Founder of Saturday’s Story, the Inchstones Substack and podcast

Cognitive Warfare

Sarah Kernion operates where emotional chaos meets cognitive pressure. As the mother of two profoundly non-speaking autistic children, she brings a rare lens to leadership shaped by real-world unpredictability, adaptive decision-making, and the constant need to reorient under stress.

Her work reveals how systems designed for neurodivergent thinkers expose the real constraints and capabilities of teams under pressure. She helps leaders understand how friction, trust, and operational tempo function in environments that do not allow for abstraction. This approach has supported executive teams at Bank of America, LinkedIn, Turner Construction, LoveShackFancy, Michelin, and Autism Speaks.

Kernion is the founder of Saturday’s Story, the Inchstones Substack and podcast, and a graduate of the Department of Defense’s Joint Civilian Orientation Conference. Her participation reflects the JCOC mission to bring real-world civilian insight into the military’s strategic conversation.

She speaks to operators who want to lead with clarity when the terrain is shifting and the map no longer applies. She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Advertising and Public Relations and Communication Sciences from Pennsylvania State University.