance that’s anything but average.
Here when you need me — Sira
Stats that matter:
Bottom line: ignoring cognitive diversity damages your bottom line
#1 1 in 5 people are neurodivergent (as currently defined)
#2 1 in 3 people have highly sensitive nervous systems (known as SPS or HSP)
#4 Burnout contributes to a massive economic toll of $322 billion
#5 70% of change efforts fail to meet goals for missing the human element
#3 82% of employees are at risk of burnout - highest risk are deep processors
#6 More than half of workplace '“accommodations” cost nothing
What People Are Saying
The Birkman Method Difference
Your leaders don’t need more theory. They need clean signals under pressure.
The Birkman Method® Signature Report gives you a personal nervous system map and actionable adjustments you can use immediately.
Introduced by Roger Birkman over 70 years ago, the Birkman Method® is an online assessment that measures personality, social perception and occupational interests.
The method can be used to assess personality in any setting - making it the best investment to understand yourself and what changes you want to make in your life, education, or career.
Deepen your relationship with yourself
Specialized coaching for unconventional leaders (and those interested in leadership) ready to leave behind conventional systems not designed for your success. Create sustainable success through embracing your unique cognitive patterns as strengths, not limitations to overcome. Benefit from Birkman Method, Transformational and HSP Coach practices, receiving personalized support for your leadership journey.
Master your relationship with others
Being effective at work means being highly effective in building and maintaining relationships. This is true whether you’re a leader or not, but is non-negotiable for anyone seeking influence in an organization. If you think you lead “differently,” your uniqueness is a strength, your values are your compass, and the world needs your kind of leadership. Master relationships using Birkman Method insights and create the change you wish to see.
Create resilient organizations
Resilience is relational. Genuine connection, rooted in neurological safety and trust, is key to building employee groups capable of accepting and adapting to change - particularly when it’s handed down. A culture rich in the skills of connection know when and how to lean on its members during growth periods that require everyone to make a behavioral shift. Leverage the Birkman Method system and get people to reach across the aisle.
Get Clarity in 90 Minutes with our Signature Session
A 90-minute debrief of your 32-page Birkman Signature report to reveal leadership possibilities that align with your natural strengths, deepest motivations, and highest needs. Discover career paths that come from a place of internal values alignment and not external, status-quo assimilation. You deserve a work-life that works on your terms.