Lauren Reed

Lauren Reed – Stepping Away To Lead Better: Lessons From an 18-Month Sabbatical

Lauren Reed is the Founding Partner of REED Public Relations, a full-service public relations and marketing agency. In her role, she leads strategy, business growth, and team development, drawing on expertise in communications, agency leadership, workplace culture, and cause marketing. Lauren also speaks and writes about entrepreneurship, burnout, and building a business that can thrive beyond its founder.

Here's a Glimpse of What You'll Learn

[1:55] Lauren Reed’s journey from risk-averse employee to PR agency founder
[8:13] The EO Catalyst goal that pushed Lauren to think beyond freelancing
[12:35] How a 90-day sabbatical became an 18-month step away from Lauren’s business
[17:58] Lauren talks about writing a spiritual memoir while on sabbatical
[25:29] What a research trip to Budapest revealed about Lauren’s past-life regression and personal discovery
[33:21] Using astrology to understand leadership, parenting, and team dynamics
[39:23] How Lauren rejoined REED Public Relations with more trust in her leadership team
[43:12] Lauren discusses falling back in love with her business after redefining her role

In This Episode

Some entrepreneurs have always known they would one day build a company. Others arrive there only after a decision forces them to trust themselves before the path is fully clear. What does it look like when an unplanned business becomes a catalyst for personal and professional growth?

Communications strategist Lauren Reed began her career convinced entrepreneurship was too risky, shaped by what she saw growing up around the highs and lows of business ownership. When circumstances at her agency shifted, she left with no plan to start a company, only to find clients, mentors, and opportunities appearing almost immediately. Over time, Lauren moved from cautious founder to EO member, speaker, author, and leader willing to step away from the day-to-day so her team could rise. She maintains that building a sustainable company requires enough trust to stop being at the center of everything.

In this episode of The Decision, Robert Hartline sits down with Lauren Reed, Founding Partner of REED Public Relations, to discuss stepping away from the business to rediscover her role as a leader. Lauren shares why a 90-day sabbatical became 18 months, how spiritual exploration shaped her next chapter, and what changed when she returned with deeper trust in her leadership team.

Quotable Moments:

“I make fast decisions, but I don’t often take big… risks.”
“I’ve always said, my business has guardian angels, like I was in the right place at the right time.”
“I learned how to think bigger for myself.”
“I truly see… this business is a blessing.”
“My unhealthiest relationship was with my business.”

Action Steps:

Step away before burnout makes the decision for you: Creating space from the daily grind helps leaders regain perspective, protect their energy, and make clearer choices about the future.
Build a team you can truly trust: Training and empowering leaders gives the business room to operate smoothly without everything depending on the founder.
Let others own the operations: Moving out of the weeds allows founders to focus on vision, growth, relationships, and the work only they can do.
Revisit your relationship with the business: Treating the company like something that can evolve helps leaders identify what feels heavy, what still matters, and what needs to change.
Use self-discovery to strengthen leadership: Understanding your patterns, triggers, and beliefs helps you lead with more clarity, confidence, and trust.