Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, Vol. 25, No.

2, June 2007 ( 2007)

DOI: 10.1007/s10942-006-0035-0
Published online: March 15, 2007

ADAPTING REBT TO THE WORLD OF BUSINESS

William D. Criddle
Independent Practice, USA

ABSTRACT: Although REBT was developed as a therapeutic approach in the

field of clinical psychology, its very direct and pragmatic approach to
enhancing human functioning makes it exceptionally effective when adapted
to the sphere of consulting to businesses. However, to be successful, a REBT
clinician needs to take into consideration the different culture, the different
client, and the different types of problems one is faced with in the corporate
world versus the clinical world. Clinical concepts and vocabulary had best be
changed so as to appear more educational and business-like. Whether used in
a one-on-one coaching situation, in a group setting with a team, or with a
family business to resolve conflict, the overriding goal is enhanced functioning
on the job and ultimately, increased growth and profits for the business.
KEY WORDS: consulting; REBT; management consulting; executive coach;
business; CBT.

Before changing the focus of my practice to consulting to businesses, I had practiced as a REBT clinician for fifteen years. Upon
entering the corporate world, it became immediately obvious that I
was in a very different place, facing different clients, and helping
them solve very different problems than ones I had dealt with in the
clinical world. Of course, my well engrained and strong habits were
my REBT clinical skills. So thus, with little thought, I naively began
employing my clinical approach with my first business clients. It did
not take many attempts on my part to get an executive to tell me
what he was feeling at C, followed by a comment from him regarding touchy feely shrinks in the business world, before I woke up to
the fact that if I was going to be successful in this new and strange
Address for correspondence to William D. Criddle, Independent Practice, Seattle, Washington,
USA; e-mail: wilcrddl@aol.com

87

2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

88

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

land, I had better re-fit my tool box. What is so different? Everything.

The client, the problems, the culture, the expectations represent a
world that needs to be approached in a very different manner.

THE ADVANTAGES OF REBT

Before discussing the details of these many differences and how to
handle them, it is important to point out that REBT has many
unique aspects that make it the most effective and acceptable
approach to business issues that require psychological insights and
tools for optimal resolution:
REBT focuses on the here and now rather than wasting time and
money uselessly mucking around in the past searching for the origins of
present day issues.
REBT is logical, focused, relatively straightforward, and makes perfect
sense to the business person; there is little if any popular psychobabble
that is so off-putting to these hard nosed managers and executives.
In addition to helping to solve presenting problems, REBT teaches powerful psychological tools that can be used to help prevent and solve
future issues.
The principles of REBT are applied directly to the issues at hand; there
are no unrelated exercises such as climbing rocks with ropes or falling
into co-workers arms that supposedly transfer to the issues back at the
office.
Clear homework assignmentsaction plans in business parlanceare
part of the REBT approach (both reading and real-life practice) which
force mangers and executives and teams move up the learning curve.
A REBT trained therapist/consultant does not hesitate to participate
actively in the dialogue, giving direct feedback, advice, opinions, as well
as teaching psychological principles applicable to the issue at hand (contrary to the continuous, irritable, but popular therapeutic technique of
reversing questions, throwing them back at the client).
REBT focuses on thinking and action as well as feelings, thus avoiding
the over emphasis on how you feel, which business people can hardly
tolerate and have often had too much exposure to from more traditionally trained therapist/consultants.
Most consultants and coaches focus primarily on helping businesses
and business people to determine what to change or do differently.
REBT trained consultants importantly focus at least as much on the
principles and psychological tools relevant to how to change; in fact,
very often business clients know full well what to change, but are

William D. Criddle

89

psychologically nave as to how to achieve change, and have failed to do

so for years (Ellis, 1972).
REBT results in both effective and efficient real-time and practical
results; if the client(s) is motivated and does the work, he can experience
actual change almost immediately; no waiting around for six months
while figuring out the origins of the problems or discovering the deep
seated feelings behind them.

Needless to say, very few business men and women have any
awareness or understanding of REBT. In fact, it is likely that they
are expecting a more traditional, touchy-feely orientation coming
from a professional with the label psychologist, even if it is prefaced
by management, as in management psychologist. Unfortunately,
many have had unfavorable experiences with business psychologists,
which they recall as a total waste of time, energy and money. A classic example is having had a consultant diagnose a teams problem as
a trust issue, then guiding the team members through a series of
exercises such as allowing oneself to fall into each others arms, as a
way to rebuild lost trust. Most senior managers and executives have
little tolerance for such foolishness. It is critical to clearly differentiate the unique and business-friendly aspects of the REBT approach.
Such product differentiation is a key element of successful marketing in the corporate world. How you market your productREBT
based consulting or coachingin this world of business is very different to the clinical realm. Marketing a REBT clinical practice usually
is much more passive: list in the yellow pages, make a favorable
impression on a few general practitioner physicians, go to a few local
professional meetings, and gradually build a reputation as a REBT
therapist, and a good word of mouth network in the community,
which yield a steady flow of clinical clients.
To be successful in the business world, much more active marketing is necessary. Because the barriers to entry in the field of helping
businesses with people problems are essentially nonexistent, the
competition is fierce. The REBT consultants are attempting to feed at
the same trough as the motivational speakers, the hundreds of other
clinicians-turned-consultants, the management consultants, as well
as the newly minted life coaches graduating in hordes from the many
coaching institutes popping up around the country. So the important question the REBT consultant needs to answer is Why should
they hire you as opposed to one of the others? To answer this question in a way that yields actual engagements, you need to personally

90

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

get in front of the key gate keepers in the business community. It is

in these meetings that you have the critical opportunity to get the
word out about why the REBT approach is uniquely powerful in its
ability to help solve business issues. The nine characteristics of REBT
previously mentioned are powerful selling points when marketing
REBT based consulting. With these points in hand, REBT practitioners have a huge advantage over more traditional schools of psychology. (Imagine the challenge of translating the need to resolve ones
Oedipus Complex in order to relate effectively to ones boss.) Potential clients need to realize that REBT is business-friendly if they are
going to invest valuable time and serious money to hire a REBTbased consultant. DiMattia and IJzermans offer additional valuable
ideas on the marketing of RETB to businesses in their chapter entitled How to sell your RET program (DiMattia & IJzermans, 1996).

A DIFFERENT CULTURE
REBT was developed in and for the clinical world, and REBT practitioners for the most part grew up in the treatment world. There are
very few similarities between this world and that of the corporation
or the business world. The corporate world is focused on winning:
gaining market share, beating out the competition, increasing productivity, helping their employees be more effective and efficient on
the job, and ultimately, increasing profits. Firms are willing to pay
serious money to identify and minimize any obstacles to these goals,
such as a dysfunctional work-group or team, a derailing manager or
executive, or lack of needed management or leadership skills. Few
corporations have much, if any, concern about their managers feelings, personal problems, or psychological health, other than how they
effect the bottom line. However, they are willing to pay psychologists
substantial fees to fix business related problems as effectively and
efficiently as possible, a huge advantage for REBT.
When entering the corporate world, it becomes immediately obvious that the attitude toward the psychologist is very different than in
the clinical world. The typical doctorpatient relationship with its
strong emotional bonds is replaced by objectivity at best, with skepticism being more likely. In the business world, the psychologist is
looked at much more as a management consultanta highly trained
professional who is getting paid to solve or prevent a problem. Being
hired as an outside expert rather than as a personal therapist has

William D. Criddle

91

a very different set of expectations. As therapists, REBT practitioners

often use Socratic Dialogue to help client become aware of their nutty
thinking and its consequences. Contrary to this approach, the busy,
hard driving executive or manger wants straightforward answers and
useful information which he expects you to have at the tip of your
fingers. And because he is paying you big bucks for your time and
expertise, he has little tolerance for your taking thirty minutes to get
him to see a point when you could tell him what you are getting at in
five minutes, at one sixth the cost and time.
Also, the REBT consultant will get many more direct questions
from clients expecting direct answers, than would the clinician. And
you had best be prepared to answer them directly in most cases. You
are the expert. You were hired to tell them what is wrong and what
to do about it, not for your clinical techniques. Traditional, less direct
approaches, along with experiential exercises, have all too often been
what has turned many an executive off toward psychological assistance of any sort.
The REBT consultant is expected to remain focused on solving the
problem he has been hired to resolve. Operationally, this means all
interventions need to be obviously and specifically focused on the
problem as defined by the client. The connection between various
irrational management philosophies and the problems at hand is
often not as obvious in the corporate application of REBT as compared to the clinical. Clinically, it is easy to see how awfulizing about
an event makes one feel miserable and depressed, as does catastrophizing about the future; or it is clear that demanding that you perform perfectly and condemning yourself when not doing so results in
feeling shitty about yourself and low self-esteem. However, connecting a lack of creativity to a fear of taking risks, then tying these to
either an over-concern about being liked or approved of by your peers
or boss, or a rigidly intolerant attitude regarding your own fallibility,
is more of a stretch and needs to be spelled out. When tying performance problems to irrational work or management philosophies, the
causal connections are often much less obvious.
This is a danger for the REBT consultant in the very pragmatic,
efficient, and bottom-line oriented corporate culture. If a client starts
thinking that this guy is making esoteric, touchy-feely connections
and appears to be no longer focused on the problem we hired him to
solve, his days may be numbered in the corporate, dog-eat-dog world.
A good rule of thumb is to not assume any implicit connection is

92

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

being made by your client between what you are doing and the
defined problem; make it explicit; verbally state what the connection
is, how taking your advice or changing an attitude or doing some
behavioral homework will help resolve the business problem at hand.
The list of irrational ideas and their consequences in the workplace is a portion of a handout I often give to business clients
which specifically spells out potential, negative consequences which
may result from holding the given irrational attitude or management philosophy.
Philosophies and Attitudes that Contaminate Productivity
in the Workplace
An over-concern about being liked or approved of (by subordinates,
superiors, peers) and/or about receiving any disapproval from others,
which can result in:

agreeing to deadlines, tasks, etc. that one should not agree to

not being able to comfortably say no where appropriate
avoiding potential conflict where a situation had best be dealt with
procrastinating on giving performance reviews
agreeing with different groups/individuals in incompatible ways, then
being stuck in the middle
not risking speaking up with ones own ideas that differ from others
not thinking as creatively, outside of the box, as one might otherwise
not making needed decisions in a timely and independent manner, having to make sure one has the approval and support of everyone first
being overly perfectionistic in approaching tasks in general
micromanaging subordinates so they dont screw up
covering up problems rather than seeking needed help to solve them

An overly rigid and demanding attitude about the exact way tasks,
assignments, procedures must be or should be carried out which
results in or contributes to:
becoming angry with individuals who make errors or dont follow procedures to the letter
anger that breaks down or prevents the building of good relationships
and undermines morale
the stifling of creativity and risk taking by subordinates
micromanaging, keeping too close an eye on things, which hinders independent development and often increases tension

William D. Criddle

93

subordinates hiding errors and not discussing work problems

a very tense workplace, work atmosphere, which inhibits smooth productivity

A philosophy that puts significant weight on how one feels about

doing something when deciding whether or not to do it, which results
in:

the avoidance of unpleasant or difficult tasks

procrastination and time management problems
lack of self-discipline and good organization in ones work
poor health due to lack of exercise, poor eating habitswhich ultimately effect ones productivity on the job
decisions made on the basis of feelings, gut feel, rather than on sound
business principles or common sense
unwise risk taking
avoidance of difficult tasks where the payoff is months or years down
the line
a propensity to focus on tasks with immediate or very short-term payoffs

It is essential that the pragmatic business person be clearly aware

of why, from a business point of view, he had best identify and
change these notions; it must be clear in his mind how any given
change or intervention will help them attain their business goals.
A DIFFERENT CLIENT
The clinical client comes in complainingif not whiningabout his
pain or discomfort.
He is depressed, anxious, having temper outbursts, not getting
along with his partner or wife, is obsessing or acting compulsively,
and maybe even hallucinating. He wants to, or expects, to talk about
his psyche, his emotions, his past, and/or the interpersonal dynamics
of his relationship. There may or may not be any urgency; if he is
lucky, his insurance in picking up a good portion of the tab; and
being neurotically self-centered, spending an hour per week talking
about himself has a certain appeal. And seeing a shrink may be the
in thing in his crowd.
The business person, on the other hand, comes in with a functional
problem. Even if it is an emotional problem such as how to deal with
his anger at work, the motivation is primarily based on functioning

94

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

more effectively to achieve business goals. His work group may not be
functioning well as a team; his most recent 360 degree assessment
may indicate he is not seen as an effective leader; he may have a
chronic procrastination and time management problem that his board
has demanded he address; he may be looking for an executive coach to
work with one of his direct reports to help him prepare for a planned
promotion in the near future. There definitely is a sense of urgency;
he is looking for effectiveness and efficiency from the psychologist and
is constantly weighing the costsin both time and moneyagainst an
improved bottom line. He has no desire to discuss the psychological
intricacies of his or others issues; he wants tools he can use to
achieve his goal as quickly and as cost effectively as possible.
Psychologists in the business world are frequently working with
quite senior members of a firm; in fact, they frequently are dealing
with senior executives, if not the CEO of a company. These individuals are high achievers, generally quite bright, and very self-confident.
Thus, compared to a typical clinical client, they are much more likely
to confront the psychologist, to challenge ideas, to ask for evidence,
call bull shit regarding ideas they dont agree with; they are generally much less acquiescent, compliant, and accepting of what the psychologist has to say.
RETB therapists are trained to be confrontational and challenging,
and to debate and convince clients of the nuttiness of their ideas. In
the business setting, one needs to be even more ready to be so, to
have more thorough and convincing arguments, and be prepared to
be the recipient of client-initiated challenges to their ideas. REBT
clinicians are well trained to monitor the level of upsettedness in clients, to back-off when coming on too harshly or powerfully, to comfort clients who are becoming upset and withdrawn. This is rarely
necessary in the business setting; these well functioning and confident individuals often thrive on confrontation and rarely take things
personally.
Even a seasoned REBT therapist needs to be emotionally and intellectually tougher than usual to successfully handle these situations. It
is important that the REBT consultant be ready to use REBT on himself so as not to take these intense confrontations personally, or worry
excessively about success and approval. However, it is challenging
and exciting when you are ready for it. These challenges and confrontations can occur in any one of the variety of applications of REBT to
the business world: one-on-one coaching, small group or team work,

William D. Criddle

95

management development workshops, as well as when initially

attempting to sell your service to a senior gatekeeper within a firm.
USING REBT IN BUSINESS SETTINGS
Actually implementing REBT techniques in the workplace is a
challenge for the trained REBT practitioner. Obviously, given a very
different culture, a different typical client profile, and a variety of
very different actual issues to work on, significant adaptations need
to be made to clinical techniques if REBT is to be successfully used in
the corporate world. The goals of a business client and a clinical
client are also dissimilar; businesses want to grow, they want to
increase their profits and market share, they want to beat their competition. Clinical clients want to feel better, be less upset, anxious,
depressed, and get along better with partners and friends.
To help businesses achieve their goals, psychologists are hired for a
variety of reasons, such as:
To calm down or put to rest a disruptive situation involving people,
such as an manager with a hot temper, a group or team that is paralyzed due to intense in-fighting.
To facilitate a significant change such as a merger of two cultures or
implementing a cultural change resulting from the arrival of a new
management team or CEO.
To coach senior mangers with the aim of helping them become more
productive, effective leaders.
To develop and facilitate leadership development programs.
To present seminars or workshops on issues such as time management,
communication, emotional control, etc.
To help resolve conflict, especially in family businesses and privately
held partnerships.

Lester Tobias offers a much more comprehensive list in his useful

book Psychological Consulting to Management (Tobias, 1989).
When looking at any of these situations a classically trained
REBT psychologist or therapist would quickly start thinking in
terms of iBs and rBs, tying them into desired emotional and
behavioral changes, spotting places where low frustration tolerance
might come into play, or self or other global rating, or dire needs
for approvalall the classic interpretations stemming from basic
REBT theory and practice. However, many business people have

96

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

been exposed to popular psychobabble (family of origin; getting in

touch with their true, deep feelings; need to love themselves first;
being in denial; and so on) (Criddle, 1993) and thus can be very
wary of a new set of psychological terms stemming from a different
theory of psychology (iBs, rBs, shithood, LFT, unconditional self
acceptance, being a love slob, etc.). Even REBT can raise concern;
here we go again with a new set of acronyms is a common refrain
when a new trainer comes on board. It is important to translate
these concepts into more acceptable business or common place
terms. This practice is especially important early in an engagement,
when selling a firm or executive on the rational approach. Later,
when they are convinced of its value, many of the classic REBT
terms can be safely introducedin fact, they often get a real kick
out of Als well known verbiage such as suffer long or suffer short,
FHB not SOB, or Dont should on yourself.
There are many effective ways to translate classic REBT terms
into more acceptable business concepts. REBT becomes cognitive or
rationally based consulting or coaching. Irrational beliefs become
management notions or styles or attitudes that do not yield the
results consistent with desired goals or outcomes. Rational beliefs
become effective management attitudes or styles. Having a low frustration tolerance becomes an unwillingness to pay the price. High
frustration tolerance is an acceptance of the fact that there is no free
lunch. Challenging irrational ideas becomes questioning the validity
or usefulness of a particular management related attitude or philosophy. Being a love slob becomes worrying too much about whether or
not your subordinates and peers like you and think you are a nice
guy and an effective manager. Shoulds or demands become setting
the bar unrealistically high and/or being too rigid or intolerant.
These semantic substitutions are a few examples that I have
found useful in my consulting with businesses. There are many
more possibilities. The important point is to think carefully about
making your message very palatable to your client. And in the case
of the typical business person, when they have hired you to help
solve business issues, and are often overly sensitive to any signs of
touchy feely psychobabble, it is very important to avoid phrases
and words that they may find off-putting. The most successful executives and managers have learned to cut their losses quickly, so
you may not get a second chance if you screw up early in the
game.

William D. Criddle

97

REBT is most frequently carried out clinically in one of three

modes: individual therapy, couples or relationship counseling, or
group therapy. In the business setting, these three modes are equivalent to: one-on-one coaching; conflict resolution between two or more
individuals; and working with a team or work group. However, there
are interesting differences which require a modified approach in the
business world.
One-on-one Coaching
In individual therapy, typically the REBT therapist is dealing with
real-time upsettedness, in the session, thus helping clients identify
their feelings, determine their beliefs, and teaching them to challenge
irrational ones, and assigning appropriate behavioral homework. In
the one-on-one coaching situation, to a great extent I am helping my
client deal more effectively with a management situation that has
happened, is on-going, or about to take place in his work world. It is
not a real-time situation. I coach him on how to handle the situation
(or how he could have done so), teaching REBT as we go. Rather
than tapping into his feelings of the moment, he relates feelings and
behaviors that have happened, wanting to know how to handle it
more effectively next time, or he relates the details of an up-coming
situation (such as a difficult meeting with the board of directors or
firing an old friend) and we work from there.
In a clinical situation, one might use rational emotive imagery, but
most executives would find this a bit touchy-feely. I thus rely more
on a problem solving discussion with education about REBT where
needed (such as how to minimize anger; lower anxiety; enhance frustration tolerance, etc). This is not to say that feelings do not come up
in coaching sessions; they are just much less likely to do so in my
experience. When they do, however, they are handled similarly to
those in a clinical session.
Tom was required to get coaching by his general manager at a
hi-tech firm in Seattle. A number of Toms direct reports had gone to
the GM complaining about Toms management style; in particular,
they felt he refused to delegate real responsibility, only assigning
them grunt work; that he even micro-managed this work; that
when things did not go exactly as he wanted, Tom blew up, becoming
very angry. These complaints were not news to Tom; he had received
similar feedback in a performance review the previous year and had
committed to make the necessary changes. He had told himself

98

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

repeatedly back then that he would start delegating important projects immediately, not micromanage them, and vowed to not blow up
again on the job. Talking to me, he seemed truly astonished that his
intense commitment to change had yielded no significant behavior
change. Being psychologically nave, he had no awareness that
humans need psychological tools in order to make significant changes. REBT is the best source of these tools available.
Working with Tom and his GM, we agreed on a coaching program
where I would meet with Tom every two weeks for two hours and I
would sit in on meetings he had with his team as a whole as well as
one-on-one or small group meetings. I would also meet individually
with each team member myself, to find out more specifically what they
were concerned about. I would report to the GM regularly regarding
Toms participation, without revealing the specific details of our work.
To identify the beliefs that were driving Toms behavior, I probed
for his management philosophies. It was no surprise to hear that he
believed a good manager should be very demanding, invoke a zerotolerance for errors policy, and that it was his job to keep a close eye
on all work so as to catch problems early in the game and set things
back on track. He also firmly believed that coming down harshly,
even blowing up at times, when things went awry, made a significant
impression on people and helped prevent future problems. As one
familiar with REBT would predict, we uncovered a number of classic
irrational ideas:

demands for perfect performance

intense fear of failure, of having his team fail
need for approval by senior executives
self-acceptance contingent on excellent performance
awfulizing and catastrophizing about real and potential screw ups

These nutty notions and their derivatives accounted for much of

Toms destructive behavior as a manager and team leader.
As so often is the case in both the business and clinical worlds, the
client sees nothing particularly destructive about holding these ideas.
Thus the next job of the coach or therapist is to teach their client
how to challenge these ideas. In clinical REBT, the emphasis is on
convincing clients that such nutty notions make no sensecannot be
supported by logic and data; the pragmatic consequences are relevant
but secondary. With managers and executives, the pragmatic trumps
pure logic. The logical arguments help, but the real leverage comes

William D. Criddle

99

from convincingly illustrating that holding these ideas or philosophies really does inhibit productivity in a significant way, and in
addition, reminding them that their pay check and advancement possibilities are directly tied into this variable. I pointed out to Tom the
destructive consequences to his team that resulted from his acting on
these ideas: poor communication, greatly reduced openness due to
team members being fearful of his reaction; reduced creativity and
risk taking; members not learning new skills or experiencing growth
producing challenges; and ultimately, poor overall performance by
the team which reflected negatively on him as their leader. Tom was
aware of these problems but had not connected them with his ideas
and behaviors.
The next step was formulating more reasonable ideas that would
help his group perform more effectively, enhance the bottom line,
make Tom look good, as well as yield more content and productive
team members. And the final step was to translate the new philosophies and attitudes into new behaviors on Toms partaction items
in business-speak; behavioral homework in the clinical realmthat
would have a constructive impact on his team. The real challenge
was to get Tom to actually remember to incorporate new attitudes
and behaviors real-time, in the workplace. His old ways had been
engrained for years and he was a hard-driving, high-energy type of
guy, not prone to much contemplation before taking action. He needed a constantly present, powerful reminder to help him think first.
He took my advice to wear a metal finger splint, available in any
drug store, which is very annoying and visible at all times and thus
functioned as a potent reminder to think before acting. I worked with
Tom for about one year, helping him apply his new, rational and productive ideas in a wide variety of situations. Eventually, I worked
myself out of a job, and his team finally came to believe that his
changes were for real. At the end of the assignment I was meeting
with Tom about once per month.
Group Work
Working with groups in the business world versus the clinical also
has significant differences. The REBT group therapy situation most
often involves members of the group presenting a situation that has
happen since they last spoke up, such as how a given homework
assignment worked out, or how they were upset in some life situation. Then the group and REBT therapist help the individual identify

100

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

and challenge irrational ideas and usually assign new homework for
them to attempt out in their real world.
Working with a work group or team is more like individual REBT;
it is very real-time. The focus is how the members present, that
make up the team, work together. Interpersonal conflicts come up,
grudges are revealed, and those involved are face-to-face, experiencing their feelings as we work. This is more similar to individual
REBT than group therapy in that the tools and principles of REBT
are applied to actual emotional responses as they evolve within the
work group. However, it is more complex due to the number of individuals involved. An emotional or behavioral response often is quickly responded to with counter responses. These interactions, which
can be quite intense, are excellent grist for the mill, and they clearly
illustrate how counter productive such over-reactions are to good
teamwork and group productivity. In the corporate setting, the consultant can ask to meet with sub-groups or individual team members
if needed.
A good example of REBT consulting focused on helping a dysfunctional team is an assignment I had from a medium sized manufacturing firm in the San Francisco area. I was first contacted by
a senior vice president to whom the team leader reported. As is
often the case in the corporate world, the consultant is brought in
by someone outside the problem at hand. So the initial challenge
may be winning the confidence of a somewhat skeptical manager
who does not know you from Adam. When I met with the team
leader, she described the various issues she observed her team to
be struggling with: personality conflicts, hostility, inability for some
individuals to effectively work together, poor communication, low
morale, and a few members asking to be transferred to a different
group.
Different from the clinical situation where the therapist builds the
group from his therapy practice, the corporate consultant is usually
presented with the group as a whole, and the group is given little or
no choice in the matter. Other than a brief meeting with the leader,
he knows no one in the group. My usual approach to a team involves
a number of steps:
Meet with the team leader to get an overview of his impressions;
Observe the group working together by sitting in on one of their
meetings;

William D. Criddle

101

Meet with each member of the group individually to hear their concerns
and observations (source kept confidential; issues can be revealed);
Develop a plan of attack (working with group as a whole; a sub-group;
certain individuals one-on-one; coaching the leader)

With this group, I decided to work with the team as a whole at first,
and, as they developed the skills needed to work on their own, finish
up by coaching the leader as needed. In the clinical setting, all group
members are well versed in REBT, having been in individual
therapy. In the corporate setting, it is improbable that they have
never heard of REBT and they thus need education regarding the
basic principles the consultant will be using. One approach is to
gradually introduce the basics as you work on specific issues, such as
a member becoming angry. I have found it more useful to run a miniworkshop with the team right at the beginning of my work with
them, including having them all read Dom DiMattias Rational Effectiveness Training (DiMattia, 1990) along with some of my own handouts, prior to the meeting if possible. I usually present three generic
goals or steps:
learn psychological tools for emotional control (REBT)
learn effective communication skills
learn group problem solving skills

I point out that to master each skill, they have to have mastered the
previous one; you cant communicate effectively with your emotions out
of control, and you cant problem solve without being able to communicate effectively. The principles of REBT are the essence of the first
step. In this situation, emotionsanger, hostility, anxietywere
running high. As soon as I presented the REBT basics (ABC theory,
identifying irrational beliefs, challenging and changing iBs, etc.), I
presented them with a list of the problem areas I had garnered from
my interview data, and began having them apply the REBT principles
to these issues. This process precipitated intense discussion through
which the REBT principles were further reinforced and applied to an
even wider variety of work issues. At this time the consultant can start
to integrate communication skills and then problem solving skills as
the discussion moves along into actual work issues.
My next step with this group was to start sitting in on their work
meetings. I sat in the corner of the room, observed the discussion,
and stopped the action whenever constructive work started to

102

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

derail into emotional outbursts, destructive communication, or contaminated problem solving. At these times, we would re-focus on the
basic principles and tools, discuss how they had best be applied in
the situation at hand, do so, and move on as I receded again into the
background, continuing to monitor the interactions. Initially I
attended every weekly meeting; but after about five meetings, I
attended only once per month and met with the team leader in
between, coaching her on how to effectively keep the meetings on a
constructive track. After six months, I had worked myself out of a
job, which is always my long-term goal with clients.
A common phenomenon in the business setting, as compared to the
clinical one, is the limited proportion of time actually spent applying
the REBT principles to the issue at handwith the exception of leading a workshop directly focused on REBT or a psychological issue
such as anger management. Because the REBT consultant is
expected to have considerable knowledge and experience related to
business, management, and leadership issues, he is called upon regularly to give advice in these areas, well beyond the scope of basic
REBT. And in fact, most of the time, working with the client (be it an
executive, a management or executive team, or a work group), the
consultant is ultimately attempting to solve a business issue that, as
the story and data evolve, has people issues or a psychological side
to examine. Whereas in the clinical setting most of the discussion
focuses on behavioral and emotional problems, thus the application of
REBT is appropriate most of the time. The REBT consultant must be
skilled at bringing in REBT where needed, integrating it with the
many other issues, and pointing out its relevance to the issue. In a
typical two hour coaching session, I frequently bring in REBT once;
in my clinical practice, during a forty-five minute session, I will typically discuss REBT and its application four to six times at least.
Conflict Resolution
One of the most fertile areas of work for a psychologist in the business world is the family business. Inevitably, the founder of a family
business grooms his children to take over, and all too often leaves it
to his kids equally, assuming that they will happily run the business
as a team for years to come. Luckily for consulting psychologists, this
is a rare occurrence; most sibling teams need help if they are going
work as an effective team. And more than a few need serious help

William D. Criddle

103

just to keep from killing each other. These cases are analogous to
either marriage counseling (when there are two siblings) or family
therapy, in the clinical world.
The REBT approach to family business conflicts is very similar to the
REBT clinical approach to marriage or family therapy. Initially, the
consultant may meet with the family or siblings together; observing
how they interact, emote, communicate, and present their issues. Most
often the next step is meeting with each member of the family alone,
then formulating a game plan which may involve individual coaching,
group facilitation, and working with smaller sub-groups if necessary. I
frequently work from the format mentioned earlier: teaching emotional
control skills, then communication skills, then problem solving skills.
Then, if successful, gradually work myself out of a job.
There are a number of interesting dynamics in most family businesses where the second generation-siblings are running the show.
The serious, hard-working sibling is critical of his spoiled, slack-ass
usually younger brothers or sisters and thinks they are making way
too much money; these younger sibs feel hurt, unappreciated, and
pissed off. All of them are most likely earning a salary far beyond
what they could in the real world and thus have to balance how far
they push their disputes so as not to kill the goose that is laying the
golden eggs. A demand for fairness is a huge issue, in terms of compensation, perks, perceived workloads, titles, and so on. Spouses of
the family members may or may not be in the company, but they are
always active on the sidelines, urging their partner not to let others
push them around or take advantage of them. Usually there are no
escape clauses such as official buy-out agreements. And there are
long-standing grudges and resentments that have been sustained
cognitively and emotionally since childhood. It is true fertile ground
for the REBT consultant.
One of the most challenging aspects of working with many family
businesses is coping with their strong desire to explore their family
of origin; to go to the root of the present day problems; and to relive and process these historic issues. As all REBT therapists and
consultants know, this is an unnecessary waste of time. Working
with a family business, it can be a dangerous waste of time in that
often the business is going down hill fast due to the intense disputes,
and needs to be rescued quickly if it is to survive at all. In a large
non-family run corporation, the pressure in on the consultant to keep
the focus on the pragmatic aspects of running the business; in the

104

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

family business the opposite is true: it is the consultants role to keep

the focus on the here and now, especially business related issues, and
not let it wander back to the past. Reminding the family members
what is at stake, specifically, their high standard of living, is very
useful as a motivator to get things back on the business track.
There are a number of major irrational themes sustaining most of
these disputes that the REBT consultant is well equipped to deal
with. Demands are all over the place; for fairness, for cooperation, for
reasonableness, for agreement, for consideration, and so on. When
they are not met, blame is rampant, contributing to further anger and
resentment. The worriers in the family are good at catastraphizing
and awfulizing about possible unfortunate outcomesboth business
and personalresulting from the endless conflict. Rigid thinking and
low frustration tolerance significantly inhibit needed cooperation and
flexibility of attitude. And when the siblings do start discussing the
past, even recent past events, they almost always recall them differently and get into intense disputes about what actually went
onsimilar to clinical work with couples. The major difference
between basic family therapy and working with a family business is
that in the business world work has to be accomplished to sustain
both their business and life style in spite of the quarreling going on.
A major goal of the consultant is to be able to patch-up the group
enough at each meeting so that between consulting sessions, necessary business tasks can be successfully accomplished as usualand
many of these tasks require mutual cooperation and working
together. To accomplish this, I find two REBT techniques useful. One
is thought stopping to temporarily block out the crazy thinking that
gets the conflict going again. The other is the cognitive challenges Al
is so well know for: T.S. or tough shit; or screw it or whats so
fucking awful about it?. I also teach them to tell themselves I can
bring it up in our next meetingNOT NOW, and how to tolerate the
frustration of not speaking up in the moment.
Working with partnerships where partners are not related is very
similar to working with family businesses. Most just dont have the
same long history together with grudges nurtured since childhood.
Also, familial role expectations are not there to deal withhow a
child (who happens to be forty years old) should behave; how brothers and sisters should get along, and so on. However, the demands,
blame, resentment, anxieties, even paranoia are all there, ripe for the
REBT consultant.

William D. Criddle

105

CONCLUSION
REBT is the most business friendly school of psychology when it
comes to helping executives, managers, and firms solve people
problems, enhance productivity, and help senior people become more
effective leaders and managers. Just as importantly (or more so.) is
the fact that REBT embodies the most effective set of psychological
principles and tools for these purposes as well. However, in order to
optimize this effectiveness, it is important to realize that one had
best not apply REBT straight away, using the same approach as one
would in the clinical setting.
The corporate client is a totally different animal than the typical
neurotic that comes in for psychotherapy. Not to say that many
business people are not personally troubled in their own right, but
they do need to be approached in a very different manner. They tend
to be very assertive, straight-forward, confident, and demanding of
resultsand they expect the consultant they hire to be the same.
These traits are what they admire and look for in someone they are
paying the big bucks. The REBT consultant needs to be able to
answer questions assertively and confidently, and most importantly,
be able to clearly tie what he is doing and prescribing to the bottom
line. Fortunately, coming from the REBT perspective, this connection
is almost always easy to establish, since the more rational an individual is, the less hampered he or she is by contaminating emotional
responses, poor interpersonal skills, and poor personal management
habits, and is thus more productive on the job.
I have presented a few ways I have found useful in adapting REBT
from the clinical world to the corporate world, but these are just the
tip of a potential iceberg. Taking REBT to the corporate world opens
up almost unlimited opportunities for the REBT consultant to apply
the power of this approach to individuals, small groups, as well as
whole companies. The key to successful adaptation is creativity; one
needs to be flexible, open minded, and innovative. You need to
always consider who you are working withthe corporate mindsetand culture in which you are workingwhat they really want
and how it will be measured. All very different from the clinical
world, where most of us who are trained in REBT started.
It is a great opportunity. The variety of problems is vast. There is
no hassle with insurance companies; no real problem with payment
period. And you can charge much more than in clinical practice. The

106

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy

transition stimulates intellectual and professional growth. However,

it is demanding and they shoot the wounded and cut their losses, so
be prepared. Good luck.
REFERENCES
Criddle, W. (1993). To hire management trainers, cut through the psychobabble. Puget Sound Business Journal, 14(22), 25.
DiMattia, D., & Mennen, S. (1990). Rational effectiveness training: Increasing
productivity at work. New York: Institute for Rational Emotive Therapy.
DiMattia, D., & IJzermans, T. (1996). Reaching their minds: A trainers
manual for rational effectiveness training. New York: Institute for
Rational Emotive Therapy.
Ellis, A. (1972). Executive leadership: A rational approach. New York:
Institute for Rational Living.
Tobias, L. (1989). Psychological consulting to management: A clinicians
perspective. New York: Brunner/Mazel.