Imagine a trolley hurtling down the tracks toward five people. You can pull a lever and divert it — but there’s one person on the side track too. Most people pull the lever. And according to Ron Sosa, that’s exactly how most workplaces are built: systems designed for the majority, with everyone else quietly getting run over. In this episode of Humor in the C Suite, Kate Davis sits down with Ron to talk about what it really costs to lead while masking, why humor is one of the most powerful tools for self-advocacy, and what becomes possible when leaders are finally given permission to lead as themselves.

About Ron Sosa

Ron Sosa’s career path is one of the most unusual on this podcast — moving from computer programming dropout to insurance sales to veterinary medicine, eventually becoming a minority business partner and executive director before founding Syn-APT Neuroinclusive Leadership. Along the way he received an ADHD diagnosis in his mid-twenties and an autism diagnosis in his late thirties — experiences that completely reframed how he understood his own leadership journey and the people he’d led along the way. He is the author of Rewriting the Rules, a Jay Shetty certified life coach, and a sought-after speaker on neurodivergence, burnout, and human-centered workplace design.

Key Topics Covered

Ron and Kate explore the Trolley Scenario as a framework for understanding how workplace systems are designed — and who they leave behind. They dig into what masking actually costs neurodivergent leaders: the identity erosion, the accelerated burnout, the exhaustion of contorting yourself to meet an expectation that was never built with you in mind. Ron talks about how humor functions as a genuine tool for self-advocacy — not self-deprecation, but the ability to laugh at yourself in a way that makes the hard stuff lighter and the conversations easier. They cover the RISE framework, values-based leadership, and why Ron always starts coaching with personal values rather than professional ones. Kate shares her own experience with ADHD and anxiety, and Ron drops a stat that stops her mid-conversation: neurodivergent children receive an average of 20,000 more corrective comments than their neurotypical peers before the age of ten — and what that does to a person’s relationship with humor, validation, and people-pleasing

Standout Quotes

“The ability to laugh at yourself makes the ability to advocate for yourself less heavy.” — Ron Sosa

“Nobody is truly toxic. People just have unmet needs they don’t know how to express — or needs we don’t know how to meet.” — Ron Sosa

“You conform to society, put on the leadership mask, and everything becomes heavier. You erode your own identity — and then you burn out faster.” — Ron Sosa

Ron’s Advice for Leaders

Start with values — your own, not your organization’s. Most leaders have done values work for their business but never for themselves. Until you know who you are, you can’t know what kind of humor, what kind of leadership, what kind of culture actually fits you. Get to know your people at an individual level — there is no magic bullet for working with a human being. What works for one person will not work for another. And when humor misfires, know how to repair it. Because it will misfire. That’s not failure — that’s the human condition.

About Syn-APT Neuroinclusive Leadership

Syn-APT Neuroinclusive Leadership is Ron’s coaching and consulting practice dedicated to helping neurodivergent professionals reduce the burdens of overthinking, overadapting, masking, self-criticism, and burnout. Ron helps clients find who they are so they can lead with more clarity, confidence, and self-trust — without having to compromise who they are to do it. Find out more at [website link].

About Rewriting the Rules

Ron’s book Rewriting the Rules draws on his personal leadership journey — through veterinary medicine, his own diagnoses, and the regrets that came with not knowing what he knows now — to make the case for a more human-centered approach to leadership. Available at https://amzn.to/4us631F .

Resources & Links:

🌐 Syn-APT Neuroinclusive Leadership: https://www.syn-apt.me/

📚 Rewriting the Rules by Ron Sosa: https://amzn.to/4us631F

💼 Ron Sosa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronald-sosa-cvpm-ccfp-pgd-cld/

Host: Kate Davis | Humor in the C Suite 📧 Want to be a guest? Email: kate@katedavisca.com