Ep. 116 "Stop Competing With Your Team" — Ian Symes on the Feedback That Changed His Leadership
Episode summaryAndrew Tallents sits down with Ian Symes, CEO of OnePoint Advisory Services, for a candid conversation about a career built on reinvention — consumer products, white goods at Electrolux, marketing & strategy consulting, two years on the ground in California with Cisco, the London 2012 Olympics sponsorship, transforming Right Management across Europe and North America, taking K3 Capital Group through a PE sale, and now leading one of the UK's fastest-growing mid-market accountancy groups. Ian opens up about the moment a team member told him "you're competing with us" — and why that single piece of feedback rewired how he leads. Expect lessons on personal responsibility, working across cultures, knowing when to walk away, and the shift from driving to coaching.About the guestIan Symes is CEO of OnePoint Advisory Services, a private-equity-backed group focused on accountancy and wealth management in the UK mid-market. Over a 30+ year career he has led businesses across consumer products, technology, HR and professional services — including senior roles at Electrolux, Cisco, Right Management (Manpower Group), K3 Capital Group and Kinbrook.Chapters / Timestamps00:00 — Welcome and intro to Ian Symes01:04 — Career snapshot: consumer products → consulting → tech → professional services01:42 — Outside of work: golf, skiing and the Hampshire countryside02:46 — Childhood, private school, and a competitive environment03:15 — A-level setback: 30 phone calls, 3 university offers, one big lesson04:12 — Father as CEO, sweeping floors at Toronto Airport at 6:50am06:19 — Travelling to New York at five and falling in love with business07:30 — Beating the system at university — the 20-year exam paper hack09:13 — First job in gardening products: £6,500 and the cheapest training of his life10:30 — Five years at Zanussi / Electrolux and learning "Euro English"12:15 — The wrong move into pet products and the limits of big-company thinking15:48 — Coming back to Electrolux to lead the marketing team17:35 — The off-site, the consultant, and "you're competing with us"19:36 — Why he left a fast-track corporate career21:00 — Setting up a marketing & strategy consultancy — and surviving 9/1124:26 — The day his wife said "it's a good day in consulting"25:30 — Two years in California with Cisco27:00 — London 2012 Olympics, $1.1B pipeline, and Henry Kissinger28:13 — Right Management: from sleepy 20M business to European and North American transformation32:40 — K3 Capital Group, the PE sale, and learning the AIM playbook34:30 — Inside UK mid-market accountancy: 40 PE-backed buyers chasing the same firms36:00 — OnePoint's value proposition: "we're a friend, not an aggregator"37:00 — One thing left to achieve: a single-figure golf handicap38:00 — Close
