The Good Stuff

I thought I would be a psychologist. I was fascinated by human behavior, perception, decision-making and the mind/body connection. To earn my master’s degree, I interned under a practicing psychologist, where I worked with real clients. During our initial session, we would discuss their presenting issues, trying to grasp the complete picture or “gestalt”—a challenging task in just one meeting.

After listening and probing, I would eventually ask, “Why have you come in now?” Often, there’s a pivotal moment—a rock bottom, a life event, or a consequence—that leads someone to seek therapy. This marks the beginning of a journey to uncover the root causes of their struggles, ideally leading to insights, transformations, and healing. The goal was to develop coping strategies that would prevent the ramping-up to overwhelming situations.

As a business professional, I find myself asking similar questions: “What is the problem you are trying to solve?” and “How can we create processes or tools to prevent this from happening again?” Identifying problems, understanding their causes, and working toward solutions is a deeply rewarding process. And just like in counseling, having a support system is vital. Who on the team can assist? Who can take on more responsibility? How can we ensure everyone is trained to provide adequate support?

Now, I enjoy working with companies in transition. As they evolve from small to mid-sized to larger organizations, they encounter new challenges, and their old strategies become ineffective, too slow or obsolete. Helping them navigate this growth is, as Robin Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting put it, “the good stuff.”