How Optevo's CEO Wins With People First Leadership

Andre Williams is the co-founder and CEO of Optevo, a teamwork software to collaborate and get things done. He’s also an active voice on LinkedIn, building community and leading discussions on leadership.

Williams was “raised where your self-worth was determined by your production” but has evolved his perspective to be a people-first leader. From team building to human-centered design, to making a difference for all stakeholders around Optevo, Williams approaches his role as CEO with many of the leadership principles he discusses online daily.

You Can’t Have Results Without People

Williams’ people-first approach is unusual in Silicon Valley, especially after the recent release of the Isaacson biography of Elon Musk, who famously believes that you can have either results or empathy but not both.

Williams flatly rejects that premise. “Trust me, I’m focused on results. But I can’t have results without people.”

Williams has a unique and empowering belief about people. “There's nothing that makes one of us better than the other,” he says. Williams has assembled a team that complements each others’ skills, but more importantly, they believe in each other, trust each other, and are aligned behind a common objective.

“It's all about the team. We nurture each other.” The team is the foundation for delivering a human-centered product that is both effective and user-friendly.

Getting the Best From Your Team

Growing up in the South in the 1960s, Williams remembers hearing a DJ say, “We're all stars and we shine in our own way.” Decades later, Williams is still applying this principle to get the most from his team. His strength is in tapping into the passion and insight of his team.

“No one person can do everything well,” Williams says. That doesn’t mean he has low expectations or isn’t focused on business objectives. Williams is soft on the person and hard on the business problems. They share a common focus, and they work hard to deliver on it. “This is our religion. This is what we believe in, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

An Open Mind and Fluid Thinking

Strategy is important, but execution is everything. So what does Williams do to ensure his team executes on the right projects? He starts by shifting his perspective, to “put myself in the situation to look at this from the outside in.”

Then he collects feedback from employees and customers. The key is to “have an open mind and fluid thinking.” That’s what allows him to assess and adjust direction.

Add Some Soul or It’s Just Code

Williams embeds his human-first approach into his products as well. “What we do really well is listen to our customers and research what's going on in our industry.” From that foundation, the team at Optevo looks for compassionate humanistic solutions.

All business problems involve people, so the solution has to consider the person using it.

As Williams says, “Somehow we've got to put some sort of humanistic or soul in it. Otherwise, it's just code.”

Work Life Shouldn’t Be Your Life’s Work

Like most CEOs of small tech companies, Williams is “getting his butt kicked” most of the time. When you’re trying to get everything done today before the next day brings in more work, it’s hard to remember to keep an open mind. Williams has developed the self-awareness to know when he’s past his limit. “When I can’t see past the tip of my nose, a switch goes off.”

In that moment, Williams slows down and broadens his perspective. “I put everything down and I look around the room. I look at my dogs, at the trees, at the sky. I take a second to think about what life is, and how I want to spend the time I’ve been given. What have I done to help someone else?”

The moment of reflection brings Williams back to a broader, calmer, fluid way of thinking. He takes a moment of reflection during the day as needed but also each morning and evening to book-end his day. Research shows that reflection is one of the most effective ways to improve your performance. Williams has it built into his day.

Make It Easier for Others

“Sometimes we get so focused on what we have to do that we can’t see the rest of the world.” Williams lived that firsthand. He had times in his life when “there wasn’t enough time in the day. I was trying to do everything today, and before I knew it, I wasn’t running my day. Everything else was.”

After being run by life, Williams grew his self-awareness and put structure into his day so he wouldn’t fall back down the same hole. As co-founder of Optevo, his goal is to make it easier for others to avoid that path as well.

People First

Everything Williams does is rooted in people. From building a team to product features and design to the overall mission of Optevo, it’s all human-centered. Business is fundamentally about people, and Williams walks the talk.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash