Guest Contact Information
Lauren Colbert
Principal & Strategic Facilitator
Filament
Filament
May 19, 2026
Lauren Colbert: Helping Smart People Think Together
Episode 75
“The biggest skeptics become some of the biggest fans.”
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Lauren Colbert: Helping Smart People Think Together
Episode 75
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We're catalysts for better conversation. And we know at Filament that the teams that we work with are not looking for the right answer, because there's no such thing as the right answer. There is the next best answer to the questions that we're asking.
In this episode of the She Lift Project Podcast, Cynthia Kirkpatrick sits down with Lauren Colbert, Principal Strategic Facilitator at Filament, a one-of-a-kind analog thinking space located in the Cortex Innovation District in St. Louis. Lauren helps smart people think better together, working with organizations ranging from local nonprofits to Fortune 50 companies to unlock honest conversation, eliminate political noise, and produce real momentum inside rooms where teams have been stuck for years. This episode explores how Lauren built her career, what Filament actually does, and why the way most teams meet is quietly costing them everything.
This episode is for leaders, team builders, and women who have ever felt like the culture around them was slowly suffocating who they really are. Listeners will learn why the best leaders stop trying to have all the answers, how to replace performance with genuine thinking, and what it looks like when a room full of skeptics becomes a room full of believers. After listening, you will walk away with a completely different way of thinking about meetings, leadership, failure, and what it means to show up fully as yourself.
Show Notes
0:00 Introduction
1:15 What Filament does and why it exists
3:20 Why Filament banned PowerPoint 11 years ago
5:29 The value add is the thinkers at the table
8:07 Why we have been conditioned to perform instead of think
10:49 Reframing failure as tuition you paid
13:27 The tuition receipt practice for teams
15:07 The unlock: what it looks like when skeptics come around
17:09 The give a damn button and why broken culture hurts everyone
21:00 Taking stuck and becoming unstuck
22:44 Why people call it magic and what it actually is
25:16 Space holds memory: why neutral territory matters
28:38 The Wish, Wonder, Worry tool explained
30:34 Balancing power and sweeping away eggshells
34:21 Why Lauren is grateful Filament exists
38:25 Thanksgiving: the nonprofit and business partner program
42:16 Wavelength: the women’s professional development community
44:45 I was building something I didn’t know I needed
49:22 Lauren’s origin story: being a twin and b testing her whole life
53:00 Her dad said soften your edge. She sharpened her sword.
55:10 What she does for her granddaughter Milena now
59:00 The Filament job she didn’t get the first time
1:01:02 Why the rejection needed to happen
1:08:48 You were never lost. You’re not a $10 bill.
1:11:50 Getting divorced with nothing and grinding back
1:14:26 Truly collaborative, not performative
Content Notice
This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
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