We recently had the chance to connect with Dr. Lindsay Ruiz and have shared our conversation below.
Lindsay, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
I believe others are secretly struggling with the terror that they don’t know how to lead themselves. They quietly fear having to improvise identity, authority, and meaning without a blueprint… and someone will eventually see through it.
I sense a hidden fragility disguised as competence that everyone is winging it,
holding it together with performance, compliance, or momentum…
hoping no one notices how thin the scaffolding really is.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Dr. Lindsay Ruiz, the founder behind human as usual®.
I’ve spent two decades doing what most “transformation” firms claim but rarely deliver: helping Fortune 500s and founders scale without losing their soul, their people, or their strategic coherence.
My work stands out because I don’t sell hype, frameworks for frameworks’ sake, or motivational platitudes.
I work at the fault lines and the invisible tensions where human capacity, ambition, identity, and systems collide.
My brand, human as usual®, is a quiet rebellion in a world obsessed with speed, automation, and optimization.
It asks a different question: What if the unfair advantage in the age of AI isn’t artificial intelligence, but intact humanity?
I’m currently:
• writing a book called Founding Yourself,
• building methodologies like ROI² (Return on Integrity x Investment),
• advising founders navigating scale, collapse, or reinvention,
• and preparing to evolve my platform into something that leads from thought authority rather than hustle.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
The refusal to stay human inside conflict.
Bonds break when:
• People stop being honest to protect their image
• Vulnerability becomes unsafe
• Power eclipses dignity
• Transaction replaces care
• Performance replaces presence
• Someone feels unseen, unheard, or disposable
What truly breaks bonds is the moment someone realizes the relationship can no longer hold their truth.
What restores bonds is nor agreement, but the willingness to remain human in the presence of discomfort.
Bonds rebuild when:
• People risk honesty again
• Someone chooses to listen rather than defend
• There is accountability without humiliation
• Repair is attempted without scorekeeping
• Dignity is reinstated
• Someone feels safe enough to bring their whole self forward
What restores bonds is when a relationship becomes wide enough to hold truth without punishment, and care without conditions.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes, several. But there’s one inflection point that keeps echoing through my story:
When I had built something meaningful, lost the structure beneath me, and were forced to face myself without the armor of achievement.
I didn’t almost give up on my work itself; I almost gave up on myself as the vessel for it:
• When the rooms didn’t open
• When I ran out of runway
• When the institutions failed me
• When the story I believed in didn’t materialize fast enough
I considered disappearing because the world wasn’t reflecting back the truth I knew I carried.
What I almost surrendered wasn’t my mission… it was my right to be the one who delivers it.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Partially, the public version of you is true,
but it is edited for survivability.
It shows my insight, my conviction, my resilience, and my voice.
But it withholds my exhaustion, my grief, my bewilderment, and my tenderness.
So yes, my public version is real, but it is the strong half of you.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Most people think breaking is the end of credibility, identity, or momentum.
I see breaking as repatterning and as the hidden scaffolding that precedes integrity, depth, and authority.
The strongest structures in life (people, institutions, nations, founders) are not built by avoiding fracture, but by metabolizing it into form.
Most people are terrified of endings.
I understand endings are blueprints.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.humanasusual.com
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/lindsayruiz
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
