Fireside with Dr. Gena Gorlin: A New Psychology of Ambition
About the event
This event is open to the public — purchase a public ticket for $15. Commons member tickets are $8.
Join Dr. Gena Gorlin for a discussion of the psychological needs of the ambitious, and learn why she considers ambitious builders “an underserved population."
As a clinical psychologist and founder coach specializing in the psychology of ambition, Gena has developed a unique psychological framework, one centered around the moral psychology of building.
It offers counterintuitive answers to questions like:
Is there a tradeoff between mental health and ambition?
Does greatness come from suffering—or from the joyful exercise of agency?
Is there such a thing as “intrinsic motivation”—or does all motivation need to be built?
Do we need to maintain “work-life balance”, or can we approach our whole life as one integrated building project?
Should we practice “intellectual humility”, or should we raise the bar on how much and how well we strive to know?
Can we both radically accept reality—and radically refuse to accept its present configuration?
This fireside chat, hosted by Cissy Hu (writer and Head of Community & Programming at The Commons), will explore how Gena thinks about such questions, and how she has seen them play out in the lives of the countless ambitious founders and innovators she has coached.
About Gena
Dr. Gena Gorlin (Ph.D.) is a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, a licensed therapist, and a coach for entrepreneurs and other ambitious innovators. Her research on cognitive and motivational factors in goal-pursuit has been published in top academic journals. She writes an influential Substack titled Building the Builders and a Psychology Today column on "The Art and Science of Self-Creation", co-hosts the Founder's Mindset podcast with Alice Bentinck (cofounder and CEO of Entrepreneur First), and makes regular media and event appearances to discuss her distinct approach to the psychology of ambition.
Through her work with hundreds of tech founders and cofounding teams, many funded by top SF venture capital firms like Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz, Gena has seen first-hand what inspires and empowers the most ambitious builders to build—not just an excellent product, company, or team, but an excellent, fully-lived life.
Gena is living her own best life in Austin with her husband and 2 young kids, who inspire her daily with their own ambitious (and often hilarious) building projects.
Agenda
7pm: Doors open
7:15-8pm: Fireside chat with Gena & Cissy
8-8:30pm: Q&A
8:30-9pm: Mix & mingle
Suggested reading