Our deepest problems aren’t failures of information. They’re failures of attention.

I use behavioral science, research, and product strategy to help teams see people more clearly, understand what actually shapes their lives and choices, and build systems that better support human flourishing.

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A way of working

Attention changes what we build.

I try to get close enough to the problem to see what the categories and metrics miss. Who is this person? What are they trying to do? What makes their behavior sensible from where they stand? What in the environment is helping or getting in the way?

That changes what happens next. Sometimes the answer is a different product. Sometimes it is a change to a workflow, a smaller intervention, or a decision not to build at all. The work is to understand the situation well enough to know what deserves to change.

Notice

What is
actually here?

Love

What deserves
our care?

Tend

What does care
ask of us?

Flourish

What becomes
possible?

Selected work

Notice what matters. Then build accordingly.

Looking beyond adoption.

A digital clinical workflow appeared to be growing quickly. Closer analysis revealed that averages were hiding a more important story: who was actually using it, whether they returned, and where sustained behavior was breaking down.

Behavioral analytics
Implementation science
Product strategy

User segments Adoption concentration

Initiation First-use patterns

Maintenance Return + sustained use

Drove a 174% increase in adoption and sustained use by shifting the work from aggregate uptake to segment-level initiation and maintenance.

Helping people choose a different path in kidney care.

Treatment decisions are rarely just information problems. I worked on research and behavioral strategy aimed at helping people understand meaningful options, recognize what mattered to them, and participate more fully in decisions about their care.

Behavioral research
Patient decision-making
Portfolio strategy

Information Available options

Value Personal priorities

Choice Treatment decision

Avoided $4M in planned product investment by showing that more education would not solve the underlying decision problem.

Making behavioral science usable.

Behavioral science becomes much less useful when teams need an expert in the room every time they make a decision. I developed lightweight tools that help teams define the behavioral problem, surface their assumptions, identify what evidence matters, and choose the smallest useful next action.

Behavioral strategy
Product enablement
Organizational change

Problem Define behavior

Assumptions Surface beliefs

Evidence Test uncertainty

Next action Smallest useful step

Grassroots demand turned a lightweight behavioral science tool into a practice adopted across a 400-person product organization.

Notes

Things I’m thinking through.

Working ideas about behavior, research, product, healthcare, and building things for human beings.

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About

My work keeps returning to the same question.

I’m Zachary Rethorn, a behavioral scientist and researcher by training, a physical therapist by background, and a product strategist by practice.

My work has moved through clinical care, academia, implementation science, technology, healthcare, and product development. Across those settings, I keep returning to the same question: how do we understand people well enough to build conditions in which they can flourish?

Behavior is never simply a matter of knowing the right thing. It is shaped by what people notice, what they care about, what their environment makes possible, and whether there is a path they can actually walk.

Elsewhere

The same questions show up in other parts of my life and work.

Writing

ReEnchanting Us

Learning to notice, love, and tend to what matters through attention, affection, place, culture, and everyday life.

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Photography

ReEnchanting Vision

A photographic practice of reverent attention to light, shadow, people, and place.

Visit ReEnchanting Vision →

Clinical practice

Rethorn PT

A physical therapy practice focused on helping people with persistent pain recover agency, movement, and participation in the lives they want to live.

Visit Rethorn PT →

Hospitality

Late Light

Guided wine nights built around good bottles, shared attention, conversation, and the pleasure of discovering something together.

Visit Late Light →

Contact

If something here connects with what you’re working on, I’d be glad to hear from you.

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