Scott O'Leary, PhD

I came to philosophy because I needed it. Not in the academic sense – though the academic part came – but in the practical sense. I was trying to figure out what kind of life I wanted to live, and I found that the philosophical tradition had tools for that work that nothing else quite matched.

My doctoral research focused on ethics, emotion, and practical reasoning – specifically the relationship between what we feel and what we judge to be right. But the questions that have always driven me are closer to the ground: How do people make decisions that matter? What happens when your values pull in different directions? How do you think clearly about something when you're also living through it?

After years in higher education – teaching, advising, and leading at NC State – I built Centered to bring that work directly to individuals. The practice draws on two distinct but related traditions: philosophical consulting, which applies rigorous conceptual analysis to personal and professional problems, and leadership and executive coaching, grounded in the Co-Active model and a systems approach to organizational challenges.

Why "Centered"?

The name is deliberate. The goal of this work isn't to resolve your uncertainty or hand you a plan. It's to help you get centered – to find the stable point from which you can look at your situation clearly and act from your own considered judgment rather than from anxiety, habit, or other people's expectations.

I think of it this way: when we feel stuck, it's often because our map no longer matches the territory. The beliefs, habits, and mental models that once served us don't fit the situation we're actually in. The work – whether in coaching or philosophical consulting – is to walk alongside someone into that territory and help them redraw the map so that their values, actions, and emotions are congruent again.

That's harder than it sounds. And I find it genuinely interesting – which I think matters for the people I work with.

Who I Work With

My clients are leaders, executives, academics, and thoughtful individuals at inflection points: a transition that feels both necessary and terrifying, a decision with no clean answer, a growing sense that the map and the territory have come apart. They're not looking for quick fixes. They want to think well — and to have someone in the room who can help them do that.

If that sounds like where you are, I'd be glad to talk.