Essential Tiedeman: anchoring the North Star for human development.(work of Tiedeman, Anna Miller)

Tiedeman was a brilliant icon in counseling and psychology. He was and is the North Star to emulate because he could dance with theory, practice, and life.

In 1970, invoking the practice side of his decision-making theory, Tiedeman accepted a consultation at the Appalachia Education Laboratory, in Charleston, West Virginia, where we met. He would later say, "That visit changed my professional and personal world forever." At that time, Tiedeman's eminence had already been established, and he was casting around for new ways to frame his thought.

Tiedeman's thought provided a mirror for his peers to see more clearly their own thought. Many claimed he was difficult to understand. Part of that was his choice of language and part of it came from the worldview (Newtonian/Cartesian) of many of his readers. We now know from the new science that one cannot observe anything without changing it. When perception is owned, the language becomes "Tell me more." rather than "It is not clear." Seen from a development perspective, one person's clarity is another person's confusion (Loevinger, 1976). Nevertheless, Tiedeman was held in high esteem in that almost everyone respected his thinking.

This article honors Tiedeman by letting him speak about the ideas closest to his heart, starting with (a) his professional credo, then moving to (b) his Harvard Studies in Career Development, (c) his declaration in 1983 about career, (d) his thoughts about statistics of vocational guidance, and (e) his recognition of the science necessary for personal development.

Tiedeman's Professional Credo