Inspired by the work of Steven Covey, he built a productivity tool to help people get the ‘busyness’ under control. He hoped that helping people clarify what was important to them would empower them to escape the ‘busyness’. But he soon realised that software was only a piece of the puzzle—to be truly effective he needed to influence people’s mindset and behaviour.

Kognitive launched productivity and performance training, coaching and consulting, and together with the software, Ethan started to achieve more positive, sustained results. Yet something was still missing.

In his quest to find the truth, Ethan met Dr. Patricia Martos, a neuropsychologist with a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. With her expertise in the brain and behaviour, she had the missing piece of the puzzle Ethan had been searching for. Her insights into how the brain made decisions, prioritised, procrastinated, processed emotion, focused attention and more, were revolutionary.

By better understanding the brain, he could uncover the root cause as to why certain tools were effective, and develop a truly revolutionary approach to helping people make time count.

With the same rigour and enthusiasm as his aerospace research, and with Patricia’s guidance, Ethan started studying human cognition. The more he studied, the clearer it became—the next frontier of human and business performance lied not in the business books, but rather, in the neuroscience journals.

But the research was often so abstract and so far removed from daily life, that the key insights and learnings did not organically flow through to the business world. There was a gulf between what science knew and what business was doing. Simplifying and refining this research into pragmatic tools and insights to help people take back control became his mission.

Ethan soon convinced Patricia to come on board as a co-founder to help Kognitive better join the dots between the brain and performance. A little later, he also convinced her to marry him, but that is another story.

Together, they worked on simplifying the science so it was understandable, relatable and insightful for business professionals. Instead of presenting clients with a “perfect strategy” they brought the science to the client, and together with the client, used these insights to co-develop strategies which were contextualised, brain-based and transformational.

Over time, trends started to emerge. These trends eventually evolved into health checks, diagnostic tools and accelerator programs, which ensured clients could focus on just the right areas for their specific challenges.

Cognitive science evolved to become the central pillar in Ethan’s life and Kognitive’s offering. It became the foundational element of Organisational Flow and the vehicle to making the positive difference Ethan dreamed of after falling from the skies all those years ago.

The rest, they say—is history.