Jared Heymann
Systems Thinker, Author & Professional Overthinker
I’m a systems thinker, writer, speaker, and professional overthinker who likes complicated problems, unexpected connections, and questions that turn out to be about something entirely different from what they first seemed. My background is similarly difficult to fit into one box. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke, an Executive MBA from UT Dallas, and spent nearly 14 years in R&D and innovation at The Clorox Company, where I led scientists, worked across functions, and helped turn messy problems into things people could actually act on, and eventually something on the shelf for $4 at Walmart. Since then, I’ve been a startup CEO, coach, consultant, speaker, and author. My forthcoming book, *Shouldology*, explores why capable people get stuck making reasonable choices that lead them somewhere they never consciously chose. That question, "What’s really going on underneath the obvious explanation?" is the thread through most of my work. I’m especially useful when you’re staring at a decision, career problem, organizational dynamic, idea, or interpersonal situation that no longer makes sense from the surface. I’ll ask questions, challenge assumptions, and connect dots from places that may initially seem unrelated, applying expertise across domains like psychology and business, often using metaphors and pop culture references. You shouldn’t expect me to tell you what to do. You should expect to understand your problem (and the confusing humans involved) differently by the time we’re done.
What I can help you with
Bring me something you’ve been thinking about long enough that you’re no longer sure you’re seeing it clearly. I can help you: • Untangle a career decision when several options look reasonable, but none feels obviously right. • Figure out what question you should actually be asking before rushing toward an answer. • Identify assumptions, incentives, tradeoffs, and hidden constraints that may be shaping a decision without anyone acknowledging them. • Make sense of seemingly irrational behavior from coworkers, leaders, teams, customers, or organizations. • Pressure-test an idea, strategy, business concept, argument, or decision before you commit to it. • Find connections between problems that appear unrelated and use those connections to generate new options. • Turn a complicated idea into something another human being can actually understand and care about. • Get unstuck when you know something isn’t working but can’t yet articulate what needs to change. I’m less interested in giving you a five-step formula than helping you see the situation clearly enough that your next step becomes easier to choose.
What a conversation with me is like
You don’t need to arrive with a perfectly defined problem. In fact, the interesting conversations usually begin with some version of, “I’m not entirely sure how to explain this, but…” Excellent! We’ll start there. I tend to work by asking questions, testing the story you’re currently telling yourself, looking for contradictions and hidden assumptions, and connecting your situation to patterns from other fields. I may pull from psychology, behavioral economics, strategy, science, organizational behavior, philosophy, innovation, or whatever else helps us see the problem from a useful angle. Sometimes the goal is a decision. Sometimes it’s a better set of options. Sometimes the breakthrough is realizing that the thing you’ve been trying to solve isn’t actually the problem. I’m not going to hand you a generic framework and pretend every messy human situation fits inside four quadrants. I’d rather help you leave with a clearer understanding of what’s happening, what matters, and what question is worth answering next.
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