“Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.”
— Jonas Salk
Earlier this month, I spent some time with my friends Paul and Cynthia Yock. As many of you know, Paul, a cardiologist, world-renowned innovator, and the founder of the Stanford Mussallem Center for Biodesign, is fighting pancreatic cancer. Cynthia is leading the battle on his behalf. One of the things that brings them a lot of joy is their shared passion for fostering rescued German Shepherds.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a dog person. I like other people’s dogs; I just never felt the need to have one of my own. And that has become a problem lately, as my kiddos and wife Monica, who have been talking about it for some time, have seriously escalated the conversation now that summer is near. Most recently, they informed me that I do not actually have veto power and that they planned to start visiting animal shelters as soon as we returned from an upcoming family vacation.
But then, when Paul answered the door, I met Maxine (Maxie).
She is a majestic, dark-colored shepherd with golden eyes, and she radiates something closer to human than dog. I fell for her immediately. We sat down and she took a lap around the table, greeting us all cordially before settling at Paul’s feet. I continued to watch her as our conversation went on, feeling an inner tug-of-war as my rational mind tried to override my intuition. It wasn’t long before I gave in to the feeling I had in my gut. I pulled out my phone and started texting Monica.
As a rescue dog, there were lots of hoops to jump through to adopt Maxie, but we eventually cleared them all and were accepted as her new family. Paul and Cynthia even agreed to extend their foster a few weeks during our family travel.
I’ve been thinking about that moment since. Whether it was Paul’s knowing grin when he saw me fall for the dog, Cynthia’s quiet comment that Maxie was something special, or the feeling we were gaining both a friend and protector, I knew I needed to act on the opportunity in front of me.
I have had similar feelings about people I’ve met—that immediate sense that you trust someone—and about companies, when you can see the outline of something important and you know it’s a good thing before you have all the supporting evidence.
Tom Fogarty was a master at this. I remember when Denise Demarais and I were pitching Ardian to him at Emergent Partners. We had a carefully choreographed presentation: slides, roles, timing. But as we got going, I saw that Tom— clearly the most important person there—didn’t even appear to be listening.
About ten minutes in, I glanced over. He still didn’t seem to be paying attention. But on his notepad, he had written a single word: “Yes.”
With two-thirds of the presentation still to go, I started skipping sections, thoroughly confusing Denise. As I raced to the close, I saw he had repeatedly circled the word “Yes.” I knew the deal was done when one of the partners asked a question—and Tom answered it for me.
The older I get, the more I’ve come to appreciate that intuition isn’t random—it’s the product of experience, values, and pattern recognition coming together faster than we can consciously articulate. The challenge is not to ignore that feeling, but to recognize it, trust it, and then put your rational mind to work figuring out how to realize the opportunity in front of you.
Sometimes that opportunity is a company. And sometimes it’s a German Shepherd named Maxie.
–Andrew
P.S. You can read more about Paul’s cancer journey here.
And about the German Shepherd rescue organization Paul and Cynthia volunteer for here.
(The above is an excerpt from Andrew Cleeland’s column in Fogarty’s May 2026 newsletter.)