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What is North of Normal?

North of Normal is where every company wants to be: performing above average and beyond expectation.

For the sensitive and neurodiverse, it’s often where we feel we are: outside the norm. But that difference isn’t a deficit in an organization—it’s an advantage. Different is the direction of those wanting to be successful in the age of AI—scaling your organization requires scaling your mind.

What is Executive Functioning?

Most executive coaching focuses on what leaders do: their strategy, their team management, their communication plans. These are important, but they're only half 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 brain and 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.

Who is Sira Laurel?

I’m the CEO and founder of North of Normal. As a neurodiverse leader, 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.

I help uniquely wired leaders (and their allies) develop the skills of self-leadership, trading self-doubt for self-mastery, so they can confidently create work-lives and businesses 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

Neurodiverse leader, executive coach, executive function coaching, inclusive leadership, emotional intelligence, conscious leadership, highly sensitive person, autism, adhd

Deepen your relationship with yourself

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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

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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,” I believe your uniqueness is a strength, values are your compass, and the world needs your kind of leadership. Master relationships and create the change you wish to see.

Create resilient organizations

A group of five people working at a wooden table, using laptops and headphones, in a cozy room with wood-paneled walls and large windows. Neurodiverse leader, executive coach, executive function coaching, inclusive leadership, emotional intelligence,

Resilience is relational. Genuine connection, rooted in psychological 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.

The Birkman Method Difference

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Introduced by Roger Birkman over 70 years ago, the Birkman Method® is an online assessment that measures personality, social perception and occupational interests.

The assessment is designed to provide insight into what specifically drives a person's behaviors in an occupational setting and social context.

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.

What People Are Saying

  • "You'd be lucky to have Sira on your team. She brings a ton of passion to every project. As a leader, she's inclusive, enthusiastic, incredibly conscientious, and strategic. [In our engagement] it was evident she truly cares about people. Sira's style is one that's highly organized but empathetic — she allows her team members the flexibility to solve problems their own way, which brings out the best in them. "

    Aaron G.

  • "Sira has incredible insight into the workings of any team, organization or system. Through detailed investigation, combined with focused instincts, she is able to fully understand how pieces- be it people or processes- fit together and interact with each other. Through this ability she is able to drive impactful solutions to any problem she is faced with."

    Ian C.

  • "Sira is among the very best HR leaders I’ve had the pleasure to work with. She has a deep understanding of people, processes, change, communications and relationships. She possesses a mastery of important organizational facets such as morale, empathy, leadership styles, learning methods, and diversity, equity & inclusion, and how these elements impact staff development, team building, growth and organizational health."

    Ruben S.

  • “I had never experienced a Life Coach or Career Consultant prior to teaming up with Sira. I wasn't sure what to expect but I knew that my professional transition required more than my own habitual faculties to navigate through. After our sessions together, I was much more confident and prepared as a result.”

    Erika K.

  • "Sira made a genuine effort to get to know me and started by asking me numerous questions about my personal and career experiences as well as current and future goals I had. She then road mapped how a potential negotiation conversation would flow. Within this, she worked with me on my communication skills to clearly and concisely present my "case" for the counter compensation I was requiring. We role played (which was incredibly valuable) as she helped me uncover the "why" to my "worth" so that it would naturally be part of the conversation."

    Laura K.

  • "Sira demonstrates empathy, understanding and commitment in everything she does. Her passion for education and team-building is inspiring — she's able to build meaningful relationships across an organization to bring out the best in her teams. Sira would be a great addition to any organization."

    Matt C.

Schedule our signature session for career clarity

A 90-minute debrief of your 32-page Birkman Signature report to reveal career 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.