Authors Rick & Amy Simmons: How To Take Your Company From Good To Great
An Interview With Jerome Knyszewski
A great company is one whose end product permeates all levels of the system — individual, team, organization wide — maybe even outside the company (ie if coaching is the company’s end product, within the company, the individuals are coached, teams are coached, coaching is organization wide; people outside my work world may even benefit from me being coached).
As part of my series about the “How To Take Your Company From Good To Great”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rick & Amy Simmons.
Rick and Amy Simmons, the ForbesBooks authors of Unleashed: Harnessing the Power of Liminal Space, are co-founders of the Telos Institute (www.thetelosinstitute.com), which helps leaders in business and industry hone their leadership skills, optimize their business strategy and embrace change as a strategic advantage. Rick Simmons is the chief executive officer at Telos. Prior to founding Telos, he spent 10 years in various senior strategy and sales leadership positions within the financial services industry. Amy Simmons is the chief experience officer at Telos. Prior to the company’s founding, she spent 14 years in various coaching, training, career management, and recruiting roles.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
We founded the telos institute in 2006 to offer specialized expertise in business strategy, leadership development, and change management to leaders, leadership teams, and organizations around the world.
As CEO, Rick is responsible for the firm’s vision and strategy, while inspiring a growing cohort of world-class practitioners to deliver transformational experiences for clients.
Previously, he served in various senior strategy and sales leadership positions within the financial services industry. Most notably, he led several organizations through periods of transition, which has afforded him unique insight into change management best practices.
An accomplished organizational development professional, Amy has spent over two decades collaborating across numerous levels of leadership and industries to help individuals, teams, and companies thrive. Her extensive experience in coaching, workshop design and implementation, and large and small group facilitation inform her unique ability to identify and support client development needs as Chief Experience Officer.
Prior to founding telos, Amy held coaching, training, career management, and recruiting roles, and conducted extensive research on adult learning theory and curriculum and course development.
Both Rick and Amy hold Master of Science degrees in organizational behavior from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
ORIGIN STORY
As part of our graduate program, we traveled abroad to Belgium to spend several weeks at a sister university. There, we visited companies, heard case studies, engaged in simulations, and more. Everyone on the trip was struck by how much we were learning. In just a few days, we had grown and changed tremendously. When Amy shared what she had been experiencing with Johann, our Belgian professor, he responded with a shrug, “Well, this is a liminal space.” That simple phrase became the basis of our work.
Having a term for it was eye opening, to say the least. We came away from that program wanting to give others the opportunity to explore and grow from liminal space, because our time spent there had such a profound impact on our lives. We came up with the idea for our organization, the telos institute, on the plane ride home.
We didn’t have the name yet, or all of the pieces, but we knew that helping people access these kinds of experiences would be at the heart of our work.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
When we started telos, we did exactly what everyone tells you not to do — we both quit our jobs. Usually, one person stays employed elsewhere as a sort of backstop, but we burned the boats. In some ways, we believe this approach was instrumental in our success — we had no choice but to make it work. And that doesn’t mean we were immune from the stress of the situation we had created.
Rick remembers one night early in the life of telos — he had just finished a coaching call with a client in the UAE. It was 2am and the house was quiet. He was staring at the computer screen — asking himself where the mortgage payment was going to come from and began to what we were really doing. We had all the realities associated with 4 young children to care for.
In that moment, he realized our cause and purpose was just too compelling to give up on. The world needs people and organizations dedicated to liberating greatness.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Our use of lowercase for the telos institute is deliberate. We believe all the intellect, ambition, energy, and creativity necessary for clients to reach their chosen destinations reside within them — not us. We assume a guiding and reflective role — a lower case approach — to help them discover and re-discover where those resources reside, in order to drive the outcomes they genuinely want.
This positioning is important in understanding this story. Early in the pandemic, we decided to purchase telos face masks. We imagined something very low key — a small telos logo in the bottom corner — because the masks weren’t about telos. They were about supporting the health and well-being of our employees as well as those with whom they came into contact.
When the masks arrived, the logo was huge — absolutely massive. It completely covered the entirety of the mask. We were horrified. We didn’t want to be wasteful though, so we wear the masks — with the telos logo on the inside.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
telos brings the acumen, the depth of insight, and capacity of a large global organizational development firm together with the agility and customized approach clients deserve.
This tailored approach is expressed every day in the most human possible terms by the telos people who meet, guide and inspire others.
It isn’t simply intelligence, or command of a particular discipline that sets telos consultants apart. What really resonates with our clients is the recognition that the consultant sitting across the table has been thoughtfully selected and has the experience to meet them “where they are.” Not simply as bright and highly perceptive, but as a dynamic, emotionally connected human being.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
- Set boundaries (when working from home have an established place and times to work; it’s too easy for work to become all consuming)
- What we do is mentally and emotionally depleting — practice self-care
- Recognize that you can’t do it all yourself; identify yours and others strengths so each person is working on the right things
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
We were fortunate enough to meet Bryan Segedi early in our journey. Bryan had recently retired from his partnership role at one of the Big 5 consulting firms and was identifying a small handful of firms to advise in his retirement. There was honestly no reason telos should have even been on his radar.
Bryan immediately recognized the importance of liminal space and the intellectual property we were developing around it. He believed in its importance before we were really even sure we had anything; he wholeheartedly encouraged us to lean into it. Bryan really saw liminal space as a differentiator for telos…and he was right.
Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. The title of this series is “How to take your company from good to great”. Let’s start with defining our terms. How would you define a “good” company, what does that look like? How would you define a “great” company, what does that look like?
A good is one whose product or service impacts one level of the system (ie I had a Diet Coke and I feel good for a couple of hours, therefore, Coca Cola is a good company). Obviously, this assumes that the company also treats its employees well, is a good steward of the environment, and practices social responsibility.
A great company is one whose end product permeates all levels of the system — individual, team, organization wide — maybe even outside the company (ie if coaching is the company’s end product, within the company, the individuals are coached, teams are coached, coaching is organization wide; people outside my work world may even benefit from me being coached).
Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to lead a company from Good to Great? Please share a story or an example for each.
The telos levers for organizational success are a framework we often use to help companies on this journey. I’ve attached an article from Practicing OD outlining a case study that really speaks to the levers.
Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. Can you help articulate for our readers a few reasons why a business should consider becoming a purpose driven business, or consider having a social impact angle?
From day one, we were clear and resolute that our mission at telos is to liberate greatness. We firmly believe that in every room we walk into, whether it be with a leader, a leadership team or an organization, greatness lies within. We design all our engagements and interactions to draw out this greatness. Being so clear about what we do allows everything we do to flow from our mission. It also allows us to manage in equal amounts adversity and prosperity — it keeps us focused and moving when things are uncertain, and it keeps us grounded and humble when times are good.
What would you advise to a business leader who initially went through years of successive growth, but has now reached a standstill? From your experience do you have any general advice about how to boost growth and “restart their engines”
First, it’s important to recognize that you’re at an inflection point. And second, it’s vital to really acknowledge and understand that what got you here won’t get you there. Incremental change doesn’t typically take you from a slump or plateau — transformation is ion order.
It’s important to see this standstill as an opportunity — a period of reimagining. It’s almost like you’ve been given license to start up again at this new altitude. Use this occasion to create excitement and energy around what could be, rather than dwelling on what no longer is.
Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
We started telos in an economic downturn, so we’ve always known what it’s like to work in turbulent times. We’ve found that working disproportionately harder during down periods yields disproportionate results when prosperity returns. For example, really hustling to build and accelerate relationships — demonstrating that you’re there for people during hard times — allows you to become the partner of choice during the good times.
In your experience, which aspect of running a company tends to be most underestimated? Can you explain or give an example?
We underestimated how difficult it would be to attract, retain, and develop people. This all initially appears pedestrian. Finding the right people is really hard though.
As we mentioned earlier in discussing what sets telos apart, the measure of a telos experience is the ability to deliver rigor — what we call neck up — as well as address the human dimension — or neck down — is not easy to find in a single package.
As you know, “conversion” means to convert a visit into a sale. In your experience what are the best strategies a business should use to increase conversion rates?
We believe in true partnership and collaboration. We do not sell pre-fabricated, or off the shelf products — we collaborate with our clients to identify the best approach or solution for their organization.
It really isn’t about conversion rates, it’s about the yield on being a true partner. And being a true partner is distinctive.
Of course, the main way to increase conversion rates is to create a trusted and beloved brand. Can you share a few ways that a business can earn a reputation as a trusted and beloved brand?
Our initial growth strategy was 3 words — Do good work. Some chided us for being unsophisticated, yet, doing good work has gotten us where we are today. We do what we say we’re going to do and we do it well. Then we ask for referrals.
Great customer service and great customer experience are essential to build a beloved brand and essential to be successful in general. In your experience what are a few of the most important things a business leader should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience?
Anticipation is the highest form of service, so be knowledgeable and studied about your end user. This approach allows you to be appropriately predictive — to anticipate needs, wants, and challenges. Of course, you have to pair this with practicing good listening. There’s a fine line between being predictive and being assumptive.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen CEOs & founders make when they start a business? What can be done to avoid those errors?
We see people spending their time thinking about the wrong things — fitting out an office, having the most distinctive swag. Of course, these things all have their place — just not at the beginning. You can’t wait for things to be perfect before you go to market. You just have to go; you have to learn quickly what works and what doesn’t and then iterate from there.
New business owners also often feel like they have to know everything. We encourage you to flip that notion on its head — assume you know nothing and go learn everything you can.
Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
We’ve actually thought about this notion for some time. Years ago, as a response to the spirit of this question, we started the telos leadership foundation. We wanted to provide transformational leadership development opportunities for young people. The foundation delivers programs proven to help young people develop into positive, emotionally and socially aware leaders. We’ll always need leaders, we’re starting early. https://thetelosinstitute.com/about/leadership-foundation/
How can our readers further follow you online?
https://twitter.com/telosinstitute @thetelosinstitute
https://www.linkedin.com/company/2561947/admin/
https://vimeo.com/thetelosinstitute
https://www.facebook.com/thetelosinstitute
https://www.instagram.com/thetelosinstitute/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
