Kay: So today’s guest is Tom Rumboll, and he approaches PRINT® in a very different and interesting way. He’s a huge advocate of PRINT®, which is how I had the great fortune of working with him last year, and that has continued into this year. Tom launched his company, TR Advisory, in 2019 following an extensive career in senior roles spanning more than two decades. Tom’s bio was packed to the rafters with experience and achievements, but he edited it right down to the two words he’s most passionate about: sustainability and people. So let’s find out a little about Tom’s story, the passions behind those two words, and how he uses PRINT® and flies the flag for it so extensively. Welcome, Tom, to the Now...why? podcast. It’s an absolute pleasure to have you here. My first question to all of our guests is: tell me about the first time you encountered PRINT® and some of those ‘aha’ moments you had.

Tom: Amazing. Thank you, and thanks for having me. I’m looking forward to sharing a bit about my experiences beyond PRINT® and PRINT® itself. The first time I came across PRINT®, I was still in my CEO role with a company called Kinetic. The progress we made as a business led to it being sold to a US plc in 2021, and that US plc was subsequently bought by another US plc in 2023. It was there that the CEO of the much larger organisation — Ritchie Brothers, now RB Global — was a huge fan of PRINT®. I’d never come across it before, but she was a huge advocate and really pushed it through the wider business of four or five thousand colleagues.

Tom: So my first experience of PRINT® came through the influence of the parent company. Having done 4D Insights, Myers-Briggs, Belbin and variations thereof, I was absolutely blown away by the insight and the power of the insight that PRINT® gave. I didn’t find it myself; it came to me. But recognising the benefit, the power and the agency it gave me as an individual and gave my team, I’ve subsequently become a really keen advocate for it with the clients I now deal with in my advisory work.

Kay: Tell me about when you first did that discovery session, got your profile and then saw the profiles for your team as well, because I know that was a real moment for you, wasn’t it?

Tom: It was. We’ve had this conversation off the record, but it really was an ‘aha’ moment. It was uncannily, unerringly accurate and in a much deeper way than the somewhat equivalent things I’d done before. The emotions, the threads, the triggers, when I’m at my best and when I’m perhaps not at my best — it all became so obvious. I hadn’t realised it in my previous 25-year career history. I kind of knew it, but I didn’t have the language to codify those descriptors, describe myself to others, or understand the causes of my motivations, behaviours or reactions.

Tom: That moment was absolutely huge. It gave me clarity and a bit of agency: it’s absolutely right that I would respond and react in this way because this is what motivates me. That was really powerful. Then understanding it for the board team I was leading at the time was super powerful for them too — understanding each other at another level.

Tom: It also created a whole raft of other benefits in terms of permission: being more positive about calling out unhelpful behaviour, or recognising and celebrating Best Self and positive behaviour. I could talk all day about this, so I’ll leave it there for now. But my ‘aha’ was understanding me better, and in doing that it really allowed me to understand others better. It was just so powerful.

Kay: I think that’s really interesting — being able to codify something and have it written in black and white, something tangible about things you probably intrinsically know. Even the things where you sometimes think, ‘That sounds quite sharp — is that really me?’ And then all those wonderful Best Self behaviours.

Tom: Absolutely. Tick, tick, tick. I recognised all of those. It was unusually accurate. If I were to score Best Self and Shadow Self out of ten for accuracy — an exercise I tend to do with my clients — it was ten out of ten on both. Recognising it is one thing, but the really helpful bit is: why is that? What are the triggers, and how do you mitigate them? You can be mindful and consciously aware of these things in both Best Self and Shadow and actually do something about them.

Kay: And I think that point around unconscious motivators is important. PRINT® brings something you inherently know, but which is subconscious or unconscious, into a conscious framework.

Tom: Exactly. That is the power of PRINT® because it codifies it in a way that is consistent for everyone who undertakes it. You’re not talking a different language for every person or colleague. Everyone exists on the same spectrum, so you can talk the same language around different triggers, motivators, Best Self behaviours and Shadow Self behaviours. It all sits within a consistent framework.

Kay: I love the fact that it was introduced to you by an organisation you became part of. There’s almost this pollination between organisations, and you’ve really done the same through TR Advisory by bringing PRINT® to your clients.

Tom: My career has been really varied. The foundation was built in plc banking, then I moved into food redistribution, advisory, salvage and back to advisory. There isn’t a huge amount linking those things other than my motivators: I like to get results, and I like to be where I’m needed. I now run TR Advisory — I am the ‘TR’ in TR Advisory — and I advise ambitious businesses, generally businesses that perceive they could do better, be better and see potential in themselves and their industries.

Tom: My role is pretty varied. Sometimes I’m in a light-touch board advisory role, advising shareholders and management teams. Sometimes I’m much more involved, for example writing an independent business review that says: here’s where you’re good, here’s where you’re not so good, here’s what you could do to be better, and these are my recommendations. If they want, I can then stick with them to implement and embed those recommendations.

Tom: Most of it is with an eye on value creation, and the flip side of value creation is exit readiness. PRINT®, teams and high-performing teams are a key part of my toolkit because nothing happens without people. Having picked up all these other tools through my corporate career, transformations and exits, the PRINT® piece has actually been foundational.

Tom: You can’t do anything without a cohesive, aligned, motivated team. If you can make that team a high-performing team, so much the better. PRINT® is one of my foundational steps with clients. If we’re going on a journey together, it’s going to be challenging. It’ll be bumpy, there’ll be disappointments, stresses, strains and differences of opinion. We should start with this first. So I use PRINT® as a foundational step in creating the high-performing team my clients will need to deliver value creation and transformational change — to take the business from where it is to where it could be.

Kay: It’s really interesting because I’ve had the pleasure of supporting you with some of those very senior teams, with PRINT® as that foundational piece. We’ve done that over a number of months as the first step towards what things look like going forward. Can you share some of the impact PRINT® has had for those teams after they’ve been profiled and had a discovery session — particularly how their unconscious motivators show up as a board, an SLT or an organisation?

Tom: Lots of people in private businesses sadly don’t get much personal development. That’s a sweeping statement, but I think the hypothesis holds true. If you founded a business from your garage, or your grandfather or father passed it down to you and that’s all you’ve known, you wouldn’t necessarily know what else is out there. The power of PRINT® in these businesses is massive because it may be one of the few things they’ve ever done that is about them personally — about personal development. The best investment you can make is the one in yourself.

Tom: They might have role-specific training, health and safety and all of that, but this helps me be more effective not just as a colleague or member of staff, but as an individual. The key benefit, as I’ve seen it, is that it gives colleagues permission to call out unhelpful behaviour in a really safe, constructive way. It’s about disagreeing without being disagreeable. You’re challenging the response, the idea or the behaviour — not the person.

Tom: PRINT® gives you that toolkit, language, framework, permission and agency. That’s particularly powerful in a family or private business where there may not be the established professional language or decorum for disagreeing agreeably, or for challenging the idea or behaviour rather than the individual.

Kay: And that is huge, because one of the foundational principles of a high-performing team is solid relationships. Everything you’ve just shared is a wonderful example of team dynamics, whether it’s a purely professional relationship or a family-run business where you also have the dynamic of brother, father, son, daughter — whatever that might be. That adds another layer of unconscious motivators, relationships, the best version of us, and who we turn up as.

Tom: Absolutely. The interesting point around boards and management-team effectiveness is that you want to avoid groupthink. It’s amazing how many traits or unconscious motivators follow through family heritage. Just knowing that is powerful because it’s very easy to sit in an echo chamber, particularly towards the top of a business or any organisation.

Tom: People are often drawn to someone because they think the same way. As comforting and reassuring as that might be, it’s probably not the recipe for a really high-performing business. Diversity of approach, thinking and motivation matters. Knowing those different motivators and styles allows you to ask: have I got balance? Have I got diversity of thought and motivation across my business and my team?

Tom: If a father, son, daughter and another sibling are all of the same mind, that can become an echo chamber. In the family-owned and private businesses I work with, I often see more concentration of similar PRINT® numbers because several board members are from the same family. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s about knowing it, and then watching out for groupthink and a potential lack of diversity or challenge in the thinking.

Kay: I love that. For me it’s always about application. You can do as many profiles as you like and get a colour, letter or number, but the whole point is: how do we use it? What do we do with it? How can it help us? You’ve told that story beautifully. If you were to share one golden nugget of best practice for anyone listening — whether a coach or somebody interested in PRINT® — what would it be?

Tom: If it wasn’t obvious already, I’d say: do it. Do it ahead of some of the other team tools. There’s nothing wrong with any of those, but for me there is more impact with PRINT®. That comes from direct personal experience, having done many of the others, which were really good and helpful too.

Tom: This isn’t good versus bad; it’s good, better, best. For me, PRINT® is the best. It’s not a panacea or a magic bullet, but anything you do after PRINT® will be better informed in the context of the individual and the team. It works really well from a company and line-manager perspective, but also for an individual managing their own career.

Tom: If you thrive on praise and recognition and the culture of a business doesn’t provide that, you may never feel fulfilled or happy despite consistently delivering. There’s a mismatch between the environment you’re in and the things that unconsciously motivate you. Knowing those things is really helpful for individual career management, whether that means moving within a business or deciding to move from one organisation to another. And it’s equally helpful for a manager to understand the motivations of their team. What’s not to like about that?

Kay: It’s really interesting. You’re not an accredited coach, but you are absolutely an advocate for understanding the tool, its application and the tangible benefits you’ve experienced for yourself and those around you. I love the pollination that’s happened as a result of somebody coming into your organisation and delivering PRINT®.

Tom: Absolutely. I’ve had the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time in a number of ways. That’s possibly the story of my career. I’d like to think some of it was capability, but quite a lot of it is hard work, and then the balance is luck and timing. I’ve been fortunate to experience these things, because that is part of the benefit I try to bring to family and privately owned businesses that wouldn’t necessarily know about some of them.

Tom: There’s no point in me doing the same things a business already does — they can probably do those better anyway. My job is to bring a different perspective, a different network, different thinking and different tools that I’ve been lucky enough to use over my career. PRINT® is one of those.

Kay: And I think all of those things you’ve shared show how those two words from the beginning — people and sustainability — really shine through. So a question I ask all my guests: if you were to describe your unconscious motivators in whatever shape or form you want, how would you describe yours?

Tom: I’m a 3/2. First and foremost, my unconscious motivator 3 is to get results — deliver results. So it’s no surprise I’ve always leaned towards results-driven roles in my career: business development, being set a target and trying to beat it. I’m like that outside work in lots of areas too. Then the 2 is very much about being needed and appreciated.

Tom: I thought about an analogy, and I’d say it’s a sheepdog. Stay with me on this. Think about a sheepdog: tons of energy, tons of enthusiasm, but hyper-focused when there’s work to be done. Really disciplined, really focused, delivering the job with loads of energy and enthusiasm. Then when the whistle goes and the job’s done, I’m partial to having fun running around — and partial to some acknowledgement and recognition afterwards.

Tom: Like a dog bounding up to its master, tail wagging furiously, wanting the praise and recognition for delivering a job well done. It took me a bit of time to think about how I’d describe it, but I think that is me.

Kay: I don’t think I’m going to be able to see you as anything other than a collie now! I ask all my guests one last question. We’ve got a motivational playlist and invite everyone to add their favourite motivational song. If you had to choose one, what would be your go-to tune that really gets that sheepdog going?

Tom: That’s a good one. Something you wouldn’t necessarily know about me is that I love dance music and house music. I DJ on SoundCloud — for anyone who wants to come and join my other 231 followers! I’m really into music. I’ve got thousands of digital tunes in my digital record box, and I play at various places and parties as well as releasing mixes.

Tom: So it would be a house music tune: Fatboy Slim, ‘Praise You’, 1999 — the year of my graduation, living my best life, everything ahead of me. It’s such a classic tune. It’s my go-to favourite tune of all time for a whole heap of reasons, musically as well as the memories it connects me to.

Kay: It’s a pleasure to add that to our list, and every time I hear it now I’m going to think of you bounding through a field chasing sheep! Before we wrap up, if anybody wants to get in contact with you, what’s your preferred method?

Tom: LinkedIn, preferably. I’m also available by email through TR Advisory. I’m not sophisticated enough — you’d be surprised to know — to have websites and all that good stuff. I’m on LinkedIn as Tom Rumboll, with a nice picture of me and the Queen from a Queen’s Award some years ago, and there’s the TR Advisory LinkedIn page. Or, if you like house music, I’m on SoundCloud as well.

Kay: Marvelous. It’s been an absolute pleasure. I’ve loved talking to you today — what fun. Thank you so much for bringing your experience to life and sharing it with all of our listeners.

Tom: No problem.

Kay: Thank you all very much for listening. This has been a great episode. Remember to like and share, and join us next time to hear more wonderful stories from people who love PRINT® and advocate for it. Thanks, Tom, for joining us.

Tom: Thanks for having me. Thanks, Kay. Take care. Bye-bye.