I remember the day I came home from preschool with a paper that had more red ink on it than crayon. “Jared feels it is his job to help the other students instead of doing his own work.”
For me, founding OUTLAST Consulting is the natural next step in a life spent helping others. I’ve been coaching as long as I’ve been learning–back when my goal was a classroom full of well-colored papers, happy students, happy teachers, and happy parents.
Some things have changed since preschool. Now I help employees, managers, and customers with their problems. I help individuals and teams in businesses and nonprofits of all kinds find a path to sustainable success. I’ve got a few more crayons in my box today–engineer, market researcher, corporate strategist, project manager, nonprofit leader, musician–many different angles from which to approach a problem.
Sometimes that means improving business processes; sometimes it’s developing skills; sometimes it’s being a sounding board so they can hear themselves more clearly. Most importantly, it means that I’ve finally made helping others my own work.
Jared Simmons is the Founder and Principal of OUTLAST Consulting LLC, a consultancy that helps companies bring an innovation mindset to their toughest business problems. Prior to this, Jared was a Strategic Initiatives Director at the Coca-Cola Company, responsible for a pipeline of product innovation initiatives. Before joining Coca-Cola, he was part of the Product Development and Innovation practice at McKinsey and Company.
A chemical engineer by training, Jared’s career began in Research & Development at Procter & Gamble, where he held roles in market research, supplier management, and product development. In addition to hosting the “What is Innovation?” podcast, he is certified executive coach, facilitator, and practitioner of various personality assessment tools.
In 2024, he launched a new program within OUTLAST called KIWAVI that uses innovation principles to re-imagine diversity at work.
Outside of work, Jared maintains a broad range of interests. A former lead singer and keyboard player for a cover band, he is now diving into the world of solo jazz performance. Jared is also a published poet and enjoys all things Shakespearean. He loves watching football, solving puzzles of all kinds, and supporting various community causes.
Featured On Air
- Unleashed – Episode 550: Design to Value
- Chat with Leaders – Episode 143: A path to empathy and humanistic problem solving
- Whiskey, Jazz and Leadership – Top Shelf Sampling with Jared Simmons (Part 1)
- Whiskey, Jazz and Leadership – Top Shelf Sampling with Jared Simmons (Part 2)
- Sonata Learning – Episode 102
- AigoraCast – Figure out a new how