About Us

What we believe. What we do. Who we are.

We believe in five superpowers:

The power of curiosity.
The power of dialogue.
The power of respect.
The power of science.
The power of collaboration.

Bridge Mediation and Leadership Solutions was founded by Laura Grisolano to apply these superpowers to the challenges we all face as we work toward success and fulfillment.

Bridge MEDIATIONS produce solutions through constructive, respectful, problem-solving conversations.

Our CONFLICT CONSULTING services lead firms out of dysfunction into Organizational Health.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS lift team members to new levels of performance through fun, engaging training sessions.   We help you take advantage of your team’s diverse personalities and skill sets.

BRIDGE WORKSHOPS and DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS are designed to meet the specific needs of your team right now.  We work with you as your partner to build an agenda that will move your team forward.

Laura has served us as a mediator, a sounding board, an investigator, an educator, and a guide. She has enlightened us in so many ways over the years that my managers now fondly refer to her as “Dr. Laura.” We trust her. She is brilliant, kind-hearted, and has been instrumental to my management team’s progress toward improving their interpersonal skills and our group dynamics.

Why are we different?
Why do Bridge clients trust us with their private struggles?

  1. First, we don’t arrive with pre-packaged solutions.  Instead, we start by listening.  We want to understand your unique story and how the current disagreements are impacting your mojo. Personality dynamics can be complicated.  Communication problems or generational differences can lead to misunderstandings or distrust. Sometimes, individuals have acted badly and the team needs to come together to heal and refocus around shared goals.  We work with you to unpack the unique factors that have led to the current dysfunction.
  2. Second, we know we don’t have all the answers – you do.  Our job is to help YOU figure out the best path forward.  We provide new information and insights, best-in-class tools, proven strategies, and a structure to put it all together, so YOU can master the climb.  Think of us as your sherpas.
  3. Third, we will tell you the truth.  If we aren’t the right professionals to meet your needs, we’ll tell you or find someone who is.  If you’ve been avoiding a tough fact, we’ll be honest with you.  We will help you through the difficult conversations and important shifts.  And rest assured, we won’t ever begin any work you haven’t authorized.  We believe in starting with small pilot projects and earning your trust. We judge our success by your level of satisfaction.

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Bridge Leadership Solutions Logo points forward into blue skies

About the Founder

Laura M. Grisolano, Esq.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Bridge Mediation & Leadership Solutions

Laura Grisolano is an expert on collaborative dispute resolution and organizational dynamics. She brings her extensive experience as an attorney-mediator and conflict management consultant to help parties identify shared goals, resolve disputes, strengthen professional competencies, and move forward.

Since its launch in 2012, Laura's firm Bridge Mediation & Leadership Solutions has served hundreds of clients ranging from law firms and global technology companies to family businesses, start-ups, physicians practices, and institutions of higher education. Laura partners with her clients to deliver solution-driven programs that leverage recent advances in cognitive neuroscience, behavioral economics, personality analytics, and other interdisciplinary best practices.

Laura holds a B.A. in American Studies from Claremont McKenna College and a J.D. from The Law School at the University of Chicago. After law school, she clerked for Judge James B. Moran (NDIL) before joining the Los Angeles office of Sidley Austin LLP as a litigator.


Eager to move beyond the limits of the court system for dispute resolution, Laura earned a Mediation Certificate from Northwestern University, and completed additional mediation and conflict consulting training with the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law. She founded Bridge Mediation with the belief that human conflicts are too complex to be addressed with a formula or solved by a zero-sum game.

A champion of higher education and lifelong learning, Laura serves as trustee of Claremont McKenna College, served on the MBA Advisory Board for North Central College in Illinois, and is a member of the Inaugural Chicago Women’s Leadership Committee for the University of Chicago Law School. As a visiting professor and guest speaker across the country, she has delivered courses and lectures on The Law and Ethics of Higher Education, Dispute Resolution, Theories of Negotiation, Women’s Leadership, and Civility in the Workplace. An expert on family business mediation, Laura recently contributed to the Commercial Mediation Training programs offered by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, under the aegis of the Government of India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

In her words...

I've been mediating since I was a little girl and heard my parents arguing after I had gone to bed.  It was obvious to me that they both had valid perspectives, but just weren't hearing each other.  Angry tones made defensive walls go up. Legitimate frustrations sounded too extreme.  Tears undercut strength and kept important insights from being shared.   

Baffled by their impasses, I would march out into the living room in my polyester JCPenny PJs and ask if I could translate.
"Mom, Dad is frustrated because of x..."
"Dad, Mom feels like you haven't recognized y... "
"Why don't you guys talk about how you could...?"  

I didn't have a name for it at the time, but I was mediating.

The same skill set was relevant as an RA in college, as a parent liaison for my daughters' preschool, as a board advocate for higher education, as a lawyer for Fortune 500 companies, and as a college professor for undergrads and graduate students.  I was born an optimist, with a sixth sense for hearing what people need and finding win-win solutions. I live for forward progress.

My mother was a brilliant neuropsychologist with an expertise in brain and spinal cord injuries. From her I learned that we are hardwired to respond to conflict in ways that make it difficult to have productive conversations.  Our brains work hard to protect us, so we have to learn how to get beyond those instincts in order to listen, to trust, to innovate. Neuroscience research has given us incredible new tools to help with this.

Mom was the first of many expert advisors. I am a student of tested best practices and innovative new approaches. Bridge programs incorporate the best ideas of Tara Mohr, Pat Lencioni, Kenneth Cloke, Bruce Babbitt, Robert Hogan, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Ralph Kilmann, William Ury, Jay Conger, Cass Sunstein, Second City improvisational comedians, and my wise daughters, among many, many others. Sometimes it takes a whole village of thought leaders to unravel a tough knot.

I love my work.  There is nothing that makes me happier than helping teams come together around a big initiative.  Or helping a family business sort through some legacy issues that are getting in the way of morale and productivity.  Or making sure a painful transition is handled with grace and sensitivity.

Some of my clients get to know me as a mediator, then hire me to work with their business or organization as a consultant.  Some of my clients aren't wrestling with conflict, instead they are leaders who know that deepening soft-skills competencies (like listening, collaboration, negotiation, etc.) will help their teams achieve stretch goals.  And some of my clients are individuals who are ready for deeper personal growth.  Our executive coaching programs help clients set goals and target strengths they can leverage for greater success and contentment.

Every Bridge engagement is a new opportunity to empower progress and growth.

It all starts with a first conversation. I want to hear the stories about you, how you got where you are, and where you want to go.

Contact Us to Start the Conversation

We believe in Collaboration

At Bridge, we believe every client is unique and deserves a customized solution.  Sometimes that means reaching out to other professionals and thought leaders who will bring a unique expertise or talent to strengthen your program. Meet some of our favorite collaborators:

Meet our Collaborators

Your first consultation with Bridge is FREE. Schedule a conversation today.

We can help you move forward.