When KPIs Meet Peace of Mind: Therapy for High‑Achieving Professionals

jason99155
Jun 12
2 min read

Updated: 8 hours ago

“Could you sound more enthusiastic about our [fourth‑in‑class] product?”—Marketing VP during an ad‑board rehearsal

Present day: blending evidence-based therapy with executive know-how in my Newport Beach office

A 30‑Second Backstory

I became a clinical psychologist because I love helping people solve real human problems. Twenty years of leading medical‑affairs teams inside global biotechs gave me a front‑row seat to a different kind of pressure: juggling billion‑dollar expectations, 5 a.m. earnings calls, and slide decks that had to sparkle even when the data didn’t. Over time I realized the same skills that helped me thrive in corporate life—quick pattern recognition, direct feedback, and a low tolerance for corporate spin—were exactly what my professional clients appreciate in therapy.

2011: mid career headshot during my pharma era.

When Values & KPIs Collide

Patient‑First—But Not Always. Public messaging says “patients first,” yet hallway conversations often prioritize budgets.
Slow‑Walking Data. Regulatory studies sometimes sit idle to keep quarterly spend low.
Expert Inflation. Six advisory boards instead of two—because keeping key opinion leaders happy can eclipse fiscal discipline.

Living with that tension strained my own sense of integrity—and I see the same pressures mirrored in the lawyers, physicians, founders, and product managers who come to therapy.

ason Olin attending a 2019 medical congress during his biotech career. — Trade-show life, 2019—surviving 12-hour exhibit halls with equal parts caffeine and curiosity.

What Still Energizes Me

Un‑burying Potential. Designing trials that helped impossible patients improve taught me to look for hidden leverage in people, not just molecules.
Radical Candor with Experts. Decades of briefing C‑suite leaders mean I’m comfortable naming the elephant in the boardroom and the therapy room.
Global Collaboration. Working across cultures sharpened my respect for diverse work styles and identities.

Proof that even pharma conferences have a dark side … and a sense of humor.

My Pivot Back to Purpose

The pandemic brought me home to California, and a 2022 corporate implosion reminded me why I entered psychology in the first place. Direct reports kept saying, “I’ve never had a manager who cared so much about my well‑being.” So I reactivated my license and built a practice for high achievers who want the same balance of performance and humanity.

Three Self‑Checks for Stressed Professionals

It can be hard to know when you are in a toxic culture or culturally mismatched with where you work. When you see that this is happening to you, consider these approaches:

Integrity Ledger. Note every time you bend a core value; if you log more than two a week, something needs to shift.
Protected Deep‑Work Blocks. Aim for two 90‑minute focus sessions a day. If they’re always overwritten, time management isn’t the only issue—culture may be the culprit.
External Reality Check. Keep a mentor outside your organization to track stress metrics and help spot blind spots when you’re too close to see them.