An occasional column with Simon Hadfield, Executive Partner at DMCG Global, an Executive Search & Recruitment business.
This time Simon Hadfield talks to Siimon Reynolds, Founder of Omon, Andromeda, Love Communications, Photon, ex-Chairman of OMG and most recently Co-Founder of Jove Hydrogen.
Here we are many years down the track, you have had a fascinating career from the early heady days of Grey and Omon, the Grim Reaper campaign right through to the phenomenal launch & growth of Photon and rebirth as Enero. You started very young and have done well. Do you put the success down to anything in particular?
Well I think success comes down to three core things, other than luck or karma: 1. Aiming high. 2. Having immensely strong desire and belief. 3. Persisting and iterating through the inevitable stumbling blocks. It’s that simple and that hard. If any of those 3 are missing it will lead to a lower level of success. If you have all three you are virtually destined to reach the top, almost regardless of your field. As Vince Lombardi said, ‘The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
Your LinkedIn shows you recently co-founded Jove Hydrogen. What’s that all about?
Jove is a start up focused around a novel way to produce green hydrogen at a low price. The company will be based in Texas, the leading green hydrogen hub in the USA. At this stage we are evaluating the technology itself, and if it lives up to our hopes we aim to raise $15 million to begin it’s first stage. Hydrogen is an expensive business, but an exciting one.
You’re now coaching and have been for some time, along with investing. Is this a nice change of pace and I assume quite rewarding?
Yes these days I mainly mentor entrepreneurs and CEO’s. I have clients at every level, from start ups to CEO’s of billion dollar companies. As long as someone is intelligent and ambitious, we are a good fit to work together. It’s a blast to coach smart people. I can work the hours I want and I can help great entrepreneurs become greater. Every once in a while I invest in my coaching clients’s companies and have had some good wins doing so. I also am chairman of two companies, a venture backed tech company called Buyers Circle, and a fabulously talented and successful agency in Melbourne, DPR&Co. The DPR team are quite brilliant.
I understand you’re now back in Sydney after many years in LA. What bought you back and is it nice to be home?
Yep I was in Los Angeles for more than 11 years. We came back during Covid but it was a sickness in my wife’s family that drove us to Australia. Originally when we were preparing to move back to Oz I was ambivalent at the prospect, bit I must say as soon as we arrived I’ve really enjoyed it. What’s wonderful about being away from here for so long is when you return you really appreciate Australian things that you didn’t even notice living here. Like the birds singing. You don’t see many birds in West Hollywood, other than the 17 Police helicopters that constantly fly overhead.
Do you miss the advertising game?
I miss several elements of it: creating beautiful work and chatting with the many fascinating minds in the industry. When you’re in Advertising we all tend to bitch about it, but compared with most other industries it’s pretty interesting- the pitches, the ideas, the dangers of producing multi million dollar projects. There’s still a lot to love about the business. After all, how many industries can you suggest to a client that they should spend $3 million on say a watermelon singing and dancing on top of a car, and they will seriously consider doing it?
What has been your proudest memory?
Well if we’re talking Advertising, I think when my first agency, Omon, became a dominant force on the creative scene globally. We opened successfully in New York and numerous famous ad people came out of that agency. We were completely focused on doing great creative work and it was a very exciting time.
Any work you’ve seen recently that you admire?
I don’t really see many ads these days, but I didn’t when I was in the industry either. I didn’t watch TV at all at that time. Usually the only ads I saw were in annuals and reels of the world’s best work. My theory was if I only saw great ads then my brain was more likely to create them, as it had no other reference.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Really aim to enjoy each day, and trust that things will work out fine. I’ve spent a lot of time worrying about things that in the end didn’t really matter. Or didn’t even happen.
Outside of business and apart from the above, what keeps you out of trouble?
I’ve got a young family ( kids are 5 and 9) so I’m fully embedded in kid chauffeuring and entertainment . My main hobby is human potential, and I’m particularly focused on studying U.S professional sport mental performance systems. It fascinates me how elite sports men and women are trained to perform at a super high level. I believe a lot of their methods are very applicable to business.
What have you learnt in the last 5 years?
These are big questions! Well there’s learning intellectually and learning actually. Learning actually means I’m actually utilising what I’ve learned day to day. In that category I’d say that the number one thing I’ve learnt to succeed in life is to use daily checklists. Particularly around the person I want to be- character traits I wish to embody. There’s a fabulous book called The Checklist Manifesto that shows the life changing power of being checklist oriented. Worth a read.
What are you driving, what are you listening to and what are you watching?
I used to drive a lot of high end cars but lately I’ve been driving a Skoda Kodiaq and loving it. It’s beautiful designed and of course , it carries all the family stuff. I’m listening to lots of podcasts- two favourites are Bedros Keulian and Dr Benjamin Hardy. Bedros is a hard ass motivator and Hardy is a psychologist who will soon be globally famous. Watching wise, I really liked The Outfit. It’s a thriller set entirely in a tailor’s shop.
Where is your next holiday?
Japan. Can’t wait to show the kids how wonderfully weird it is.
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