Listen Longer

Two years ago, I stepped into the CEO role at ieso.

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As I enter year three, one leadership lesson stands above the rest: listen longer.

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I don’t mean move slowly; the problems we are trying to solve are too urgent for that. I mean resisting the instinct to arrive at the answer before fully understanding the problem.

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I am reminded of this every time I speak with my eldest son. He struggled with his mental health early in life. As a parent, there were times when I wanted answers faster than they were available. I wanted to know what to do then, to guarantee a bright future later.

What I learned was to listen longer. . . People are complicated; progress is rarely linear.

What I learned was to listen longer. To stay present with him. To keep believing in him. And not to mistake one chapter for the whole story.

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Today, I look at the person my son has become with enormous admiration. His path has shown me a great deal about resilience, but also about humility. People are complicated; progress is rarely linear. Sometimes the most important thing you can do is meet someone in the moment with belief, patience, and support.

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When I took this role in 2024, I thought a lot about what we needed to build – the perfect product, the most modern technical infrastructure, the carefully curated team. Two years later, I spend much more time thinking about what we need to understand – and who and what we need to listen to – before we build.

The needs in mental health are too great for timid solutions. We have to be audacious.

What I’ve learned, through experience and listening, is that the needs in mental health are too great for timid solutions. We have to be audacious.

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That said, audacity without discipline can cause harm. Safety and responsibility are not product features in mental health care; they are the foundation and how trust is earned.

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At ieso, we have a unique foundation to build from: decades of hands-on clinical experience resulting in nearly one million hours of therapy data. Each bit of data is linked to real patient outcomes. We know what works in therapy. Our team is turning that knowledge into technology that can reach more people, more quickly through our Velora Platform.

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But data and technology alone are not enough. Our product must conform to the needs of our partners, clinicians, and their patients. We must listen to their needs.

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We cannot ask clinicians to carry the overhead of innovation; we must remove overhead.

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We cannot ask patients to find us; we must show up in their place and time of need.

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We cannot ask a health system to create new workflows; we must fit into and improve theirs.

Our partners’ problems become our product brief. Their patients’ outcomes become the measure of our success.

Our partners’ problems become our product brief. Their patients’ outcomes become the measure of our success. This has become one of my strongest convictions.

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Doing this requires listening intently before building. It means being willing to change course when the evidence tells you something you did not expect. And it means remembering that the technology is not, and never was, the point. The person on the other side of it is.

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We have the chance to build a fundamentally different model for mental health support: one that is more accessible and personalized, works alongside clinicians rather than around them, and is held to a meaningful standard of evidence.

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Getting there will require ambition. And humility.

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I have learned that my role as CEO is not to have the fastest answer. It is to ask deeper questions, listen long enough to understand the real problem, then support a remarkable team who acts with conviction and care.

The mental health challenge will require audacity equal to the need, evidence equal to the responsibility, and partnerships built around shared outcomes.

Entering year three, I am more convinced than ever that the mental health challenge will not be met by incremental thinking, the latest technology, or any one company.

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It will require audacity equal to the need, evidence equal to the responsibility, and partnerships built around shared outcomes.

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To those building the future of healthcare: let’s think bigger. Let’s listen longer. Then, let’s go build it. Together.