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Leadership and Organizational Development

Get to the Root to Get Results

Meet Our Founder

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Shine Your Light CEO, Laurie Gardner, is a four-time Harvard graduate, three-time startup CEO, 35-year leadership consultant, and trusted advisor to country and state leaders, mayors, Fortune 500 CEOs, education pioneers, and other top movers and shakers worldwide. Known for her quick wit, warmth, and laser-like insight, Laurie has a unique ability to quickly get to the crux of an issue and communicate practical, effective solutions.

More About Laurie

Our Services

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Leadership Coaching

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Strategic Consulting

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Board and Team Training

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Educational Leadership & School Support

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Free 20-minute needs assessment
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Our Unique and Powerful Approach

Many organizations try using the same one-size-fits-all leadership formulas and tools, wondering why they’re still not accomplishing their goals. At Shine Your Light, we 100% customize our consulting, coaching, and training, using Laurie Gardner’s innovative Breakthrough Method approach and tools to cut immediately to the core problems and most effective solutions, saving you hours of energy, money, and time.

  • Our process begins with a needs assessment and customized leadership skills inventory to assess your strategic organizational or coaching goals at the project beginning, midpoint, and end, with additional benchmarking as desired. Using the three layers of the Breakthrough Method as our framework, we integrate and apply industry best practices and tools, Laurie’s original tools, and her 35+ years of on-the-ground-experience as a three-time startup CEO and mentor to over 20,000 cross-sector industry leaders.

    Every step of the way, we guide you to trust your powerful leadership intuition with both the “art” and “science” of leadership.

Our Specialties

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  • Doable strategy—big picture and situational

  • Customized learning and development

  • Leadership coaching—turnarounds and new roles

  • Board training and leadership

  • Sticky personnel issues

  • Leadership succession and transitions

  • Mission-driven organizations and entrepreneurs

  • Workplace wellness

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Popular Customized Trainings

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The “Art” of Leadership:

  • Who’s Steering This Ship? Effective Governance and Management

  • Take Out the Toast: Managing Stress and Burnout

  • Walk the Line: Creating Work-Life Balance

  • No Duh! Making Quick, Clear Decisions Based on Your Inner Knowing

  • Say What? Communication, Conflict Resolution, and Team-Building

  • Follow Me: Leadership Styles and Strengths

  • Cultivating Culture: Creating an Environment of Learning, Innovation, and Growth

  • Team Members from Hell: Working with Difficult People

The “Science” of Leadership:

  • Mission: Possible: Strategic Planning and Implementation

  • Sticky Personnel Issues: Hiring, Staff Performance, and Legal Issues

  • How You Doin'? Program Goal Evaluation

  • Show Me the Money: Marketing and Fundraising

  • Open the Doors: Access, Equity, and Inclusion

  • Minding the Store: Financial Sustainability

  • I Won't See You in Court: Risk Management, Legal and Policy Issues

  • All Systems Go: Effective Program Operations, Information Management, and Key Administrative Strategies

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What our clients say . . .

  • "With on-point, laser-like efficiency, the Shine Your Light coaches leave you no doubt about which way to go."

    Daniel G., Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch

  • "Shine Your Light hits the nail on the head in a way that makes my jaw drop."

    Anne E., Marketing Executive, San Francisco, California

  • "Laurie has been instrumental to our organization, focusing us on our priorities through our ups and downs and helping us to become the tight-knit, highly effective team we are."

    Lauren S., Co-Director, REVERB

  • "Laurie’s ability to cause me to look within myself as a leader to seek honest and real solutions is truly a gift that very few people I have known over the last 62 years possess."

    Kenneth R., Director, Huerta Learning Academy

  • "I’ve never met any consultant who works so incredibly fast. Laurie immediately assessed the external organizational politics, what I need to work on inside myself, and specific action steps to get where I need to be."

    D. Brown, Executive Director, Mills College

  • "Laurie's insight, expertise and infectious energy is an asset to any organization looking for a very smart, sharp, and thoughtful advisor and facilitator. From the first conversation, she was readily available and had done her homework. She was flexible, a joy to work with, and provided invaluable help to our team—both to flesh out the details as well as step back and see the big picture!”

    Diane Boyd, Chief Operations Officer, Change the World Fund

  • “Laurie’s business consulting has been critical to us as leaders and our organization. She draws from a wealth of knowledge and experience, expertly guiding us to well-informed decisions, vs. simply telling us the ‘right’ thing to do.”

    A.G., Nonprofit Director, Maine

  • “Laurie beautifully balances the hard and soft skills required to take a team through the complexity and challenge of defining how they are going to realistically achieve their vision and charter. She brings the business acumen and the necessary research while skillfully building relationships and managing team dynamics. It was a pleasure to watch her design and facilitate that process, and the team was thrilled with the results she provided.”

    Jamie Does, Manager, Cisco

  • “When I saw Laurie in action, I was reminded of how much of a difference a skilled facilitator can make. She's focused, supportive, fun, flexible, highly knowledgeable, and able to get to the end game with ease. In addition she puts her whole self into her work, building on her impressive cross-sector experience. I highly recommend her as a facilitator and thought partner.”

    Paul Lamb, Business Owner & Entrepreneur, Man on a Mission Consulting

  • “Laurie has been there for me since I first founded my organization. Over the past 25 years, she has helped me grow immensely as a leader, especially around communication, strategic decisions, and sticky employee issues. "

    Start-up founder and long-term director, New England

  • "Laurie draws from 35 years of her own experience with literally thousands of other organizations, pulling out just the right tools, advice, and next steps we need at just the right time. I have never met another leadership trainer who is as skillful, caring, intelligent, insightful, engaging, and FUN!”

    Environmental activist and nonprofit director

  • "If you're a CEO, Director, head of a prestigious school, or other high-profile leader, you've found your mentor!”

    Debra, Mills College Children’s School

  • “Laurie helped our company to kick the year off strong! After a pitch-perfect inspirational keynote talk, she nimbly facilitated team-building activities in a warehouse for 1500 employees who were laughing and playing like children. I was one of them!”

    Laura McGowan, Communication and Community Impact Manager, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company