Reviews and Testimonials

“I am unable to wrap words around what happened in our session this morning. Thank you for a most amazing experience. The safety I felt to even go where the sensations led says much about who you are. Your compassion so genuine, I felt supported throughout. I thank you again for your attention, kindness and generosity. With much gratitude, -MJ"

“I have done all of them. (Guided Visualizations) The introduction with Wendi (she has such a great voice) I did the first time in 2013 in Paris, I remember it VERY well, to this day I remember the spot on the wall. I especially like the trading temple and the master traders home. They clearly address two of my issues and allow for a great experience that can be shaped and re-lived over and over again. I will definitely use these recordings in my journey. Thank you so much!! "

“When I joined the Master Mind inner circle coaching and group, I was at a stage of being aware about my trading incompetency areas. Rich helped me to address my challenges and has opened my eyes to additional areas that I did not see. He provided a guideline on how to get to the next stage as a trader and step by step that change started to happen.

Rich had also provided very valuable guidance on how to see the market as a reality trader that sunk into my mind. The weekly group sessions with the help amongst the inner group members and the openness within the group sessions helped to further built upon what Rich shared within the excellent coaching sessions.

I have now made the turn, after 9 years as a losing trader. A big portion of that is due to the Master Mind training, and coaching I received. At the end of the day I had to change myself, doing that with help makes it much easier."

“You help me think correctly. I am currently working on my ability to understand my emotions, where they come from (awareness), so that I can accept them! You have been the single greatest help in this regard. I would still be floundering with consistent repeated trading mistakes, but your help in understanding my emotions has taken me from breakeven and not very profitable, to marginally profitable most of the time."

“Hey, Richard, just wanted to share that since ending boot camp, my yearly returns has been on average 30% (2015 50%, 2016 9%, 2017 30%, 2018 40%) before 2014 it was zero/loss. I trade active and have at least 1 trade a day. I'm able to stay calm in market panic and do what I should do, also I can adjust aftermarket moves quickly. And my money issues are almost gone. It did take some time but, I'm on right track. Thanks."

“Your exercise put me on the spot and really made a difference for me in my trading today. I felt more focused and intensely concentrating and was not hesitant in entering trades and exiting them quickly when I was wrong on the entry. I found it extremely helpful and I want to acknowledge you and appreciate your suggestion to do it. I had a real breakthrough today. Felt very exciting and encouraging."

“The Mind Muscles for Traders boot camp gave me the opportunity to know other trader’s challenges and how they overcome them with your suggested solution; the candour and openness of participants; being totally open about my own challenges and receiving support from other traders to help me to accept all parts of myself and further facilitate my behavioural change; the fact of just simply sharing and learning from others is invaluable. Also I had the opportunity to dive deep to address very specific issues with Rich on an one-on-one basis; learning to believe all psychological issues can be overcome if you put your heart to it. Additionally, the opportunity of real self-discovery and the benefit goes way beyond trading alone."

“After careful consideration, the most helpful aspect of the course is the exercises that make me physically do something, whether it is the tracking of lucrative losses, doing the exercise where I do many trades with an insanely close stop or the 8/20 moving average crossover exercise in the ABC program. I think why these are so good is because it forces me to over-ride an existing impulse or emotion, and allows new Mind Muscles to form."

“I have just completed the first questionnaire in the money mind section and it was illuminating!!! It highlighted the exact patterns that I have adopted from both my Grandad and my Dad which I have consistently played out in the markets, up until today!!!!"

“I am really enthusiastic about this course and would recommend it to anyone, without hesitation, who are looking to improve their trading skills. The course has made me much more aware, showing me how I sabotage myself during trading, showing me where my stumbling blocks are and how to be better prepared and learning to start making new mind muscles. Not only will this course make me a better trader, it is also making an impact right now on my whole life. I count this as a big bonus. More awareness, clearer goals and more focus, working on changing old unwanted and non helpful habits that’s what the course has brought me so far. So a big thank you to Rich and everyone on the team. Rich is a very accessible person, warm and non-judgmental with lots of humor, he knows his stuff, has tons of experience, no bullshit. He makes the work fun, interesting and thought-provoking. Do yourself a favor, take the course!"

“I took the class to improve my trading only, but it ended up changing my whole life! I am now watching nzd/usd - short since last night and I am up handsomely - I just got home and the trade went against me for about 30 pips while I am still up 70. If that happened last month, I'd be exiting the trade now afraid I don't lose more of my unrealized profits. Now I just adjusted my stop loss and added to the position! Adding to winning position was so scary for me before (I did what losers do - I added when losing to average it up 😀 ) So......I feel like a billion bucks 😉 I wanna go to San Francisco and hug Rich but I am afraid I might squeeze him too much and hurt the poor man :^) Words alone cannot express how much better I feel. I am so grateful I can’t even express it!!?"

“Thanks again for those amazing webinars and all the work you put into it! It is so important to feel that we are not alone and we are so well supported. I have just listened to your audio about beliefs around a trading career. That was so inspiring! And... I am glad to see that I am not the only one to see the spiritual side and benefits of trading! This is a very unusual and fascinating course and way of talking about the trading world...thank you so much!"

“Your course has been extremely helpful so far. I am not a trader. I do both long term investment and also use a CAN SLIM (Investment Business Daily) strategy (with two different portfolios.) While some specific exercises don’t directly apply to me, I can still relate to the emotions that they evoke! But all the “technology” for change and the inquiries in my relationship to money, investing, etc. completely applies. It has been great to have more insights in all of that. I love how gradual the learning is, how your setting the foundations for meaningful and durable change to happen. It seems that your method could apply to many fields! With much gratitude for your willingness to share your knowledge with a wide online audience, Philippe Daniel."

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“I wanted to thank you again for speaking with me yesterday. It was a difficult conversation for me to delve into my past like that, but it did provide insight. I started a new 10-day Combine today and am up $750. I moved my stop once and did not like the way I felt at all; my heart was racing and my chest was tight, and I exited pretty quickly. I am not happy with myself for doing that, but remembering the visualizations you had me do yesterday prevented me from doing it again, and I worked on building that muscle (it certainly felt better than the old muscle). Moving my stop only once is certainly an improvement, but if I want to be a professional trader I realize I cannot ever do this. I just wanted to update you and thank you wholeheartedly once again."

“The Personal Trading Resilience exercise by Mind Muscles released my awareness of previously unidentified patterns of physical and emotional distress experienced while trading. I now own advantageous awareness mechanisms that support the elimination of impulse trades by understanding habitual triggers that foreshadow and contribute to undesired deviations from strategy based executions."

“Still making great improvements thanks to you- I'm still focusing on awareness because it seems to be the foundation that all is built on?

Your audio is simply awesome. I have spent so much time with it that now that the GAPS are HUGE and the experience ranges from nothing to euphoric. But realizing the internal talk is just that during the day I try and make myself of the feeling within the GAP. Thinking this is more powerful then the internal chatter/ noise and somehow just thinking of this feeling has an instant calming effect.

I hope you don't mind that I mentioned the sound track you created about awareness. I thought it was important because I noticed such a profound difference after a few weeks using it.  Initially when I started the exercizes All I could see / hear were thoughts- Now it seems I can bring clear anytime on demand.

Its the most amazing thing that I never knew. I have walked through that doorway a lot now LOL. Anyway that audio you created is the best and I wanted to let people know how important at least I think it is :0"

“I have been trading for 4 years now, and I fully recommend the course for any trader, new or expert. I always heard that trading is a 90% psychological game, but I was not aware how true this statement was, until I completed the course "Mind Muscles for Traders."

The course has helped me be more aware of my emotional state. I notice that almost every trader has to overcome the same psychological issues and that I was not alone in the journey to becoming consistent profitable. I also discover that I can make a big difference in the P&L by just making a few adjustments like being aware of my emotions, feelings and thoughts every morning before I start trading, and every minutes while I am trading. The exercises in the course are excellent to achieve that self control.

I now realize that I do not have to trade when I am out of my personal trading resilience range. I now have more confidence in myself and not distracted by the voices of others. I have learned to pay more attention to the market mood and not just my strategy. Oh, and the Sport Trading Hero exercise and the phrase, “lose a little, win a lot” changed my experience of losing trades. I can now accept and love losing trades as part of the game. Lose a little, win a lot! The awareness and visualization exercises made the biggest impact on my trading.

The Mind Muscles for Traders course helped me increase my self-awareness with the journalling exercises. I was never able to journal prior to the course and now I won’t start even sim trading without getting the journal out. I also became aware that my relationship to money was wrong and now I feel good about making more money. I have taken bits from every module and webinar, but the money thermostat and my relationship to money was very good."

“Rich, I have successfully finished the homework you assigned me. I have attached two spreadsheets. One that show my P&L and the other that shows the "Trade Awareness Journal." After several losing days at the beginning of October, I then started to improve significantly. If you look at the journal you will see strong improvement in my thought process. I can now relax when I don't have clear signals to enter the market. I have switched off the P&L on the top of CQG. I now need to only look at the results after the trade. As a result, most recently, I now have only profitable trading days. Thanks Rich!"

“The foundational experience was learning that Mind Muscles can actually be built and then how that is done, followed by actually doing it has been fantastic and worth more than the cost of the course in that lesson alone. The module that has opened the door to new possibilities is the relationship with money exercise. It jumped me straight into a major awakening and realisation of how negative that relationship had been for me. I have some very good tools now thanks to this course that are taking me past awareness and acceptance and into a very productive state."

“I am looking forward to the meeting. I will finish the course on Sunday. I have been attending a 3 day seminar on options and have my eyes and ears open for me and for competitive analysis for Mind Muscle. Suffice it to say for now that no one I have encountered is taking anything close to your approach. In fact, it is almost like watching why these courses do very few people much good."

“I did the third lesson on Awareness in various stages as I appreciated so much the visualizations. I did the workout and the game and went back on the different elements several times. The Mind Muscles workout now becomes part of my daily routine and my daily journal. This is an absolutely great lesson. Thank you very much for the time and effort you put into it."

“I have been trading as a full time trader for about three years now. Previously I had traded stocks on an ad-hoc basis for investing while I had a full time career. After a serious spinal injury, which put me into early retirement, I began to trade on a daily basis and struggled with inconsistent and often bad returns. I found your course and after participating in it, realized that I had wasted a ton of time and money - lots of it, chasing and looking for a holy grail that does not exist. What I found is while you do need to have a solid set of rules and a good edge to work with, much of the learning was within myself. Your course helped me to see where I needed to focus my energy and how I needed to grow. I have found an increase of confidence and positive outlook, as well as a calm and focus that I have not had prior to participating in your course. Thank you and keep up the great work."

“I will say that you have been most generous to me and the other "beta" testers for your course. You have a heartfelt way of teaching and it is obvious that you care greatly about the success of your "students".

Your Mind Muscles course has taught me more than a bunch. It has reinforced what I have learned elsewhere in addition to providing new ways to look at myself and the problems encountered in trading. I also think that time spent reviewing the course and the concepts taught will be MOST valuable as time goes by given that I have to do the work.

Your ideas and concepts are, in my opinion, essential for success in trading and far beyond most of the information available elsewhere. However since I have not actually been "trading" (and successfully) I do not think I qualify to speak about the course. I will keep working on it and, with the help of the course, advance to eventually becoming a successful trader."

“I follow all your good webinairs in the weekend because of the time in Denmark. I contact you because I have great sympathy and respekt for you Richard Friesen. Both because of your very open and honest personal performance on the webinairs and your very great knowledge. A major thanks two you Richard Friesen for a fantastic good training program in mind muscles academy."

“Thanks again for the excellent course. You are a professional who cares about the success of your students. I am now doing great in sim and with your tools I am ready to go live. My goal in life is to give back some of the bounty I have."

“I have tried to read books on trading psychology but it did not help. I was whipsawed and I did many revenge trades which is why all my gains were returned back and even sometimes getting a drawdown. Since the beginning when I started trading , I was always on a roller coaster ride.

However, with MMFT, the practical exercises helped a lot . As the saying goes "action speaks louder than words" With this, I retrained my mind and it open the door indeed.

Through MMFT, I discovered that besides having a good strategy to my trading, I needed to manage my mind. MMFT taught me that you need to retrain the mind as well as observe the market mood in order to stay at peak performance.

I can now accept and love losing trades as part of the game. Lose a little, win a lot! The awareness and visualization exercises made the biggest impact on my trading."

“Thank you...enjoying the lessons, amazing and fun at the same time!"

“I once heard a trading teacher make the following statement. "Successful professional traders have learned that the source of their success has nothing to do with their methodology, and everything to do with their own personal psychology". I personally cannot stress enough the core truth of that statement.

For example, let's look at a professional tennis player. Novice, beginning, and even good players operate with the belief that the tennis racket has something to do with their success or failure. I can attest that is so far from the truth. If I was to take that same professional tennis player and hand them a racket that was purchased from Walmart or Big 5 Sporting Goods, and then put them on the court with a let's say even "good" player, who had the latest and greatest tennis racket available, that good player would still lose, pretty much every game.

I'm hoping you get my point here. The same goes for professional traders vs. retail traders. Retail traders hold to some beliefs, superstition that the charts, the indicators, all the lines they put on their charts have something to do with their success. Funny how the statistics prove otherwise. 90% of retail traders lose and fail in this business. Professional traders, like the professional tennis players, have come to the realization that the real work and training for their success comes from, and is directly associated with self-discovery.

I am a mental health professional, and subject to the same psychological trading issues that everybody else comes face-to-face with in their journey to becoming a professional trader. I also know that it is a mistake to think that I can fix myself. Ask yourself this question, "why do professional athletes seek out mentors and coaches?" It is within that relationship between the coach and the athlete that a specialized conversation, and process occurs which acts like a mirror for the athlete to see and discover that which is hidden. It is those hidden parts of ourselves, that are out of our awareness that trip us up, and impede our path to success. I recommend that you sign on to "Making Mind Muscles", to start your true journey and training for your success as a trader."

“Rich has become an essential part of the mentoring program at the Venture Greenhouse. His synthesis of real-world business experience and state-of-the-art personal transformation tools has provided us with a value proposition that is unique in the business incubation world: a comprehensive, holistic approach to entrepreneurial development. Rich is a consummate professional who delivers beyond expectations. It is always a pleasure to meet with him - Rich is consistently personable, upbeat and results-oriented."

“Rich, the cocky clanger drill fit me to a tee! Too bad I did not know of it year ago. Looking back, I can now see where I started to change from confidence to cocky. They were small signs, but they were very plain to see with this exercise. I am now starting to get control when I am not on my game and to step back and protect my capital. When I am not “on,” being in no position can be the best position."

“The Making Mind Muscles course has had a significant impact on my trading success. My profits in the first quarter of 2014 have been much greater than previous quarters. The course helped me clean up old emotional baggage of which I was not fully conscious but which had a very negative effect on my trading results. I am much less susceptible now to the trading errors I used to make. I’ve harbored the dream of being a successful trader for many years. With Rich’s help, this dream has now become attainable. I cannot thank him enough for such a gift."

“Week 4 of the Mind Muscles course and I can say that I have already become aware of at least one thought process or 'behavior' that has been prevalent throughout my trading career, regularly influencing trading decisions and to a larger degree my whole trading style.
At first I did not care too much to critique this 'behavior', failing to see how it could possibly be detrimental to my trading. But as the course progresses and my self-awareness builds, I am beginning to suspect this 'behavior' or perhaps mismatch with trading strategy is in part at least, preventing me from reaching my full trading potential. And credit to Albert Einstein who once said "problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them", but I'm half way to identifying the problem."

“I couldn’t put your e-book down. From the beginning with your testimony (‘internal thermostat’) to the first story of Oscar who was fighting his Stop Orders. Amazing! I’ve been fighting this same problem for 5 YEARS (‘mental stops’, vs. hard stops, vs. various sized stops for various time frames….UHHHHH!) This has led to modest gains……..followed by a catastrophic loss. You’ve unlocked the truth: trading is 99% psychological. Thank you for starting me on my road of RETRAINING, through neuroscience."

“We talked last Friday and you generously spent time with me working on the "impulsive" part of my trading behavior. I said I would send you an update at the end of this week in follow up. I would like to say a major improvement occurred, but not yet. Fortunately at least some progress was made. I am working on continuing to stay focused on thinking about how to leverage the impulsive side instead of letting it take over; while this week was not completely successful in that regard it was better than last week. This will be a long journey for sure. Your willingness to talk with me (twice now) and work through this critical part of the self-discovery process is valuable as well as kind and thoughtful. I look forward to continuing through the rest of the course modules and talking again sometime."

“I have spent a small fortune and many thousands of hours on several expensive trading courses during the last 14+ years. For the most part, all these courses focused on the tasks that need to be done to enter and exit the trades. Yet, in one way or another, nearly every trading coach would say something like “95% of trading is an inner game; it is what goes on inside the trader that is most important”. If that is true, then my trading training was lop-sided.

I needed to look beyond the 5% physical action part of trading and look toward this illusive ‘inner trading action’. Richard, when I saw your first presentation, I was looking for a way to address the 95% that was missing from my training. So I signed up and found that Mind Muscles Academy not only did a fabulous job of guiding me through my inner trading world, which is more involving that I had realized, but also gives a great outlook on the 5% part as well.

I want to add that the whole course is exceptionally well done and pinpoints topics with laser accuracy. Good job! I also wanted to say I really like the whole premise about identifying market moods to know when to apply certain trading strategies to improve trading results."

“My personal experience of the Mind Muscles training is that it has opened up new possibilities for me in my Forex trading. By working through the exercises with the detailed guidance that accompanies each stage of the process I have learned how I can change my trading behaviour in positive ways.

Before starting the course I felt that I was very self aware, and knew the limiting behaviours that were holding me back, I just seemed unable to change them. However I have learned far more than just how to change the behaviours, I have also learned to understand why I have them and how to accept them for what they are.

Rich as a deep understanding of traders and trading behaviour in addition to his understanding of human behaviour and this shows clearly in the course content which I firmly believe applies equally to any trading instrument and strategy.

Thank you for creating this course and for the opportunity to participate."

“Thank you Richard. Awesome stuff!! I used the 'making mind muscles' exercise while I was in an active trade today. I was able to stay in the trade longer and not over manage it!"

“The Mind Muscles for Traders course helped me increase my self-awareness with the journaling exercises. I was never able to journal prior to the course and now I won’t start even sim trading without getting the journal out. I also became aware that my relationship to money was wrong and now I feel good about making more money. I have taken bits from every module and webinar, but the money thermostat and my relationship to money was most helpful."

“Dear Rich, as you suggested I am journaling my fearful thoughts while trading. This is a behavioral pattern of mine that makes me uncomfortable – a physical/mental anxiety I am going through during my trades particularly when I am about to reach my target.

Then I remembered your words...just be "AWARE of your BEHAVIOR” just notice the physical and mental things going through in your mind. I noticed them and didn't try to change but got comfortable just knowing "this is how by I feel.”

Rich.. With just one class if you can bring this change, what will happen to me by the end of this course? Just by thinking I felt more excited, thrilled and looking forward to complete all modules and exercises and to carry your suggestions everywhere (beyond trading) for the rest of my life."

“I wanted to touch base and tell you how much I've enjoyed and continue to enjoy and profit from the Mind Muscles for Traders course and recordings. I especially enjoyed the “Space Between Thoughts" segment in the course and actually use it almost daily as a general meditation/induction/prep for trading. Many thanks as always and please keep me in mind and informed of any new offerings or ideas you might conjure up. The course was and is fantastic.

I have found Richard’s ability to listen to me help me define who I am as a trader and what I am about. His honesty and acceptance of where I am in my path helped me begin to understand myself. My own personal journey has been hard, but Richard recognized that this has also given me some unique strengths.

“I completed the Alpha Testers Course a few hours ago and I just wanted to add a few comments and feedback via this email. Firstly let me say how personally beneficial and powerful the course has been for me. For years I have struggled to maintain consistent results with my trading which has prevented me from taking my trading to the next level – as a professional trader. All the while I have known that it had nothing to do with my trading knowledge and technical tools. I have spent countless thousands of hours in pursuit of consistently profitable trading results and despite identifying that my mind was the one aspect that was letting me down I have until now been unable to put together a strategy to address my mind and its influence on my erratic trading results.

My frustrations almost caused me to abandon my pursuit of trading which would have thrown away many thousands of hours of education, practice and devotion. I endeavored to study and try to formulate my own psychological approach which incorporated: NLP, hypnosis, mantras and new strategic approaches. Despite my concentrated efforts I was still unsure about exactly what I needed to change, and indeed how I would then change it. Now thanks to your course and its powerful resources “I know, that I know, that I know” I will achieve my goal of being a consistently profitable independent professional trader.

The format, tone, structure and diversity within the course is in my opinion elegantly presented. In addition, I have found that one of the biggest motivating factors for me during the course is knowing that you have obviously applied the Mind Muscles approach to a high degree success in your own organisations and it seems your personal life. I have nothing but the highest praise for the course and I am looking forward to being a long standing member of the Mind Muscles Academy and indeed helping others to achieve their trading goals. I now really understand the saying that trading is 90% psychological.

Please feel free to contact me for any further comments or to use any of my online comments or those above for marketing purposes.”

“As a floor trader at the Pacific Exchange, I saw many traders come and go because they thought they were smarter than the market. The truth is, they didn't understand what they were REALLY trading. Over the last seven years I have learned that when I consistently stick with Rich's principles, I don't have to worry about making money - I work hard, stick with the principles and the money takes care of itself."
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“When I entered the world of floor trading at the Pacific Exchange, I wanted to join the most sophisticated trading group on the options exchange. Rich Friesen's group met the bill. I learned how to picture options value and positions with his proprietary Magic Carpet™ trading model. It gave me the tools to become not only a leading trader in our group, but one of the most consistently profitable traders on the entire options floor."
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“When I began trading for Rich using his system, I was profitable for the first thirty days straight. That was a big boost both to my trading confidence and to my account. I have to say that his "Magic Carpet" visual is the best model I have seen for reducing risk and generating profits."
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“Friesen is creative, competent and challenging. Rich melds his years of hands-on experience with a consulting style that effectively and persistently presented our team with the right next steps. His consulting skills catalyzed our key decisions to move our process toward a successful completion. Rich didn't waste our time or our money. Believe me, I've paid plenty of consultants who did both!"
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“Our firm needed to make a strategic, critical business decision. Rich Friesen quickly analyzed the factors and provided concise counsel in a short timeframe. His recommended course of action confirmed what many of us were also coming to believe and gave us the support to make a corrective decision quickly.
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“As an instructor in financial markets, I was delighted to be part of the presentation provided by Rich Friesen. His dynamic and witty approach really drove home the concepts using the right analogy and the right story with each teaching point. I was truly honored to see a caring, professional educator at work.”

“Thank you so much for an excellent presentation. Every comment on the meeting I received from our members was positive. And I should add that it is a very professional job and thank you for sharing with SVOG. One observation I noticed – No one left early or at the break. That is a strong signal that you created interest and delivered value. Can we consider an opportunity for a follow-up sometime in the future?”

“Rich Friesen’s enthusiastic and interesting speaking style further enhanced the importance of his message during our Insurer Investment Forum. Understanding how our behaviors influence our decision making in the context of financial markets is undoubtedly vital to success in those markets. Rich’s practical approach can be useful for all of our attendees.”

“Rich Friesen's upcoming article for Stock, Futures and Options Magazine is an excellent use of neurophysiological principles in the wealth management business. His novel and erudite concept would also appear to apply to matters such as international politics and even war. Our national leaders should read this.”

“I had my first Mind Muscles coaching session with Rich and in just one session I was able to identify a suppressed traumatic memory that altered my entire outlook on life and impacted my trading until yesterday. With his guidance we were able to go back almost 40 years and revisit that moment and address the situation from my adult perspective and neutralize its damaging effects. This morning I woke up with a feeling of relief and a new trading outlook.”

“Trading Technologies is committed to growth through innovation. The foresight Rich Friesen brought to our cutting edge R&D department, with the creation and acquisition of additional intellectual property, has proved prescient as our solutions continue to stay a step ahead of evolving market place needs.”

“I am happy to let you know about the experience we had with Rich Friesen over the last 2 days here at our wealth management firm. The depth and extent of our time together far exceeded our expectations. We are excited about the work we did together and we look forward to our continuing relationship with Rich. He was a great catalyst for getting us to discover and explore the deepest issues we were facing. He also was great at helping us boil that down to action items so that we follow through on the value we created.”