When to Engage a Private Psychological Risk Advisor

This advisory is typically engaged before something goes wrong, not after.

It becomes relevant at moments where decisions appear rational on the surface, but carry hidden psychological, relational, or power-based risk that cannot be mitigated once committed.

You may be at one of those moments if:

You Are About to Make a Senior People Decision

• Appointing or exiting a CEO, partner, or senior leader

• Navigating succession in a founder-led or family-influenced business

• Retaining someone despite repeated signals of concern because “now isn’t the right time”

These decisions rarely fail because of competence.
They fail because loyalty, history, fear, or power distort judgment long before concerns are voiced openly.

A Partnership, Deal, or Equity Decision Feels “Uncomfortable but I Can’t Quite Say Why”

• Entering or exiting a partnership where interpersonal dynamics matter as much as numbers

• Proceeding with an acquisition or investment while dismissing persistent internal unease

• Rationalising misalignment because “strategically it still makes sense”

Psychological risk is often overridden in the name of momentum — until reversals become unavoidable and expensive.

You Are Managing Board-Level Tension or Quiet Fracture

• Conflict that remains polite but unresolved

• Decision paralysis masked as due diligence

• Strong personalities dominating while others disengage

• Governance structures holding, but trust eroding

By the time conflict becomes visible, authority and cohesion have already been compromised.

You Are Under Pressure to Decide Quickly

• External timelines forcing accelerated decisions

• Advisors aligned on paper, but not in reality

• A sense that disagreement would be “unhelpful” at this stage

Time pressure amplifies psychological blind spots.
Speed without clarity creates irreversible exposure.

You Keep Revisiting the Same Decision Without Resolution

• Re-opening conversations you thought were settled

• Delaying action while telling yourself conditions aren’t right

• Oscillating between conviction and doubt

Indecision at this level is rarely about information.
It is usually about unexamined internal conflict.

You Know the Cost of Being Wrong Is Unacceptable

• Financially

• Reputationally

• Legally

• Or in terms of long-term authority and legacy

If the downside of error would be public, permanent, or impossible to quietly reverse, this work is relevant.

A Final Distinction

This advisory is not engaged to make decisions for you.
It is engaged to ensure decisions are made without unseen psychological distortion.

Most leaders only discover these risks after damage has occurred.
This work exists to surface them before commitment.