How Therapy Changed the Way I Lead My Company

For me, therapy didn’t start as a leadership decision. It started as survival—a last resort when the way I was working finally broke my nervous system. Only later did I realize that those quiet hours in a therapist’s office were rewiring how I lead, make decisions, and relate to the people who depend on me. What began as an attempt to stop panic attacks became, almost accidentally, the most consequential leadership training I’ve ever experienced.

What therapy taught me about leadership and running a business

One of the unexpected gifts of therapy was space. Instead of yet another leadership book, workshop, or off‑site, I suddenly had time carved out to look at my own history and ask uncomfortable questions: What, exactly, led me here? Which patterns kept repeating? Where was I being stubborn or emotionally checked out?

Stripping away the day‑to‑day noise made those questions sharper. It also allowed me to imagine the kind of leader I could have been earlier in my career, before everything reached a crisis point. By the time I had that clarity, certai...