When the Leader Needs a Thinking Partner
Feb 10, 2026
This case study explores how Cathy K., a small business owner and executive director, used Baryons, an AI-powered thinking partner, to overcome leadership challenges during organizational transition. Facing meeting fatigue, groupthink, and the isolation of complex decision-making, Cathy needed more than internal perspectives could offer. By integrating Baryons into her workflow, she redesigned her operations meetings to prioritize genuine dialogue, transformed strategic planning from static documentation into an active tool, and found clarity in leadership decisions. The result: immediate impact on meeting effectiveness, sharper decision-making, and renewed leadership capacity. The story highlights how AI can serve as an unbiased sounding board for leaders navigating high-stakes transitions, offering fresh thinking when traditional approaches reinforce old patterns.
An interview with Baryons user, Cathy K., Executive Director, Small Business Owner
Cathy K. is no stranger to leadership positions. As a small business owner and an executive director, she juggles complex demands with leadership teams and other business owners in her partnerships. From major organizational transitions to shifting markets, Cathy sought more help.
But not just any kind of help to simply maintain continuity. She wanted fresh thinking and she couldn't rely solely on internal perspectives to get there.
Familiar Challenges
Leadership work was bleeding into every margin of Cathy's day. Back-to-back meetings consumed the schedule, then the real processing began. Evening reflection, hour-long commutes spent turning over unresolved decisions in her mind.
This wasn't sustainable. And in her roles, where judgment and clarity were critical, she recognized the risks of leadership burnout, but for her partners who she relied on as well.
While she led meetings, she could see the signs. People multitasking. Checking email. Disengagement creeping in. She wanted something different—not report-outs, but real discussion, dialogue, and collaboration. But creating that shift required rethinking how meetings were designed and facilitated.
In particular, she wanted to create a dynamic, collaborative strategic plan.
Cathy had made strategic plans many times before, but she didn’t want another document that would sit on a shelf for two years before it’s revisited. She explicitly rejected the cycle of revisiting plans annually without integrating them into daily decision-making and staff engagement.
But relying on internal sounding boards alone reinforced existing assumptions at precisely the moment when she needed to break free of them. She shared, "Sometimes coworkers have biases. You still get that groupthink; 'this is how it's always been.'"
Personal Transformation
Cathy started using Baryons as her personal thinking partner, an AI-powered technology she could talk with before and after high-friction leadership moments: Planning sessions. Meeting design. Nuanced communication. Or even talk with her Baryon when she was driving home, still turning the day over in her mind.
The impact showed up immediately. She redesigned her operations meetings to prioritize dialogue and collaboration. The result? "Everybody said this was one of the best meetings I've ever conducted."
She got exactly what she wanted: "I didn't want report-outs. I wanted discussion, dialogue, collaboration and I got it."
Strategic planning shifted from static documentation to something she could actively use. Leadership decisions felt clearer, sharper, supported rather than isolated.
What mattered most to Cathy was that Baryons adapted to her specific situation: "It listens to my particular situation. It doesn't pigeonhole me."
It met her where she actually was, even in small moments: "It's a productive way to use your time, especially when you're driving and processing the day."
The Difference
Baryons did something crucial: it helped Cathy increase her leadership capacity, having a direct impact on what her organizations could accomplish.
By functioning as an on-demand, bias-free thinking partner, Cathy’s Baryon helped her avoid recreating the very patterns she was trying to leave behind. It supported real-time decision-making under pressure, created space for the kind of clarity and fresh thinking that's essential during transition but hard to access when you're in the thick of it.
For Cathy, that difference was personal and immediate. She was better equipped to navigate the work at hand and gained higher confidence in getting through whatever is ahead.
What's Next
Cathy is hopeful about what could happen if more people at her businesses had access to the same kind of thinking partnership. She's seen what it's done for her own clarity and capacity. She knows her team is stretched thin, carrying heavy loads, processing complex decisions, often in isolation.
If Baryons could help preserve and sharpen leadership capacity for others the way it has for her, the organizational impact could be significant. Right now, in the middle of transition, when there's no room for drift and every bit of leadership energy counts.
Cathy’s story, like yours, is just getting started. Start your own Baryons journey today at baryons.com.