2bschool was an MBA Admissions Consultancy Stefan started in 2001 (renamed 2bschool in 2002)

From it, he learned—and emphasized to his clients—that biz schools don't want to know what you know about business; they teach business. Rather, they want to know what you know about yourself.

All business schools ask basically, “what do you want to be when you grow up and how could we get you there?” Application essay prompts drill down with follow-ups: Tell us about your best and worst professional situations. What where your roles, responsibilities, relationships… where you felt most engaged?

Stefan built upon this.

A process that requires you to communicate self-knowledge, in turn, leads one to cultivate it.

And while an MBA is not for everyone..., a process like this is for everyone.

See saw this with clients: some of his best engagements—relationships that lasted for 20 years—were those who decided not to pursue an MBA.

And Stefan saw this with people who had no interest in MBA (nor other grad school) when he exchanged business cards.

Pick a card, any card.

On the backs were 25 different actual MBA admissions essay prompts:

Others remarked in the moment—or even month/years later that such questions got them thinking more deeply about their professional and personal lives.

This led him to create CareerDesign