The Map Within /  by Alexander Lyadov

Your psyche can be imagined as an ancient map.

At the center lies the Land of the Known. Here, you feel safe and comfortable. Every inch of it you’ve walked since childhood, back and forth.

One problem — nothing new exists there, and nothing new ever will.

Around that spot coil clouds of the Unknown. Forms flicker faintly there, but your conceptual tools fail. The darkness may spit out monsters and disasters — or a generous stream of gifts.

One thing’s certain: you won’t be bored in terra incognita.

Every step will unsettle and inspire you, crush and uplift you, make your heart fall and soar. Pain is inevitable, but so is growth.

Yet the Ego must want to explore the realm of the unconscious.

Not everyone is ready for adventure. That’s where not only powerful collective archetypes live, but also everything the Ego has long tried to banish since childhood. The temptation to leave that filth and darkness alone is great.

But this decision has a price — decay, exhaustion, frailty, decline.

For a man commits a grave sin when he refuses to become who he could have been, betraying the Self, turning away from God.

Inside us, the darkness has always waited — and always will — for our light.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

She /  by Alexander Lyadov

Dreams over years map my dance with the Anima. That’s what Carl Jung called the feminine part of a man’s psyche. She teaches him to feel, to accept, to suffer, to see, to love, and to create.

Key truth: the Anima is the bridge to the center of the personality — the Self.

If a man thinks this sounds like nonsense, it only means he hasn’t met his Anima yet. And what happens when a man ignores a woman? Kiss goodbye to wild spark, feast, grace, flow.

Such a man constantly feels an odd sense of lack. Through achievements, experiences, relationships, and material things, he tries to find wholeness — but always fails.

The masculine part of the psyche must reunite with the feminine within. It’s an alchemical wedding. The sacred marriage. The union of the Sun and the Moon.

This is the process of individuation, where the conscious and the unconscious gradually merge, giving birth to a new, complete “I.”

Dreams are the easiest way to witness this fascinating process. You just have to stay open to how the Anima appears — a bear, a sheep, an anaconda, a tigress, a girl, a woman, an old lady, a lover, a wife. Modest or teasing, wise or mad, strict or tender.

If you can accept and love her in all her forms, she will give you what no one else in the world ever could — the thing you have always longed for most.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Chain Reaction /  by Alexander Lyadov

Violence, like a plague, is contagious.

One driver snaps in traffic, and most join the fray—cutting lanes, cursing sharp. Irritation, rage, hate weave a web that traps them all.

Fortunately, the reverse asymmetry exists too.

In the blackest, soul-tear hour, sometimes no word cuts it—just one man's rock-steady calm. The rest wake sharp. Their storms ease.

In both cases, the downward or upward trend wasn’t started by a group or a crowd —it was sparked by an individual. But why does such a wild imbalance kick in?

The secret is simple: within that person already burned either harmony or chaos. And the group’s flammability is like that of alcohol or dry twigs in the forest.

Odd to chew on: that "fire-starter" might be you, me, any soul.

A bit frightening, isn’t it—to carry such responsibility? It’s easier to believe, “In this vast, complex, and crazy world, nothing really depends on me.”

But what if your own fire lights the chain—up or down?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

You'll Pull Through /  by Alexander Lyadov

In 2017, deep in the jungle, I test-drove the future—our now.

In one dark ​ayahuasca​ rite, my old world cracked open. All I'd known, prized, held dear got sucked into a spiral, drilling down.

In raw panic, I rifled through every idea, creed, prayer I owned. No use. Kind souls pitched in, called the shaman. He hummed and worked his rites. My dread swelled as hope thinned. Nothing, no one could pull me free.

Everything began to shift when a near-stranger spoke:

"Listen to your breath and heart. You'll pull through. In the end, you'll be better."

What choice did I have? I absorbed his words like a dry plant drinking sudden rain. Shreds of my world whirled around, and I searched for my pulse with trembling fingers. At first, I couldn’t find it—my heart was silent. Or maybe I just couldn’t hear it.

The more I pressed my chest, the more carefully I listened—“Here’s the exhale, here’s the inhale”—the more the abyss loosened its grip. A crystal of new order was forming from the oversaturated solution of Nothing. Eventually, the storm was gone.

Look around. Do you feel the pull of a Force dragging us downward? It’s not just your family, country, or region. Point your finger anywhere on the globe, and you’ll likely touch the horns or tail of some dark trend.

The social fabric of our world is rubbing thin and tearing apart. Old values dissolve in the acid of doubt, and new unifying ideas are nowhere to be found. The “noble” projects of intellectuals often turn out worse than nothing—they bring pain and death.

Science and technology answer “How?”, not “Why?”. They only accelerate the rupture between people, mind and intuition, matter and spirit, earth and sky. Only the stone-deaf miss the roar of the falls our shared raft drifts toward.

Sounds black, I know. The kind where I ache to be wrong, pray to play the fool. But what if the mad spiral really is pulling our world down?

There’s one anchor I know:

"Listen to your breath and heart. You'll pull through. And be better, in the end."

The heart is more than an organ. Breath pulses Life across the stars.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Two Ways to Live /  by Alexander Lyadov

In symbol drama's frame, I dive deep into the scene, living an image on the therapist's set theme. For the next session, I must sketch what I've lived.

Insights scatter across the whole process. Here's one from lately:

I can't stand drawings "from the head"—they lack fresh spark. Like that old joke on pretty balloons with a flaw—they don't lift the mood.

The ones I love most always surprise me. Either I aim for one thing, and another breaks through. Or I sit blank, no spark at all, and up rises what I never saw coming.

Drawing "from the head" feels safe, smooth, quick. Like linking dots to a shape, shading a coloring book, or tracing a stencil. Sliding through the alphabet—from A to B, from B to C, and all the way to Z.

What name fits the other path—from gut, heart, spine?

At first, the body knots up ugly:

  • shame at my clumsy lines,

  • fog on what shape it craves,

  • doubt if symbol drama works at all,

  • no grip on when or how the right image strikes,

  • rage at why a grown man wastes time on such nonsense.

In the end, the "gut" way hooks harder. Down deep, it's a rush so sweet you hate to break the surface. The brush moves on its own, with the hand reining it loose. A new world is born—and I already love it.

Isn't this the raw choice—two roads to live a life?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Programmed to Renew /  by Alexander Lyadov

What binds a man's nails, an onion's husk, and oak cork?

Programmed cell death. PCD.

It sounds grim, but it’s one of nature’s smartest tricks. You spot it in beasts, plants, mushrooms, slime molds, even yeast. The idea is simple: some cells choose to die on purpose to build a stronger structure.

What a paradox — death saves life!

Without PCD, our frame stalls out. Each day, every one of us sheds billions from trillions cells, yet fills the gap with fresh stock.

Look at cork, for example. Its dead cells become a shield. Their walls thicken, pores close, and hollow spaces fill with air and wax. That’s why cork is light, waterproof, soundproof, and resistant to heat.

It’s strange, but death here isn’t harmful — it’s necessary. The secret lies in precision: what must go, when, where, and how. As long as destruction is local and intentional, all is well.

Our beliefs are much the same. Some harden into cork-like layers that protect us. Yet while we grow inside, the world outside keeps shifting. Over time, our shield cracks. To stay alive, we must rebuild it.

For a full life, would you peel off a layer of your own?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

When Things Just Work /  by Alexander Lyadov

In 2003, Honda dropped a ​legendary ad​ for the seventh Accord. Every single part worked together in perfect harmony. The tagline read: "Isn't it a nice when things just work?"

Predictability is what we crave from a car, a drill, a fork.

There’s already more than enough chaos in the world around us. That’s why we value small pockets of order — even if temporary and limited. A jack should hold its weight, not suddenly give way, right?

In that sense, AI is a strange kind of tool. Its potential is undeniably vast — almost infinite. And yet, sometimes when you ask it a simple question, it lies like a psychopath — brazenly, impulsively, shamelessly.

That stings extra because AI nails the tougher riddles with flair. That’s how your trust builds up. Until, one day — bam — the ground gives way beneath your feet.

AI admits: "AI creators understand how neural networks are trained and how their algorithms function, but they don’t fully understand how complex meanings and decisions emerge within the model.

Marie Curie’s notebooks are still radioactive and kept in sealed containers — you can’t even enter the room without a protective suit. Yet she and Pierre used to carry those glowing vials in their pockets, admiring their light in the dark. Sound familiar?

Some people protest experiments on rats and rabbits. But in the grand AI lab, all of humanity plays the guinea pig — while the cries for caution are faint and scattered. At least the sample size is representative.

I wonder which historical analogy fits better — when early humans discovered fire, or plants with DMT?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Rest to Grow /  by Alexander Lyadov

In my youth, I read about a weightlifter who once tried training legs once a week instead of the usual two. To his shock, both strength and muscle size shot up.

It rang wild to me. I held firm that growth sprang only from the strain. The more I strained my muscles, the quicker I'd become a titan.

Today, that thinking seems naïve. Experts have illuminated us: supercompensation—the surge in marks beyond the baseline—stirs only in rest's quiet phase.

So why are gyms still full of people torturing themselves like galley slaves? CrossFit is famous for its puke buckets. In Brazilian jiu-jitsu, "Everyday Porrada" spells out a grind of raw clashes day after day.

As if David Goggins camped in every one's skull.

Of course, there’s a grain of truth in going all out:

  • The fire tempers the steel of your mind.

  • The athlete’s true potential unfolds.

  • The shocked body breaks free from the long plateau.

  • Fight-readiness for the crown builds sharp.

But few ever talk about the nuances:

  • That grind suits pros above all.

  • A drug mill patches the top dog.

  • In their yearly cycle, such peaks are rare.

  • For the medal, they trade body wrecked past forty.

What about amateurs? They want strength, endurance, a better look, health, friendship, fun, skill — anything, but not at any cost. Plenty charge into the game grown, already carrying a sack of body woes.

Here, the key is not intensity but consistency over time. The real enemy is injury — the thing that makes it harder to start again.

The number one protection against injury? Rest.
And longer than you think.
Besides, it’s a great excuse to take a walk in the park.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Enough Discounting Yourself /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

In talks with a strategic buyer, the entrepreneur sizes up his company by the industry's profit multiple—or worse, by the book value of assets.

The buyer is pleased (though he keeps a poker face), because none of that really matters to him. By integrating the acquired company’s know-how into his global business, he’ll make hundreds of times more profit.

The trouble is, the seller never tries to think like the buyer. He stays too locked on himself and leaves money on the table.

Contrary to popular belief, ego will betray you, while empathy will make you rich.

People undervalue themselves just as founders do their own ventures. When offering services, chasing a job interview, or out on a date, they calculate their "cost of goods," stacking up against rivals or weighing strengths against flaws.

That’s self-commoditization.

The fix is paradoxical—you must truly hunger to see what the Other craves, the one who runs nothing like you. Not just pause yourself for a while, but let in what at first seems odd, unpleasant, or even outrageous to you.

If you pull that off, no rivals stand in your way.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Forgotten Impulse /  by Alexander Lyadov

Imagine your business is a soccer ball. The big goal is to become champion. The next one is to win this match. The small one is to kick the ball right now.

By sharing a bit of kinetic energy, you bring the ball to "life", so now it rolls, bounces, or flies for a while.

If you look at the game through the eyes of a child — or a pedantic statistician — the conclusion seems obvious: most of the time, the ball moves on its own. And if that free, energetic ball could talk, it would surely boast:

“I connect people, fly over obstacles, score goals. Without my constant motion, there would be no game at all.”

That's the line everyone tied to the company feeds you—managers, stock holders, lenders, advisors, the lot. After all, they’re the ones keeping the “motion” going 24/7/365.

They got no time (or taste) to wonder: "Who kicked the spark into the ball?"

This applies not only to business but to the individual as well. The question only arises when, for some reason, the inner Game has stopped. And in every case, the answer is the same:

It’s time to remember the Founder. The Author. The Creator.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Imitate Or Be? /  by Alexander Lyadov

At first glance, authenticity and imitation clash hard.

You either copy someone, or you express your own core. Right?

I remember, as a white belt, how I tried on different jiu-jitsu styles from big-name trainers and champions. Animals learn by example, and in this game, man is the king of beasts.

"I don't believe you can really be authentic unless you can mimic very well," said Al Pacino, describing how he slipped into Tony Montana's skin in Scarface.

Ideally, those borrowed ways sharpen our gift like a diamond.

But it doesn't always go that way. Some people get so carried away with imitation that they lose themselves. They achieve success in society yet suffer twice —hollow inside, understood by no one.

Worse yet, as René Girard pointed out, people copy the desires of others. That’s how envy, hatred, and rivalry arise—ending in a crisis and violence against those who stand out and, above all, can’t defend themselves.

Imitation is both vital and deadly.

Schools and colleges skip this lesson. So each of us must wake up in time. Remember the heart of it:

What do I truly want? Who am I? What am I living for?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

The Proper Vessel /  by Alexander Lyadov

People dream of power, wealth, wisdom, happiness, and so on.

They believe the world holds only a limited supply of these things. So they hunt for them, take from others, and grab as much as their arms can carry.

But there’s another view — this goodness is everywhere. It fills the air, lies underfoot, and seeps through every object, situation, and even dream. There is no shortage — only abundance.

Someone might ask: "Huh, why don't I feel this flood inside me?"

Answer comes plain: "Your vessel can't hold it all yet."

Psychedelic trips show it clear. Folks scribble about the "bad trip," that session gone hellish. Yet sometimes the good rush hits so hard, madness lurks close.

“Beware of unearned wisdom,” Carl Jung once warned.

Theology holds angels skip their true shape with men—too much to take. Even seraphims, top angel rank, veil their face with two of six wings. They can't face God's light straight.

What about us, mere humans? Even when we grab what we crave—power, knowledge, bliss—we act like kids with matches. We fan the flames sky-high.

You short on something? Ask yourself — can your vessel hold It without spilling?

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Touching Infinity /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

For days I can’t stop listening to the ​sounds of the desert​. When I write, meditate, or just sit in the dark at night.

The wind never rests. Sand drifts, dunes shift. It reminds me of our life—so much motion, yet nothing really changes. “Our” life, the life of humankind, it has always been this way and always will be.

There’s only one difference: the desert doesn’t try to change itself. It is what it is—flowing slowly into its own endlessness.

Such self-sufficiency makes the desert generous. All you need is to place yourself within it—physically or in your mind. Listen to the wind. Study the patterns of the dunes. Let the warm sand slip between your toes.

Silently, the desert works its magic. It takes away everything unnecessary, foreign, and false—and in return, it weaves your soul into the eternity of being. Your own finitude stops frightening you. The desert is you.

Deep inside, each of us longs to connect with something vast. Sadly, we often choose substitutes—alcohol, ideology, tribes, consumption, the approval of the crowd, and so on.

Yet the path to the eternal is always within reach:

  • Water: a river, an ocean, a fountain.

  • Air: mountains, sky, stars.

  • Earth: a park, a forest, a desert.

  • Fire: a flame, creativity, beauty.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Reinventing Yourself /  by Alexander Lyadov

When I look back on my career so far, I must face a strange truth:

Every few years, I made one decision that created it all.

Like a man lost in a thick forest, he pours effort into walking, building camp, hunting, cooking. But all that hustle means nothing unless he checks his compass—moss, river, stars—to set or shift his path.

That’s how it went when I:

  • left chemistry for advertising,

  • cracked a new agency pay model (it saved us in crisis),

  • helped the market see the huge potential of local clients,

  • chased answers at Chicago GSB (no one around me did that),

  • leapt from advertising to wealth management,

  • fell in love with venture investing and co-founded a $50M fund,

  • and later created business therapy — a synthesis of many disciplines.

Each time, I froze first before deciding. A new opportunity pulled me hard. Yet it looked dumb, vague, unprofitable, crazy, or flat-out scary.

When I stepped into the “abyss,” a whole new phase kicked in. Like ice turns to water, then steam. The molecule stays the same — H₂O — but the degrees of freedom can’t be compared.

It’s tempting, in hindsight, to see the path as linear and to rationalize each turn. Also, the years spent realizing each stage make it hard to forget.

But key is to mark where you reinvented yourself.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

The Cross of Healing /  by Alexander Lyadov

A sports rehab pro hands out tough exercises, but one nobody likes. It’s electrical muscle stimulation.

For example, after a knee injury, electrodes are placed on your thigh, and for fifteen minutes the machine sends electric waves that make your muscles contract as if you were doing squats with a barbell.

But here’s the twist — you control the current yourself, which means you control your discomfort as it turns into pain. Why would anyone do that?

The rehab guy warns: “The higher the charge, the faster you heal.” Top’s “120,” but “50” already stings. You face a dilemma—spare yourself now or ditch the limp sooner.

Truth is, max charge won’t kill or wreck you. Red electrode marks fade in minutes. The pain is psychological — it’s your mind refusing to hurt itself.

Sleep loss, gloom, weather, post-workout fatigue—all drop your pain threshold. And there you sit, finger on the button, realizing: “My biggest foe and limit is me.”

There are two extremes. Go too soft and wonder, “Why did I even come here, wasting money and time?” Go full “Goggins mode,” and your soul protests, “Do you even love yourself?”

Balancing truth and mercy is an art. Seek comfort in illusions, and you won’t heal. Use violence against yourself, and your body will cut the power to live.

Look — the vertical crosses the horizontal inside you, me, and all of us.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Oasis in the Sands /  by Alexander Lyadov

To create something new means to transform yourself.

That’s why true creation is rare.

The new might turn useful and honored later, maybe. But now it’s shaky, dirty, alien, risky, and strange.

The opportunity looks like a narrow black hole—uncomfortable to even peek into, let alone crawl through.

Why do some folks leap into that void with glee?

They’re not fools, thrill seekers, or self-destructive souls. Quite the opposite: they’re sharp, grounded, and very much in love with life.

So something redeems the inevitable emotional, mental, and physical burns from touching the Unknown. Yes, a prize waits. It’s the Creator’s joy in changing the world:

Where a dead desert lay, an oasis blooms and a fountain gushes.

How did these men spot a whole ocean under scorching sand?

Like seeks like. The water of life springs inside them.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Within Reach /  by Alexander Lyadov

 

Everything we need most is already within reach.

This thought keeps gnawing at me. And so, examples—others’ and mine—pile up like a snowball.

Lately, I sparred a guy less skilled than me. Though I ruled, he pulled off a “Tripod Sweep” a couple times. That basic move hit so timely and fast that, knowing it all, I couldn’t block it. Hmm, odd.

From my experience, that’s a sign of a “tokui waza”—a “signature move.” Some moves you “somehow” nail quick, drill with joy, and they pop out in a fight on their own.

I told the young grapplet: “Water what grows on its own,” since a “signature move” often decides matches. But his reply showed he saw no special worth in it.

Sadly, this happens to us all the time. Likely, culture drilled into us that life’s best comes only from backbreaking toil. And that good stuff, born easy or landing light, deserves no thanks or awe.

In business therapy, I keep opening folks’ eyes to their natural Gift. A founder moans progress stalls for lack of quality X, blind to the precious quality Y he’s got in spades.

Turns out, no need to chase an MBA at Stanford, gulp 40 bestsellers a year, or copy guru “secrets.”

Just take this: the answer isn’t out there—it’s inside you.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

From Template to Creation /  by Alexander Lyadov

You recall those kids’ coloring books? Just black-and-white outlines of fairy tale and cartoon folks, brought alive by a child’s colored pencils.

There’s a tiny spark of creativity in choosing colors, perhaps. But clearly, filling in a ready-made template is much easier than taking a blank sheet and drawing from scratch.

It’s not just about a kid’s skills, but his faith in himself and birthing that hazy image he can’t wait to make real.

That’s what sets an entrepreneur from a hired manager, even a CEO.

A founder fears no blank page—it lures him in. Any sketch, even the roughest, fires him up. The magic lies in turning nothing into something.

A sketch locks the art’s intent. Right off, you see the uniqueness, scope, and potential value of the business idea.

Sure, there’s still much work ahead: refining the lines, choosing the colors, picking the right frame, and so on. Fortunately, there are skilled managers who love that kind of work.

Most thrilling?

Watching those who colored others’ books for years finally grab a blank sheet.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

The Creator's Back /  by Alexander Lyadov

Once I knew an amazing designer. She was as talented and hardworking as she was humble and fragile.

Since she spent days, sometimes nights, at the computer, neck, shoulder, and back troubles crept in over time. They ached so bad she couldn't budge her main "tool."

For a designer, that's a death sentence. Not just paychecks—her creative expression hung on a healthy body. A classical musician friend told the same tale. After 30, many pay for childhood practice years.

Years later, the designer girl wrote me she'd caught the kettlebell bug, watching me. Back then, I raved about this lost gem often.

I couldn't picture that graceful girl gripping a kettlebell, but facts don't lie—her body pain fled. Funny, I thought, it’s the intellectuals and artists who need sport the most. It’s the only way to keep doing what you love for a long time.

Lately, lower back woes kept me from the desk. I changed plenty to turn it around. I’m not sure which factor helped the most:

  • Added back and shoulders to leg work with the rehab pro,

  • traded static chair for a dynamic ​capsule​,

  • hoisted monitor to eye level,

  • got a height-shift desk,

  • switch poses more,

  • walk everywhere.

Sobering stats: “In the Western population, 70%–85% will develop LBP (Low Back Pain) at one point in life, 60% will continue to report LBP 1 year later, and 10%–15% will have chronic LBP” [​1​].

Takeaway: Best time to fix your back is NOW.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.

Big Bang Boss /  by Alexander Lyadov

There's a joke that scientists say: “We need just one miracle—the Big Bang. We'll explain the rest ourselves.” Even science hungers for a creation myth—the secret that sparked it all.

Something similar happens in business.

When a company already exists, grows fast, and seems unstoppable, managers, investors, and journalists start believing they understand this “machine” inside out. They grip the wheel confidently, press the gas hard, and enthusiastically pick new upgrades.

The founder is rarely remembered. That was long ago — crude, small-scale, and financially insignificant. Since then, they've jacked value a hundred times, gone global, rung the IPO bell.

It all works fine while the market stays stable. But when a crisis, new technology, pandemic, or war suddenly demands change — none of these “demigods” have a clue what to do.

Sometimes in those breaking points, the founder steps back in, grabs the wheel, works wonders: guts "essential" costs, sweet-talks creditors into debt swaps, spots growth in dead ends, reinvents the model, and so on.

Sometimes, in these turning points, the founder returns, grabs the wheel, works wonders:

  • slashes “essential” expenses,

  • convinces creditors to restructure debt,

  • finds growth where none seems possible,

  • reinvents the business model, and so on.

Suddenly all remember — it was the entrepreneur who creates the Big Bang.

But a couple years after the storm, when business climbs again, the new hires try hard to forget.

Yours sincerely,

-Alexander

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.

Stuck? Your business grows when you do. I’m your business therapist to guide your shift. See testimonials ​here​. Ready? ​Book your Catalyst session​.