Ornstein focuses on his experiences in supervision and how they promoted the development of his 'working analytic ego'. He delineates four phases of learning in supervision: how to 'feel' as an analyst; how to behave and talk as an analyst; how to think as an analyst; and how to listen with 'evenly suspended attention'. Learning in supervision occurs in two general areas: emotional-affective components—the analyst's ability to use his personality to maximum effectiveness in the analytic task; and cognitive-intellectual components—maximizing the analyst's technical skills.

Through a series of identifications with the professional object representations of his various supervisors, the young analyst develops a style of his own. In time, there occurs a decathexis of the supervising objects and a re-investment of the energy in the professional self.