Alexander Lyadov

Make the Void / April 26, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Want to know how people and organizations block their own growth? They try to fight against the laws of the universe.

Take this example: a founder complains that he lacks opportunities—profitable clients, talented executives, access to capital. But while he craves the new, he refuses to give anything up in return.

What’s at stake is letting go of old beliefs. Like the hard shell of a crab, they once formed a protective armor around the business. For a long time, they served the founder well. But now, that shell is choking growth.

You wouldn’t expect a harvest by tossing an apple sapling on the side of the road, would you? No—you dig a hole deep enough to hold all the roots. New life follows the same law.

Is the new avoiding you? Have you cleared the space inside yet.

First there's Nothing. Then the Something.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Time to Hatch / April 25, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

The reason companies stop growing, teams fall apart, and founders burn out is a clash between the old form and the new one.

What’s so great about solid structure? It gives you protection, comfort, and other good things. But only for one specific kind of content inside—and within a specific context around it.

Take, for example, the hard calcium shell of a bird’s egg. It’s a perfect incubator: it shields the embryo from impact, bacteria, and dehydration; it holds a stable microclimate and lets in oxygen.

But that harmony doesn’t last forever.

Once the chick is fully developed, that same incubator becomes a prison. And here’s the wild part—the parents don’t help it break the shell. The chick has to do it alone. That’s how it proves it’s alive and ready. In doing so, it builds strength and triggers essential hormonal and neural mechanisms.

Same structure. Yesterday it was heaven. Today it’s hell.

What does that feel like in a company? Processes start to stall. People feel cramped, stifled, bored. Mobility drops. Vulnerability to "predators" goes up.

If the founder doesn’t see the real problem, he’ll usually:

Ignore the warning signs for a while
Keep patching the cracks in the shell
Bring in outside help for a pseudo-transformation

That last one is a ritual simulacrum—a performance of change with no real shift. The fire was lit, the drums were beating, but nothing old was released and nothing new was born.

Worse, the next day brings bitterness, despair, and cynicism.

Want your business to grow? Look at where you’re holding it back.

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Stinging Honey / April 24, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

We say “honey,” and we mean “bees.” We say “bees,” and we mean “honey.” You can’t choose one and forget the other.

Imagine a gnome who’s been terrified of insects since childhood. Especially the kind that fly, sting, and buzz. But here’s the catch: the only thing he eats is honey. Thankfully, his parents worked hard and left behind a large supply.

Everything was fine—until he licked the last jar clean. Now the sweet-toothed gnome faces a choice: terrifying fear or slow starvation.

Maybe his mind tries to bargain: roots aren’t that bad. But in the end, nature takes over, and the gnome goes to the bees with trembling hands.

And who knows—maybe once he gets to know them, he’ll stop panicking. He’ll start respecting their fierce will to protect what’s theirs. He’ll admire their ability to work all day long. Fear will be replaced by love.

Now switch the roles. The gnome is you. And instead of bees—it’s whatever annoys, repulses, or unsettles you the most. If you take a closer look at your “insects,” you might see how deeply they’re tied to what you love most.

And what if those bees have been chasing and stinging you all along only because you’ve been doing everything you can to stop them from pollinating the flower inside you?

Sincerely yours,

-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.

Enough of Function or Form / April 23, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

What matters more to you—form or function?

A decade in advertising taught me to worship aesthetics. I saw countless wow-ideas get ruined when marketers asked for “small changes”: “Change the font, make the logo bigger, blur the tone.”

Aesthetics is why you can’t confuse eroticism with pornography.

Then I spent twenty years working with entrepreneurs. They rebuilt companies, launched startups, and shipped products—all under the banner of “Good enough is good enough.”

A founder isn’t into masturbation. He wants real sex—with the Unknown.

Look around and you’ll see people split into two tribes: high fashion vs. tactical gear, Michelin dining vs. protein bar, feature film vs. commercial, bodybuilding vs. powerlifting, poodle vs. Malinois, poem vs. checklist, Aikido vs. MMA.

Stick with one too long and you develop tunnel vision. You start to dismiss the other: you worship function and sneer at form. Or the reverse.

But if you look closer, poetry does perform a function. Just not as obvious as a hair dryer manual. And tactical gear does have a style—its own kind of grace.

In alchemy, they believed the vessel and its contents were inseparable. The inner needed a very specific outer for transformation to succeed.

Harmony happens when function dances with form. And they spin so wildly, you forget which is which. And that’s okay. Because life can be taken apart—but it’s always lived as a whole.

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.

Spellbreaker / April 22, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Each of us carries demons inside. Call them what you will—fears, grudges, traumas, curses, or complexes. They don’t bring joy. They drain it. They gnaw on your nerves and suck your life dry.

So what can you do? The worst thing is not knowing they’re there. That’s when the demons dance freely. Under their spell, people do things so wild they later gasp, “That was monstrous! Was that really me?”

But once your eyes begin to open—once you glimpse the destruction they leave behind—you start to fight back. It’s a long, painful war. Eventually, you realize: even the sun can’t get rid of its own shadow.

You can’t look away. There’s nowhere to run. Killing them doesn’t work either. Is it hopeless?

No. There’s another way: You can simply be with your monster. No judgment. No panic. No rage. No fear. Just see it. Describe it as it is. Witness its being.

And if you can hold that gaze—really hold it—a strange miracle begins. One layer after another peels away. The monster is no longer cursed. And beneath it, stretching gently in the sunlight, is something very much alive.

You didn’t defeat it. You lifted the spell. Thus, you set yourself free.

-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 Inner Axis / April 21, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

This newsletter is my sacred ritual. Each day, there’s a time and place where I meet the unknown part of myself. There is no “content plan.” Every message to you begins with a blank page.

Sometimes, it’s uncomfortable. Time passes, and nothing comes. Sure, I could force myself and pick some “reasonable” topic. But that would break the ritual. The spark must come from within.

A psychoanalyst would say I’m building the Ego–Self axis.

The Ego is who we think we are. The conscious part. The Self is something bigger — the core of the psyche, the original wholeness, the source of the energy to be, to live, to create.

When the Self swallows the Ego, the person falls into psychosis. He loses his grip on who he is, becoming a puppet of clashing inner forces — archetypes. In a manic episode, he may declare: “I am God. I will save you all.”

But it also works the other way. When the Ego is cut off from the Self, the person forgets who he is and why he exists. His crown withers. His trunk cracks. The roots can't reach the water.

In a healthy psyche, the connection between Ego and Self is just right — not too far, not too close. The Ego turns to the Self for inspiration, strength, meaning — for living water.

Individuation is when the Ego and the Self play ping-pong.

And for that game to happen, you need a table. You need space. A net. A coach, maybe. You need to clear the crowd and so on.

So let me ask: Do you have a ritual that helps you meet 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.

The Boar and the Baby / April 20, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

As an experiment, I want to share a dream I had a few years ago. I wasn’t sure if I should—but here goes.

Some people don’t dream at all. Others think dreams are nonsense. If you’re one of them, just imagine I’m describing a very weird short film.

Dreams are personal. Their meaning is often only clear to the one who receives them. And yet—they’re sent by archetypes, forces from the collective unconscious. So maybe, if you want, you’ll see a part of yourself in mine.

So here it goes:

“A grown-up baby offers to take me for a ride in his autonomous stroller. I refuse, saying I’ll break it because I weigh 90 kilos. The baby climbs in and starts skillfully wrapping himself in a sheet on the tray. At some point, I can’t resist and help him. Then I pick him up myself—or maybe I just sense that’s what he wants—and I rock him. He yawns sweetly.

The baby tells me I need to carry him through an ancient, abandoned graveyard nearby. I picture it and say, ‘No! I’m not taking you in there.’ Then I walk with him in my arms into some kind of corridor, tunnel, or dungeon. Suddenly, from around a corner, a huge wild boar appears. I run into another hallway and rush toward a windowsill, trying to save the baby. The boar is right behind me. I try to set the baby on the windowsill, but it doesn’t work.

So I turn to face the boar and try to scare him with my voice and the flashlight on my phone. It doesn’t faze him. He calmly stands there, watching me. He could easily kill both the baby and me.

A couple of times, darkness washes over me, and I’m filled with helplessness—like death itself has come. But then I notice that the boar seems to be friendly toward the baby. As if I didn’t know something, or had misunderstood everything.”

Dreams usually don’t have just one meaning, but many. For example, here we see a drama that exists—and also doesn’t. For some reason, I decided the boar was a predator, the baby was a helpless victim, and I was supposed to be the savior. Why did I decide that? That’s the question of all questions.

Then things just started unfolding on their own. So much effort, so many emotions. Hope and the loss of it. The collapse of the illusion that I could protect anyone. Total helplessness. I failed. Let everyone down.

And then... a flicker of insight. The beast wasn’t planning to devour the baby. The baby was never afraid. The boar just stood there. The baby kept sleeping. There was no drama. Come on, didn’t you get it?

The boar and the baby—they’re Friends. Buddies. Best pals.

And me? Just a fool. I made up an epic, dragged others into it, played my role with passion. The worst part? I’ve done it an endless number of times. Since childhood. Over and over, repeating the same ridiculous story.

It’s so sad, it’s almost funny.

If you heard someone laughing in the middle of the night in downtown Kyiv, that was me—right after I said yes to the AI’s offer: “Wanna see your dream as a picture?”

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.

Oh, That Leg Day! / April 19, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

It’s been a month since I hurt my knee. I walk around in a brace. Take it off—and I feel shaky. Put it back on—and I'm fine again.Healing ligaments need an “exoskeleton” to carry some of the load.

Muscles could do the job, if it weren’t for my laziness. There’s a reason Leg Day is a meme magnet—no one loves it. Don’t want to limp and wince with every step? Then hit the gym and suffer with that barbell on your back.

Same story with my forearm. For almost a year, I couldn’t grapple. Diagnosis: medial epicondylitis. I tried shots, pills, therapy—nothing worked. The pain only left when I finally strengthened my shoulders and back. That took the extra load off my elbows.

Now my forearms get special attention—I train them every other day.

Sadly, it took an injury to turn neglect into care. Next goal? Learn to love brutal leg workouts. There’s no other way.

Reality has its own way of fixing a stubborn mind: It teaches through pain and discomfort. Can you avoid that lesson? Sure—if you’ve got a wise health advisor by your side. Too bad — no expert with a broad enough view has made a useful offer yet.

So when it comes to the body, there’s only one real option— learn from your mistakes, and learn fast.

But these insights apply to business too—your “corporate body”:

Always know where your weakest spot is.
Give it a brace—time and support to heal.
And keep someone close who won’t let you skip leg day.

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 Entrepreneurial Journey Podcast / April 18, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

American entrepreneur Dave Wescott invited me for an interview on his podcast, The Entrepreneurial Journey.

WATCH NOW

In Dave's words:

"Not many times in your life, will you meet someone who changes your trajectory. My conversation with Alexander Lyadov did exactly that! Thank you so much for the conversation and changing the way I think about my life!!!"

It was both an honor and a real pleasure to speak with Dave.

First, like a true entrepreneur, he has that rare drive to get to the heart of things without getting distracted by surface-level noise.
Second, he doesn’t just ask deep, meaningful questions—he truly listens. That’s such a rare quality these days.
And third, it’s incredibly easy and fulfilling to share insights with him, because he receives them with both gratitude and respect.

Topics we touched on:

Where ideas come from—and how not to block them.
Why I call my work “business therapy.”
Why complex problems can’t be solved with a single tool.
What kinds of challenges business therapy can actually help with.
What happens when a founder meets the unknown.
What a “liminal state” is, and the role of ancient rituals.
The existential loneliness of founders.
The horns of the entrepreneurial dilemma.
Three “clusters” of symptoms caused by that dilemma.
How I went from $50m fund management to jungle ayahuasca.
What 11 ceremonies taught me — and what I’m still digesting.
Mind games and the difficulty of asking for help.
Why psychedelics should be combined with therapy.
What six years of individual and group therapy actually changed.
The #1 insight Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gave me for business.
Why I work specifically with founders and CEOs.
What the painting on my wall says about the meeting of Logos and Chaos.
What a founder should do first when they’re stuck.
Why an honest look at your current and undesired future is essential.
The existential challenge of describing your desired future state.
Why strategy sessions often waste time and resources.
Who must answer the ultimate question in business.
Understanding the hierarchy of strategic questions.
Different formats of business therapy.

Some timestamps:

[00:05:43] - What a business therapist does.
[00:10:54] - The existential loneliness of founders.
[00:19:00] - The Ayahuasca experience.
[00:27:32] - Insights from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for business.
[00:34:35] - What entrepreneurs should do when they’re stuck.
[00:39:39] - Why gold is always found in the mud.
[00:43:53] - If someone wants to work with me.

Hope you enjoy 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 Are All the Adults? / April 17, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Princess Yvonne and Prince Alexander of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn in Germany, 1955

Over the years of individual and group therapy, the way I see people has changed. I used to take them at face value. But then I began to see beneath the surface.

Take a bearded man in a suit parking his SUV, or a stern woman in a lab coat scolding nurses. They look like grown-ups.

A bearded child in a high-ranking job? Sounds absurd. Or is it?

You might feel confused when a respectable-looking man blocks the entire parking exit and says, wide-eyed, “Well, where else was I supposed to park? All the spots were taken. I’ll just be five minutes.” (Three hours later, his SUV’s still there.)

You wonder: “This can’t be real. Is he stupid? Malicious? Nuts?”

Thanks to a wise and kind therapist, I learned—well into my forties—just how childish I often feel and act. And I never saw it. Even when I had flashes of insight, I denied it.

The more I met the hungry, furious, wounded child inside me, the clearer I saw the same infantilism in others.

Turns out, 80% of adults are basically indistinguishable from kids.

Carl Jung once said, “People don’t have ideas. Ideas have people.” When a person is under the grip of an archetype, he doesn’t belong to himself. He demands admiration. He works nonstop. He stirs up drama without guilt. Conflict follows him like a shadow.

Strangely, that makes life a little easier. It’s one thing to watch a grown man explode in a fit of rage, it’s another to see a child, unloved and overwhelmed, throwing a tantrum.

And if that’s true, maybe you speak to them differently. Choose your words with care. Even if these “kids” hold enormous power, their behavior won’t shock you as much.

“For they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

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.

Alone with Chaos / April 16, 2025 by Alexander Lyadov

Some people widen their eyes when they hear about the existential loneliness of entrepreneurs. “What do you mean? It’s not like they’re stuck on a desert island. Let them talk to someone. Hear some advice. They’ve got spouses, friends, parents — even business partners, don’t they?”

How naive. Do you really think they haven’t tried?

Believe me, they’ve tried to share their pain with everyone. Over and over. But eventually, they stop. People just don’t hear them — for one reason or another:

Some are just exhausted — too many letdowns, for too many years.
Others don’t know enough about business to offer anything useful.
Some can't just sit in silence — they lack that kind of wisdom.
And others have too many problems of their own to take on someone else’s.

Even in professional circles, real help is rare:

A top manager sees only part of the picture — and chases his own goals.
A consultant knows business, not much else.
A therapist doesn’t get the intricacies and context of business.
A business club? Too risky to reveal the skeletons in the closet.

The founder is left alone with Chaos — fight or die.

If you give up, you’re a failure and a traitor — the one who let everyone down: your family, team, clients, investors, and even the strangers who projected their secret desire for success onto you.

Worse yet, you’ll know you missed a rare opportunity. That you failed to realize the massive potential that once shone in your hands. You were just this close. What was missing? Time? Money? Luck?

No. That’s all secondary.

The worst part is knowing that EVERYTHING YOU NEEDED WAS ALREADY INSIDE YOU.

The only thing missing was the “alchemical vessel" to turn your implicit knowledge into explicit form.

Transformation happens at a special time, in a special place.

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.