"I kept rejecting every optimistic scenario. As a kid, imagining the worst kept me safe. That script was running my capital allocation."
— Founder, after a Sanzen session combining relational and strategic lensesBeyond the mirror
You came to prepare a board conversation. You left with the reason you've been second‑guessing growth for three years. Not rehearsal. Revelation you can act on.
Why it works
Triangulated truth
Multiple expert lenses—relational, operator, investor, behavioral—interrogate the same decision. Patterns appear that no single view would catch.
Compressed insight
What usually takes months of coaching or therapy collapses into hours. We force a single synthesis and a test, not a pile of notes.
Safe vulnerability
Full candor without social risk. There's no internal politics here, and insight must pay rent in behavior.
How it works (90 minutes)
Pick a live decision. Stakes, timeline, constraints.
Lenses interrogate. Contradictory viewpoints on purpose; no performance, just clarity.
Synthesis. We deliver three lines: Mirror (the pattern), Counter (the challenge), Integration (what to do next).
Experiment. A two‑week test with one metric, one leading indicator, and explicit stop/scale rules.
Example output
Mirror: You equate optimism with exposure, so you overweight downside in capital allocation.
Counter: With 16 months runway, under‑investing now is the bigger risk.
Integration: Run two upside bets capped at 5% burn each; pre‑declare reversal criteria; review in 14 days.
Repeatable patterns leaders discover
Protective catastrophizing masquerading as "prudence." Fix: two‑track plans (defense + calibrated upside).
Control via over‑prep driving slow launches. Fix: limited‑scope ship + 48‑hour post‑mortem.
Conflict avoidance dressed up as "team harmony." Fix: scheduled friction with disagree‑then‑commit.
Savior loop (leader rescues, team stagnates). Fix: rescue budget + peer audit.
Scarcity identity starving growth engines. Fix: one sprint of ROI‑justified resource lift.
Data as delay ("we need more data"). Fix: weekly Bayesian thresholds; decide at 70% with reversal rules.
Why this is hard in real life
Coaches, consultants, therapists—each sees one slice. We force their lenses to collide on purpose.
Real rooms add status games. Here, there's no audience to impress, so the truth lands faster.
Months of sessions vs. one focused sprint + a two‑week experiment. Insight must convert to motion.
What we measure (so this isn't vibes)
Time‑to‑Insight (TTI)
Minutes to a crisp Mirror statement. Goal: under 90.
Activation rate
% of sprints that launch an experiment within 7 days. Goal: 80%+.
Decision velocity delta
Days from "ready" to "decision," pre vs. post. Goal: meaningful reduction.
We don't publish sensitive content. Aggregates are opt‑in and anonymized.
Safety & boundaries
- Not therapy. This is decision work that can surface personal drivers. We don't diagnose or treat.
- Your data, your call. You control what's saved. We retain only anonymized event metadata for benchmarks if you opt in.
- No endorsements implied. Lenses may be inspired by leading disciplines; we don't use names or likenesses without license.
The choice
Keep stitching partial perspectives—or run one sprint where the right lenses converge and the next step is unambiguous.
Not just another mirror
Mirrors show the surface. Sanzen shows the architecture—the invisible patterns and protection mechanisms that have been running your decisions without permission. Once you see them, you can't unsee them. That's the point.