Mike Sherbun

Founder and CEO

Mike Sherbun is the Founder and CEO of The Navigator, where he developed The Psychology of Conversations—a behavioral approach to communication built from 37 years in behavioral health and healthcare leadership. He works with leaders and organizations navigating difficult conversations, conflict, and burnout.

About Mike

Mike Sherbun's career has run through behavioral health and healthcare leadership for nearly four decades. He has led clinical teams, managed hospitals, and held senior executive roles, including CEO positions at Cedar Hills Hospital and Ohio Hospital for Psychology, Senior Clinical Director at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and Group CEO at Ascend Healthcare. Each role put him close to the same problem: what happens in the moments when communication breaks down.

That problem became the foundation of The Navigator and The Psychology of Conversations, his framework for behavioral communication. Rather than teaching generic communication skills, he focuses on the psychology underneath them—how people de-escalate conflict without damaging the relationship, how organizations prevent burnout before it spreads, and how leaders hold accountability without losing trust.

He grew up on a farm outside of Chicago, where he learned the kind of work ethic that doesn't announce itself. His father worked as a social worker with youth, and that early exposure to adolescent struggle shaped the direction Mike eventually took—first into behavioral health, then into hospital leadership, and now into coaching, writing, and speaking on the mechanics of difficult conversations.

He holds a PhD in Organizational Management from La Crosse University and a Master's in Healthcare Administration from Simmons College. He has received the Healthcare Heroes Award from the Cincinnati Business Courier and the Community Advocacy Award from St. Aloysius Orphanage. He is based in Olympia, Washington.