Companies more open to new ideas, Robin Cleland says
By Lisa Queen
With the business world twitching over uncertain economic forecasts and looming fears of a U.S. recession, Toronto psychic Robin Cleland may be one of the few tapping into a growth market these days.
The East York psychic counsellor boasts that through his readings, he can provide a new tool for business leaders looking to give their companies an edge in the corporate world.
Yeah, right.
Marrying the hard-nosed grit of business with the perceived flakiness of psychic powers, does it get any more absurd than that?
Cleland, about as down-to earth as you get, admits psychic counselling and business acumen don't traditionally go hand-in-hand.
But society, including the corporate world, is more open-minded to new ideas these days. Business leaders are willing to go beyond stereotypes if a technique is proved successful, he said.
"It's a wall I'm breaking down," said the amiable Cleland, sporting jeans and a hoodie sweatshirt.
"The business world is changing. They are much more open."
At the same time, Cleland, who has been a psychic for more than 20 years, said many business leaders remain reluctant to publicly admit seeking the advice of a psychic.
"It's a very changing world but in the corporate world, it's more men (at the top) still," he said.
"Men in the corporate world, there's more suspicion. 'We can't show weakness. I still can't tell somebody I'm seeing a psychiatrist, a psychologist or a therapist'."
Cleland is using his psychic abilities to help businesses do everything from determine if a new recruit would prove a good fit to helping a company map out its business development strategies.
In addition to local clients, Cleland does readings for corporate customers in New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver and the Yukon.
Because he also continues to do counselling for individuals, he sees differences between the two.
Business clients are looking for more practical information. If the reading can't be applied to their company's operations in some way, they won't stick around for long.
Cleland emphasizes his relaxed and friendly approach - his readings are peppered with a joking charm - helps put people who are wary of psychics at ease.
He laughingly encourages potential customers to avoid him if they are searching for Zoro the black-caped fortune-teller or Rainbow the mystic reader.
"I don't have a crystal ball. That kind of shtick can very much marginalize it," he said.
"People's comfort zone in the business world, from my point of view, goes up quite a bit because I don't present (that way) at all."
At the same time, he understands people, especially business leaders, are reluctant to embrace psychic counselling without question.
"I expect people will come to me with a certain amount of skepticism or doubt or not knowing what they feel. I just ask them to come relatively open," said Cleland, who combines psychic readings with psychological counselling.
His readings require a certain level of interaction between him and the client. A customer who sits like a stone wall offering no feedback can expect a more limited forecast.
"You're a person. You have energy. You have thoughts. You're not a wall. I'm reading energy. It's a mutual relationship," Cleland said.
For a reading, a client will be asked to shuffle the pack of tarot cards Cleland has used for two decades and cut them into three piles.
Interestingly, Cleland will rarely look at the cards he has laid out on the table. Instead, he gazes slightly over the client's shoulder, occasionally pausing to put a card from the table back in the pile as he finishes addressing that area of the person's life.
Don't expect everything he forecasts about the future to come true, he said. Sometimes he is tapping into someone's desire but the client may not choose to act on it.
"If they want, I can help them see where they are stuck between desire and action," he added.
As a child, Cleland realized he was a sensitive soul. As he grew up, he became more and more aware of his psychic abilities.
He dismisses suggestions that most of his clients must be average joes with run-of-the-mill lives that make for pretty boring readings.
"I don't think I could do what I do if I didn't find people fascinating," he said.
For more information, visit www.robincleland.com
http://www.insidetoronto.ca/TBT/article/40171
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