Alexander Lyadov

A Look Into the Soul / February 16, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Want the person you're talking to to open up? It is simple—you have to forget yourself. Even if only for a moment, your attention must belong entirely to him or her.

That’s easy when the person in front of you is deeply intriguing. Or at least if it answers the questions that have haunted you.

Not everyone can focus on another person like that. Your curiosity must outweigh your self-centeredness.

The simplest solution? Be selective about who you have deep conversations with. Interest, like a wildcat, won’t come when forced or lured—it arrives on its own.

But the ultimate skill is seeing something in a person truly worthy of your attention. Call it what you will—a hidden light, a divine spark, or a mysterious play of shadows.

This takes kindness, maturity, and an understanding of people—so you don’t recoil from the strange shapes that hide their true selves.

And when do you finally accept all the ugly, terrifying, unbearable sides of human nature? The moment you find at least a drop (more like an ocean) of it within yourself.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.

When Is It Real? / February 15, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Something from Nothing—I love this phenomenon. I seek it out and find it everywhere. Sculptors, inventors, rappers, and entrepreneurs—they're modern-day magicians. After all, to the audience, their results look like magic.

But does anything truly valuable—a work of art, a discovery, a poem, or a company—emerge from a vacuum?

There may be a better explanation. Perhaps the thing was there long before, but the brain ignored it or the eye failed to notice.

Was David always inside that rough block of marble?

Did the painting exist before the artist put it on canvas?

Is a tree already there when a seed breaks soil with its first root?

When does a business truly exist—when the founder gets fed up with the industry's rotten status quo, or when he takes the company public?

It’s foolish to dismiss a vague problem, a hypothesis in the mind, or a sketch on a napkin. Lack of a solid form is no argument. How many mighty corporations have vanished overnight?

The one who understands this secret can see—and create—miracles.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

The Cross of Creation / February 14, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Opposing forces always collide. Their vectors cross like samurai swords from rival clans.

Difference breeds distrust, fear, and the urge to erase the opponent—or at least suppress him. It feels like his very existence threatens prosperity, harmony, and peace.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The victor, having rid himself of his hated counterpart, soon finds himself stuck. The land bears no harvest, his subjects have no ideas, and the ruler has no heir.

If new life can emerge anywhere, it’s at the center of the cross. The birthplace of everything is the point of highest conflict.

How can that be? You’d agree that a problem and its solution are intimately linked, right? One implies the other. They are two sides of the same phenomenon—“before” and “after.”

Conflict, then, is the original problem. Paradox is its clever resolution. Someone has to make this transformation—someone who sees contradiction not as a death sentence, but as an interesting challenge.

The best illustration? The meeting of masculinity and femininity. No forces are more alien to each other. When they come into contact, they’re always one step away from a fight.

Their interaction is most destructive when either side tries to weaken, suppress, or erase the other. That’s how life’s energy is wasted. Cynicism takes hold. Meaning disappears.

But when they form an alliance, the potential for growth is limitless. The cross of suffering becomes the point of origin. Out of nothing, everything is born. The synthesis of forces creates new meaning and form.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Change in Many Forms / February 13, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

"Do you see the dynamics?" my therapist asks. "Not sure :)," I reply. She points to the facts. "Oh, right! You're absolutely correct!" I admit, while wondering—how could I have missed this?

This is how the gaze of Another works—it fills in the picture of you that you couldn’t see yourself.

If therapy is effective, change happens naturally—like an embryo forming inside an egg as the mother hen keeps it warm.

The person has already changed, but he feels like he’s always been this way.

And that’s how it should be. True transformation isn’t about grafting something foreign onto you. No, it unlocks the potential that was always there but had been dormant or blocked.

But sometimes, even I can see the difference between before and after. That means the shift is sudden, deep, and vast. I find myself doing things that once seemed impossible, while my mind watches in shock, refusing to believe this is real.

Then there’s the in-between state—the insight that comes in a dream. Like last night, when a flash of awareness shot through me. It was as if a key turned in the lock of an important door.

Yes, these changes haven’t yet appeared in the physical world. But I’ve seen it happen too many times to doubt it—everything visible begins as something unseen. You need a gardener’s patience. The seed must first take root deep in the soil before it can send its sprout toward the sky.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Fragile Tyrants / February 12, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The hardest people to deal with are the fragile ones. It feels like you’re trying to navigate a china shop with a backpack and a fishing rod. At any moment, you brace for the crash of shattered porcelain and the inevitable cry of outrage.

If someone's sensitivity is limited to one or two issues, it's manageable. You just remind yourself to steer clear, and that’s that. The wound may never heal, but at least it’s contained. You fence it off, put up a sign, and move on.

But for some, Fragility is their second name. That means you’re doomed to “ruin everything” just by existing in their world. Stay silent in the “wrong” way, and it’s Armageddon.

Such a person is a trap—a snare waiting to spring on everyone.

You can’t help but admire the elegance of how the victim transforms into the hunter. If everyone around you is forever in your debt, no matter what they do, isn’t that the ultimate power?

This Luciferian dominion is all the sweeter because it wears the mask of innocence. The world sees only virtue, never violence. A cunning player can wreak havoc, hunt at will, and never raise suspicion.

“A victim always dreams of switching places with his persecutor,” a wise therapist once told me. And if he dreams of it, he’s only waiting for the right moment to strike.

But revenge is not salvation. It is just dragging another soul into the abyss. Knowing this, the most important thing to resist is the temptation to play the victim.

Every day, fate and people hand us reasons to surrender. They whisper, “See? Nothing depends on you. Let others take the blame. Let them pay the price. You are owed.”

To agree is to hand over your crown to thieves. Because agency—the right to rule your own kingdom—is divine.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Leaning on Nothing / February 11, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

You can rely on the unknown. Sounds crazy, right?

And yet, that’s the key to salvation I’m learning now. To stay grounded, an insight must enter the mind through the body. For me, that’s Sutemi Waza—sacrifice throws.

In judo, these techniques involve the attacker deliberately falling onto his back, side, or stomach to drag his opponent down and execute a powerful throw. When your opponent is stronger, you have no choice but to turn his weight and momentum against him.

But there’s a cost. If the move fails, you’ll become even more vulnerable. Worse, you lose your footing and plunge into nothing.

Psychologically, this is hard. The mind resists while the body tries to follow through. The result? A weak, half-hearted attempt. There’s no in-between—you either go all in or walk away.

Luckily, you can create support out of thin air. Like a spider weaving its web midair, you build a structure in freefall—out of your opponent’s body and your own.

Your opponent instinctively resists, trying not to fall with you. That tension creates a system of opposing forces. It’s temporary, unstable, yet surprisingly strong. And most importantly, you control its direction.

The psychoanalyst Marie-Louise von Franz once wrote:

“Without a doubt, facing the unknown—without knowing what lies ahead or whether you’ll endure the darkness—is one of the hardest tasks. The deepest human fears and panic are tied to this uncertainty.”

(my translation)

For most people, chaos is a terrifying void. But if you take the initiative, it gives you the raw material for a web, a trap, or a net.

This metaphor runs deep. A spider spins its silk from within. Likewise, a person pulls elegant solutions from the dark depths of his own nature—an enigma that remains forever unsolved.

Maybe the unknown inside us is far more terrifying than the one outside.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Opposite Forces in You / February 10, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Femininity and masculinity are ambivalent. Each holds the potential for both creation and destruction.

That’s why myths, religions, and folklore give us:

Dionysus, the wild passion and irrationality, and Apollo, the reason and purity.
Hecate, the mistress of shadows, and Demeter, the giver of harvests.
Kali, the goddess of death, and Lakshmi, the goddess of fertility.
Loki, the cunning trickster, and Thor, the noble protector.
Set, the god of chaos, and Horus, the god of order.
The Stepmother and the Good Fairy, and so on.

Praising one side of the coin while hiding the other is naïve. You can’t fool nature. In the end, she’ll turn even the noblest intention inside out like a sock.

Denying this duality fuels conflicts among people.

But the ultimate irony? The loudest voices in these debates fail to see the duality within themselves. Carl Jung believed every man and woman carries a corresponding Animus and Anima—the archetypes of masculinity and femininity. They are the bridge between your conscious and unconscious mind.

A weak connection to this spirit makes a person one-sided and vulnerable. A man like that will not spot danger in time, dismiss opportunities, and lack flexibility. A woman will struggle to stand her ground, take initiative, or firmly say, “No!”

But when a man connects well with his Anima, she inspires him, offers fresh solutions, and guides him toward the right path, much like the wise spirit guides in fairy tales.

Ignore this messenger from your unconscious, and disaster follows. Anima and Animus will retreat into the shadows and begin their revenge. Inside, there will be either chaos or stagnation.

Many struggles in business and personal life don’t stem from bad luck or bad people—they come from inner disharmony.

The ancient Greek philosopher Chilon expanded on the Delphic maxim:

“Know yourself, and you will know the gods and the universe.”

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Royal Decay / February 9, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Portrait of King Charles II by Juan Carreño de Miranda

King Charles II of Spain was called “The Bewitched” because, in the 17th century, people blamed witchcraft for physical and mental illness.

The real reason? Generations of inbreeding. While a typical fifth-generation person has 32 unique ancestors, Charles II had only 10. It was as if he had been born to a brother and sister.

His failing health and infertility marked the end of Spain’s Habsburg dynasty. The War of Spanish Succession followed, and a Bourbon prince took the throne. Spain’s Golden Age died with its king [1].

Inbreeding depression weakens a species. Close relatives pass on identical faulty genes, leading to weaker, sicker offspring, unfit for survival [2].

When sameness mates with sameness, the world becomes barren.

Why do people, businesses, or nations run out of ideas, opportunities or solutions? Because like a doomed royal bloodline, their ruling elite chooses self-fertilization—or incest.

Nature shows when the new is strong, adaptive, and healthy.

The key to true life is the synthesis of opposites:

Verticality and horizontality.
Resilience and acceptance.
Masculinity and femininity.
Tradition and innovation.
Positive and negative.
Motion and stillness.
Logic and intuition.
Spirit and matter.
Order and chaos.
Sky and earth.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

The Flow Unleashed / February 8, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

When my mood hits rock bottom, I listen to Harry Mack freestyle.

Strangers throw random words at him, and he weaves them into dazzling patterns on the spot. As he raps, he describes what he sees—their gestures, their clothes, the details of their room.

It’s raw, real co-creation, and it hits deep.

I enjoy the listeners’ reactions as much as the rap itself. The initial skepticism and doubt are gone in seconds, like fog in the sun. One stands frozen, mouth open. Another grins ear to ear. A third starts dancing, overcome with joy and gratitude.

Boredom and sadness melt into something unforgettable. It’s hard to move me, but this wild creativity gets me every time.

Narry has talent., no doubt But judging by interviews and old videos, he spent years refining the diamond that now rightfully shines in his crown. We see a true master.

There are clips where he can’t even stop the flow—it pours through him like a force of nature. Proof of an old truth: man is just an instrument in God’s hands. The point of self-work is to clear the stones from the path of the Flow.

One listener left a perfect comment on YouTube: "I’m fully convinced what Harry Mack does actually spreads love and makes the world a better place."

See for yourself:

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Play or Perish / February 7, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

If a child is rude, selfish, and arrogant, other kids won’t let him join their game.

A CEO can force an employee to follow procedures, but not to invent.

You can’t force yourself to care. You can’t make yourself engage with life.

According to psychologist Jean Piaget, certain conditions make a game a game:

Voluntary participation.
Emotional involvement.
Repetition and variation.
Independence from utilitarian goals.
A system of implicit or explicit rules.
Imagination and transformation of reality.

This applies to games with others—and to the games we play with ourselves. Maybe depression begins when the Self refuses to play with the Ego.

Ideally, the Self (your deep, instinctive “I”) and the Ego (your conscious mind) act as partners in a game. From within, a pull emerges—passion, curiosity, a craving for something new. The Ego tries to digest this novelty through awareness, action, and adaptation.

But sometimes, the Ego decides:

“I already know everything.”
“I need quick, guaranteed results.”
“We don’t have time for childish games.”
“I need to control what confuses or scares me.”
“I make the rules because no one outranks me.”
“Only what can be measured or touched has value.”
“You’ll want to join in—I just have to push you a little.”

Then the Self retreats underground and starts plotting revenge. The person feels mechanical, like he’s just going through the motions. Meaning, excitement and simple joys fade. Routine and boredom take over. The Ego is left alone, sadly watching the pulsation of being.

The way out? Learn to play again—with the unknown part of yourself.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Be Ashamed to Understand / February 6, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The art of therapy is helping a person grow. When change happens inside, it reshapes his world outside.

But here's the catch: the therapist himself can become the obstacle. Neither the client nor the therapist will understand why they’re stuck in place.

The reason? A false assumption by the therapist: “I already know everything.”

I remember a story about a professor scolding psychoanalysts: “You should be ashamed to understand at your age. Your ‘understanding’ blocks your client’s growth. Now, try not understanding him again.”

It’s like sealing a plant inside an airtight box with a label. Sure, it’s easier to store and move around. But inside that box, there’s no water, no air, no sunlight—nothing it needs to grow.

A therapist must hold uncertainty and stay open. Open to what?

To the primal essence of personality that can emerge at any moment. No clever template can predict the divine spark.

Psychoanalyst Marie-Louise von Franz warned about the danger of “nothing but”:

“If something is in the process of growing and I say, ‘This is that,’ then it can still change. But if I say, ‘This is only that,’ I’m locking it in place, cutting off transformation and the chance for further growth. When the intellect doesn’t say, ‘So this is how it seems,’ but instead clamps down with, ‘I know—this is only that and nothing more,’ this subtle shift invites a kind of Luciferian destruction, especially devastating to anything still in the process of becoming.” (my rough translation)

Therapy heals when it describes things as they truly are.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Mother Nature’s Shadow / February 5, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The modern city dweller has a romantic view of nature. To him, it’s a warm bath, a nurturing womb, Mother Earth. He takes pride in his “progressive” rejection of traditional religion, yet in reality, he has regressed—rebuilding a neo-pagan eco-cult 2.0.

One problem: the cult is lopsided. Mother Nature kept all her gentle traits, while the cruel ones were cast aside. The new priests went so far as to declare all of humanity “a cancer on the planet.”

No surprise—primitive gods are the most bloodthirsty of all.

Ancient pagans were wiser than modern ones. Their gods were ambivalent, both kind and cruel. That made them a more accurate symbol of the brutal reality where man had to survive.

Sipping an aromatic latte in a cozy café, scrolling through TikTok on the latest iPhone, the city dweller doesn’t realize how fragile his world is. Generations built the infrastructure that shields him from the wild, like castle walls.

And infrastructure isn’t just energy, roads, or Wi-Fi. It’s culture, too.

Chaos surrounds us—outside and within. Arrogantly declaring 'God is dead,' people flung open the gates to the hordes lurking in their subconscious. The hordes stormed in and took their minds hostage.

The only way out is to grow up and see life for what it is. Nature—of the earth, society, or the individual—can just as easily burn everything to ash as create a greater world.

In the human realm, everything casts a shadow—best not to forget it.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Where Opposites Meet / February 4, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Johann Daniel Mylius: Anatomia Auri , 1628

Holding onto a single viewpoint feels good. It flattens a complex phenomenon into a 2D outline on paper. The world becomes simple, understandable, and therefore safe.

But sooner or later, this illusion will bring pain. The phenomenon will reveal its opposite side, and that will hurt.

You can get angry. You can punish those who voice a different view. But you can't argue with the force of reality — it always wins.

A child will cover his eyes to block out an unpleasant truth. An adult will face it and accept it. Resisting reality is not only pointless—it’s foolish.

Maturity is the ability to withstand the ambivalence of life. A person carries the cross of perpendicular perspectives, ideas, and positions.

It's hard to bear this conflict within yourself, let alone seek it out instead of clinging to one-sided comfort.

But a mature person knows why it's worth it.

First, the clash of contrasting viewpoints allows you to see a situation in its entirety. This means choosing the best position to capitalize on it.

Second, the place where opposites intersect is the origin point. Here, conflict transforms into synthesis, creating new meaning.

And most importantly, at this crossroads, it’s not just ideas that evolve—you do too. In alchemy, the container and the contained become one. Holding the heat and pressure needed to refine ideas, you end up distilling your true essence as well.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Your Sacred Space / February 3, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Holy Trinity Church, Slovenia, 12th Century

Temenos (Ancient Greek: τέμενος) is a sacred, enclosed space—a sanctuary or temple. In ancient Greek colonies, the center of a polis held both an agora and a temenos. The marketplace fueled human interaction, while the sacred grove nurtured solitude with the gods.

Both kinds of exchange matter—outward and inward.

In alchemical texts, a symmetrical rose garden with a fountain at its heart appears, where two opposing forces bathe together. The paradoxical synthesis required special conditions.

For Carl Jung, temenos was the "magic circle" within the psyche, where meaningful encounters with the unconscious were possible. The circle protected sorcerers from the very forces they sought to summon. Without it, Chaos could swallow them whole.

But when the space is safe, something new emerges at the threshold. Transformation—of a person, an organization, even a society—begins here, on this small sacred ground.

If you seek great change, start by building a small temenos.

I’ll explain how one day, but if your business needs transformation now, reach out—I’d be happy to help.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Talk to the Creator / February 2, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Who is the best person to deal with in business and other areas? Especially when failure isn’t an option, time is scarce, and the stakes are high.

All else being equal, go higher up the chain.

If you’re dealing with a clerk, ask for his manager. If it’s a department head, push for a meeting with the GM. And beyond the CEO, talk to the founder directly.

This isn’t about ego or power plays.

Hierarchy signals vision, maturity, and intelligence. If the organization values realism, competence, and integrity over illusions, nepotism, and corruption, then the right person—the one who embodies that DNA—is at the top.

It’s always easier to deal with a Creator than an Executor. The one who built or rebooted the business can change it with a snap of his fingers.

What matters is that the Creator cares about potential, not just the current form. If your deal brings his vision closer to reality, he’ll clear every obstacle—formal or fundamental—to make it happen.

That said, in a big corporation, the most entrepreneurial mind might not be the CEO yet. It could be the leader of a fast-growing division or the COO. But such a person is bound to become a founder or CEO soon enough.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Peristalsis of Mind / February 1, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

A gripping book makes you want to devour it all at once. But if it’s not a novel, but something educational, you run into a problem. Sure, you can read faster, but unfortunately, “peristalsis” sets a limit.

Peristalsis is the rhythmic, wave-like motion of an organ’s walls (esophagus, stomach, intestines, etc.), pushing food from entry to exit. The walls have two layers of smooth muscle. Unlike skeletal muscles, they don’t obey conscious control.

Once you swallow, food moves slowly through your system, breaking down and mixing at its own pace. You don’t control the process—it happens on its own. Magic, isn’t it?

The same goes for knowledge. You can cram as much as you want, but real understanding takes time. That’s why it’s funny when people brag online: “I read N books in a week!” The real question isn’t how many ideas you can plant—it’s how many will take root.

Besides, new ideas are unpredictable.

It’s a cross-pollination of potential—between the idea and your own mind. In venture capital, a single deal can make or break an entire portfolio. But if a fund is greedy and indiscriminate, it loses.

The takeaway? Trust the flow of the wise river inside you.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

The Bite of Reality / January 31, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

When I was about five, I saw a pigeon on the ground. It sat quietly by the fence, facing away from me. I was thrilled, so I walked up to it and gently cupped it in my hands.

The pigeon squeaked, turned its head, and bit my finger.

At dinner, I casually told the adults about my adventure. Suddenly, everyone panicked. A short while later, I was in the hospital, getting twenty rabies shots in the stomach.

As you might have guessed, the pigeon was actually a rat. Yet even now, I still remember that sweet little gray bird, as my hands reach for it. I suppose Sasha had never seen a rat before—only pigeons.

Our brain recognizes patterns instantly—but only from what we already know. If there’s no exact match, it grabs the closest thing that makes sense. Anything is better than just 'What the hell is that?!'"

Reality bites hard when we get the pattern wrong.

Something in business or life went sideways, and now you’re angry? Chances are, you thought you had a bird in your hands—but it turned out to be a rat.

Maybe the reason was naivety, pride, or the itch to get what you wanted right now. The right antidote depends on the cause:

Expand your library of patterns—knowledge and experience.
Stay humble—remember the limits of your own mind.
Reflect—why did impulse win over long-term vision?

It seems that nature is attacking us from the inside and the outside. No, it's trying to wake us from our childish dreams.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Invisible Doing / January 30, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Starting something new is pure agony. It feels like pulling off a miracle—pouring wine from a vessel that's bone dry. And the stranger your product, the higher the cliff you must step off in faith.

It's much easier to copy, tweak, or upgrade something already existing. The thing is real. The wild uncertainty is gone—no need to wonder if it’s possible, or how difficult, expensive, or time-consuming it might be.

Only creators - architects, scientists, comedians, writers, entrepreneurs - know the chasm between zero and one.

Most people live in a world where “one” is all they ever see. It gives them the illusion that it’s always been there. The transformation of “zero” was in childhood games and fairy tales — now, maybe just in movies.

Life rarely demands of a person: "Well, pull a rabbit out of a hat!” When it does, it’s a shock. People don’t rush to relive the experience, let alone seek it out on purpose.

I’ve always admired those who move at a moment’s notice. Like gypsies, they bolt from their comfort zones the second a rare opportunity winks at them. I freeze when I hear a spontaneous rap, a founder’s slam-dunk move, or freestyle stand-up.

One day, it hit me: zero isn’t really zero. Something—a solution, a joke, an insight, a concept, a product—already exists, even when your eyes insist there’s empty space.

The ostrich egg, for example, looks the same on day one as it does on day 45. But just before the shell cracks, the chick is fully formed. All along, a great work has been unfolding inside him - his magnum opus.

“It takes an ostrich chick about an hour—sometimes longer—to break free. It presses one foot against the blunt end of the egg, the other against the sharp end, and pecks at a single spot until a tiny hole appears. Then it makes a few more. Finally, to break out, it slams the shell with the back of its head. That’s why newly hatched ostriches often have bruises on their skulls—they heal fast.” /Wikipedia/

Perhaps an acorn is sprouting inside you, and soon we’ll see its first shoot.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

The Creator’s Paradox / January 29, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The Creator acts with both confidence and humility at once.

A paradox? After all, these qualities seem to contradict each other.

Imagine perpendicular axes, X and Y. Their intersection is the self. On the horizontal X axis, we find the spectrum of relationships with society: from an infantile merging with the crowd to a firm resolve to stand alone.

At the bottom of the Y axis lies the person who sees himself as the highest authority. The top of the Y axis represents the individual who acknowledges that above him is Another—God, the First Cause, the Higher Mind, the Life Energy, the Dao, or the Absolute.

In the lower left quadrant, the individual ceases to exist. He becomes a Shadow—an indistinguishable element in the monolith of the collective archetype. Here, cynics, consumers, and conformists thrive.

In the lower right, the Titan stands—an embodiment of elemental force. He recognizes no one above him, scorns the submissive crowd, and relies only on his own reason, strength, and will. A rebel, conqueror, and hedonist.

The Slave lives in the upper left quadrant. He recognizes the higher power but lacks freedom. A compliant cog in the system, he blindly follows the dogmas of society, having shut down his heart and mind. His strength lies in solidarity, but his weakness is in refusing to take responsibility.

In the upper right, the Pilgrim strides. He doesn't run into solitude, nor does he dissolve into the crowd. He walks toward God on his own path, not along the tracks laid before him. From above, he receives not orders but an invitation to the Game as a co-author. Here, sages, mystics, and entrepreneurs are born. Like a catalyst, their very participation in life changes the world around them.

To society, the Pilgrim may seem confident, strange, even crazy—simply because his gaze is always directed upward.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.

Logic vs. Magic / January 28, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

In business, there are two modes of creating value: “Logic” and “Magic.”

Logic means understanding how a phenomenon works, controlling its scale, and eliminating all risks. Any surprise is a deviation from the standard—and thus, an evil.

Obviously, any kind of novelty will be crushed, and harshly so.

Magic is the Wow result that can’t be explained. Objectively, there’s a real increase in value. It can be resold, reinvested, or paid out as dividends.

Can the creator repeat the trick? No one—not even he—knows the answer.

The only certainty is this: the creator will offer God a generous sacrifice. Whether it’s accepted or rejected depends on His will. The creator's task is to be open to any novelty, even if it appears dirty, mad, repulsive, and terrifying.

In the world of Magic, nothing is more sacred than the primal originality of ideas. Do you see how these two modes are in irreconcilable conflict, like darkness and light? What’s sacred to one is dangerous heresy to the other.

Do you want to “merge” them inside a corporation? Try mixing oil and water and see for yourself.

Yet, both modes are crucial if your goal is the stable prosperity of your business. The ultimate question is how to organize the interaction of opposites so that harmony can reign.

Fortunately, it’s possible. Just look to nature. I’ll explain this later.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.