We were lucky to catch up with Tripp Twyman recently and have shared our conversation below.
Tripp, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.
“Pay it forward” is a principle that I prioritize. I feel an immense gratitude for the life that I get to live and I know it didn’t have to be like this. I am where I am because people chose to invest in me. This started with my parents prioritizing my education – they believed this would enable me to reach new heights as I got older. They were right. Along the way, countless mentors and role models invested time to teach me valuable lessons about responsibility, leadership, hard work and politics. I’ve always suspected these champions were advocating for me behind closed doors. Once, a talent manager at BCG mentioned that I had more advocates than anyone she had seen in our region. People were conspiring for my success.
Why? I’m not sure I’ll ever know. But I’m grateful for the support I’ve received over the years, and it feels right to extend that support to the people around me. We all benefit when the people around us win.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Ever since high school, I’ve focused on building community and supporting those around me. Today, I do that through strategy consulting, leadership coaching and working to empower the next generation.
My day job is strategy consulting with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading global management consulting firm. We help leaders and organizations be their best by supporting them with the strategy and execution of critical projects. One of my proudest projects at BCG was the creation of a Private Sector Racial Equity Task Force in Los Angeles in 2020. I’ve also worked on several large-scale change projects, getting in the weeds with leaders and their teams to steer huge organizations from point A to point B.
I started leadership coaching during my MBA at Stanford. I was trained in Co-Active coaching and have found helping people clarify and work toward their goals lights me up. Fundamentally, coaching is a creative process through which I listen, empathize and offer observations and reflections to help my client make progress in whatever direction they want. I have been working with five clients consistently for the last few months but am expanding to 10 people this fall. More details are available on my LinkedIn (Tripp Twyman).
A significant amount of my time also goes to empowering the next generation. In the same way people invested in me so that I could achieve at higher levels, it’s important for me to do the same when I can. I work with a nonprofit called Black Outside Inc., which helps Black American youth with the outdoors. I am also deeply involved with the University of Arizona as an alum, through my role on the board of the alumni association and role as a mentor for current students at the Eller College of Management. I also co-founded an endowment to support Black undergraduate business majors at Arizona. We are always accepting donations.
I get so much energy and joy working in these areas because they each allow me to help improve things. Whether through project work at BCG or 1:1 coaching or mentoring younger folks, I have opportunities every day to take what I’ve learned and improve someone’s situation. Those contributions make me feel like I’ve earned my seat at the table. One of my professors at Stanford asked me if my privilege was something I was “entitled to” or “entrusted with”… I want my actions to be my answer.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Personal development. After graduating high school, I spent the summer selling kitchen knives from CUTCO. A lot of people told me this was a pyramid scheme (and it is definitely multi-level marketing), but what I saw was an opportunity to work hard and earn money. CUTCO introduced me to the field of personal development – the idea that for most areas of life, I could get out what I put in. I learned how to set a goal, identify the skills and behaviors that would help me achieve that goal, and then build those skills and hold myself accountable to taking action. This helped me sell over $36,000 of kitchen knives the summer before I started college. It also gave me an immensely powerful skillset – self-directed personal learning and development. I used this to found and lead organizations at Arizona, to get a job at BCG, to get promoted at BCG and to gain admission to Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Connecting with others. One of my biggest strengths is the ability to connect with almost anyone I meet. Growing up, I struggled with feelings of belonging in basically every context I found myself in. Sometimes I was the only Black kid. Other times I was the only one that didn’t speak Spanish. At school I was the kid on scholarship that couldn’t afford to go on the school trips. I desperately wanted to fit in and I learned to be who I needed to be to make that happen. It wasn’t a healthy approach by any means, but it taught me that I can get along with anyone. Fast forward about ten years. This skillset is invaluable as I meet new people and explore ways that I can support them or we can work together to learn, grow and make an impact.
Stick-to-it-ness. I don’t think I’m particularly smart or gifted, but I’m willing to work hard. “Stick-to-it-ness” is a word I picked up during my time selling knives. It was used to describe the small percentage of people who end up making a career out of selling CUTCO. Even though the comment came offhand during a Q&A session at an office meeting, it imprinted on me. I understood that my effort was totally in my control and I could use that effort to close any gap if I chose to.
I think this is a great recipe for people early in their journey – it definitely worked for me. And there are a few specific steps pepole can take to get started.
Learn to break goals into smaller actions and milestones, and clarify the skills needed to succeed. Start with a modest goal, and write down all the steps you’ll take to get from where you are to where you want to be. Then clarify one that you can do today. Do that, today.
Meet people different than you and learn how to connect with them. Listen to their stories and try to expand your perspective about what exists and what’s possible. I genuinely believe the ability to connect with other people is what will create the most satisfaction and possibility in life. If every day, you have a conversation with one stranger and learn one thing from them that you didn’t know before, you’ll see your world expand before your eyes.
Work hard. This is straight forward but not always easy. The hardest part for me is often taking the second step. After I’ve spent time exploring the idea and envisioning what it might look like, I struggle to get started. If you can get yourself to take action, to do the work, you can do anything.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I think you have to be well-rounded enough that you don’t have weaknesses that are actively detractors. After that, people should go all-in on their strengths.
Think about the best experiences you’ve had… the best meals, movies, concerts, massages, classes or speeches. I’d wager most of these were delivered by someone who was great at what they did. If you want to be great, the most effective path is to start with your strengths and turn them into superpowers (as long as it’s in an area you love). For me, it helped to start thinking about my skills in terms of multiplication instead of addition. If anything is less than 1, it becomes a detractor overall. My goal became to improve on my weaknesses until they were “neutralized” and then focus on my strengths, which were the areas I had the most opportunity to be great and contribute. The strengths I’ve focused on all revolve around people. Communication, empathy, listening, public speaking and coaching. These help me be a better leader and I use them in every project I am involved with.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @tripptwyman
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tripptwyman/
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