Mark Goulston (February 21, 1948 – December 30, 2023) was an American psychiatrist, executive coach and consultant who had worked with Fortune 500 companies, universities, and other organizations.

During his second leave of absence, he took a three-month medical student elective at the Menninger Psychiatric Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, where he worked with schizophrenics.

Goulston completed an internship at Harbor General Hospital in Torrance, California, and his psychiatric residency at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute under supervision and then mentorship of suicidologist Edwin Shneidman.

That expanded to his being a consultant, speaker, trainer and coach to such organizations as IBM, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Xerox, Deutsche Bank, Hyatt, Accenture, AstraZeneca, British Airways, Sodexo, ESPN, Kodak, FedEx, YPO, YPOWPO India, Association for Corporate Growth, FBI, Los Angeles County District Attorney, White & Case, Seyfarth Shaw, UCLA Anderson School of Management, USC and Pepperdine University.

[2] Companies and organizations hired the Goulston Group when they want to significantly increase "buy in" and sustained engagement from customers/clients, investors and talent they are hoping to attract.

In August 2019, Goulston launched @wmystglobal, a global movement to combat disconnect, loneliness and unhappiness using the power of tactical kindness.

In 2022 Goulston became Executive Producer of the documentary, What I Wish My Parents Knew, a film directed by Jason Reid interviewing teenagers about their lowest points mentally and emotionally.

[25] Related to that visit, Goulston was interviewed by the Russian business publication, RBC, in an article entitled, Managers Hate the Word "People" which resulted in a record 455,000 views.

Surgical Empathy has been used to break through to suicidal teenagers and young adults,[39] to help people including healthcare professionals recover from and in many cases heal from PTSD, and to assist organizations and companies with overcoming implicit bias.

[40] One of the techniques in Surgical Empathy is the "Five Reallys" that Goulston learned from Lt. General Martin Steele, who employed it in helping transitioning U.S. Marines from 2006 to 2008.

[59] In April 2019, Goulston was honored with the First Dr. W. Mark Warfel Resilient Heart Award at the Healthcorp Annual Gala in NYC.

[75] In 2022, Dr. Goulston was honored with "The Shine the Light Media Award,"[76] by the Los Angeles County Medical Association's Patient Care Foundation for his focus on bringing attention to mental health and teen suicide.

[78] After receiving a terminal diagnosis for lymphoma, Goulston reflected on the characteristics of a "good death" as defined by Dr. Ed Schneiderman of UCLA.