Meet Kirsten Larsen

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kirsten Larsen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kirsten, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My mother is the exemplary hard worker. She had my sister at 18 years old and put herself through college to go on to teach Chemistry and AP Chemistry (endorsed to teach physics and calculus as well) for 41 years. She lived in a one-bedroom trailer with my sisters sharing the room and utilized food stamps until she got herself to a stable place, re-met my dad years later, and had my brother and I. My childhood memories of my mother are of her being a true superwoman–teaching all day, prepping labs and grading papers every weeknight and Sunday afternoons (chemistry is not multiple choice), and still making us dinner 4 nights a week and showing up to soccer games. My mom is one of the most tenacious, persistent people I know, and I am forever grateful I inherited these traits.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I help people find an inner sense of peace by becoming aware of and acknowledging their blind spots. Life is so stressful these days, and we know the only things within our control are our thoughts, reactions, and actions. I *love* helping people to have “lightbulb” moments and understand the thoughts behind their feelings and reactions to manage those. I feel so fortunate to be able to do something I love and get the great feedback that I do from it. Having worked with patients on interpersonal skills in inpatient psychiatry, I want to take this same skill-building premise (communication, boundaries, conflict resolution) and apply it to corporate clients where it can be preventive instead of reactive. Too many of our systems, including healthcare, are reactive and not focusing on preventing serious conditions or circumstances from occurring.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Persistence. I was used to excelling in school, and “life is not a test you can get 100% on, Kirsten.” So many things have been promising and not worked out. I’ve gotten so many “nos.” There have been more than 100 reasons to want to quit, and I haven’t. 2. Being genuine/empathetic. It’s very easy for me to care for people I don’t know. I don’t have to know a person or their situation to feel compassion toward them. Being so open to my former patients and now the employees of these companies, it’s easy for them to tell I care, and they give me this feedback often.
3. Being open and curious. It’s very easy for me to approach/talk to strangers and want to hear their stories, perspectives and experiences. I love to learn about and from others.

Advice: Be open. Learn how to take feedback and learn to find the “kernels of truth” within the non-malicious comments to improve. It’s critical to grow.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
My parents are the greatest contributor to my success. They have always supported my path, as winding as its been, and never pressed me to do or be anything that didn’t suit me. They have literally given me the world in so many ways–by taking us for family vacations every summer as kids (we took car rides to nearly half the states) and exposing us to different areas and ways of living; by encouraging me to attend an out-of-state school that had the degree I was seeking; always encouraging us to spread our wings and find our passions and live in any part of the country; by providing a safety net for any missteps that I could ever take.

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