[Executive Forum Interview] Paul Simons

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of “Executive Forum” interviews this year with key industry stakeholders. This month, we hope you enjoy our one-on-one interview with Paul Simons, commercial director of global pest management, Dow AgroSciences, as he shares his insights about the pest control industry and the company’s future plans.
 

Six years after earning an advanced degree from Harvard Business School and becoming Commercial Director of Global Pest Management at Dow AgroSciences in 2014, Paul Simons has never forgotten his roots.

Growing up in a small rural Missouri town 50 miles west of St. Louis, he learned lifelong lessons that can’t be found in a textbook or gleaned in a college classroom, lessons that can only be taught by family.

It was in Washington, Mo. — population 14,000 — where Simons and his younger sister, Jill, gained important life lessons under the watchful eyes of their parents, Ed and Roberta Simons, at the family’s butcher shop, renowned for its national champion-quality smoked meats.

Ed’s Meat Market is a second-generation business founded by Paul’s paternal grandfather, Burrell Simons, whose family emigrated from Germany to this small Midwestern town along the banks of the Missouri River in the mid-1800s, simultaneously building a new life and laying the foundation for a new business.

“I grew up in small-town USA,” Paul recalls. “Working in a family-owned business, we developed a lot of close personal friendships over the years, and we saw a lot of poverty come through the doors of our butcher shop, but my parents always treated everyone the same,” creating a sense of community that attracted a steady stream of customers and a loyal, multi-generation customer base.

It’s a legacy that served the Simons family well for many years but one that became particularly important when the marketplace began to change seemingly overnight with the entry of a local Walmart store, in addition to a number of demographic changes that put Ed Simons’ livelihood — and his family’s economic security — at risk. “We had served several generations of families, but people began to move away, families got smaller and dual-incomes became the norm rather than the exception,” Paul observed. “My father quickly learned that families were no longer shopping the same way they had in the past, which was very disruptive to our business. The shop was still busy on Easter, Christmas and the Fourth of July, but business was dropping off the rest of the year as people stopped shopping regularly at their local meat market.”

Although Paul didn’t know it at the time, his family’s financial struggles and his father’s sleepless nights during that tumultuous period provided yet another valuable lesson that would serve him well later in life…always be prepared to adjust to market conditions that can change rapidly.

“It didn’t take my father long to realize that Sam Walton was about to disrupt his world,” Paul said. So his father adapted his business accordingly, providing services that Walmart couldn’t — or wasn’t likely to — provide, like producing deer meat sausage, national champion-quality bacon and bologna, and other highly specialized meats, and adding over-the-counter service to Ed’s Meat Market. “My father got very niche very quickly in order to successfully compete with Walmart.”

Ed also began to serve the local hunting community. “Hunters would bring in their deer and we would process the meat,” Paul recalled. “They would say, ‘I want a quarter made into sausage, another quarter made into jerky and the remaining half ground up into burger, and we would fill the order exactly as they requested.”

Ed Simons’ ability to adapt quickly to rapidly changing market conditions, successfully surviving a frontal assault by a multibillion-dollar retail giant like Walmart, speaks volumes about the tenacity and ingenuity of an entrepreneur committed to protecting his family’s livelihood.

Father and son had clearly been through a lot, weathering the storm together as a family, which made the next chapter of Paul Simons’ life — his decision to leave the business — that much more difficult. Although unspoken, it was always assumed that Paul — an Eagle Scout with an aptitude for math — would one day take over the family business. “In my junior year of high school, however, I began to feel differently, but I didn’t share my doubts with my father,” Paul said. “I had a passion for science and I wanted to pursue a career in engineering.” But the time never seemed right to broach the subject.

“I delivered the news my senior year. I said, ‘Dad I love you, but I’m not taking over the family business,’” Paul recalled. “It was one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had in my life.”

The fallout from that decision strained their relationship for several years, with Ed Simons operating Ed’s Meat Market while Paul eventually pursued his own dreams at Dow AgroSciences in Indianapolis, 350 miles away, yet not too far — at least emotionally — from his small-town roots in Washington, Mo.

PCT magazine sat down with Simons at the company’s corporate headquarters seven months after he was named commercial director of Global Pest Management, to gain insight into his long-term vision for the Dow AgroSciences pest management business, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Sentricon System this year. Excerpts from the two-hour interview follow.
 

PCT: When did you start working at Ed’s Meat Market?

Simons: My sister and I started working at a relatively young age. We would get done with school, and we would always have our chores to do at the store before heading home to do our homework. I’m sure it’s very similar to what many pest control operators experienced growing up in their family businesses. We were down there all the time. It was a family affair.
 

PCT: What did you learn from those early work experiences?

Simons: I learned that growing up in a family business requires a certain maturity level. When you’re 16 and waiting on a customer who is providing a revenue stream for your family, how you conduct yourself is important. I also learned that being a successful entrepreneur takes a sacrifice. What you’re saying to yourself is, I feel so passionate about my work that I’m going to sacrifice this other part of my life. As a result, I think you grow up much faster in a family business.
 

PCT: It sounds like you had a fairly strict upbringing and never really “rocked the boat,” as evidenced by the fact you were an Eagle Scout. Is that an accurate representation of your teenage years?

Simons: Growing up in a small community and working in a family-owned business, the drive to excel has always been there, and it’s pretty hard to get out of line, although I did a reasonably good job of it. My father and I went through some tough times, but our participation in Promise Keepers helped bring us back together. We got through it, and my father and I have a phenomenal relationship now.
 

PCT: After telling your mother and father that you wanted to go to college to pursue an engineering degree, it made your college choice even more critical. Why did you decide to attend the University of Missouri — Rolla (now the Missouri University of Science and Technology)?

Simons: I did some research and discovered they had a job placement rate of 99 percent. Growing up in a family business, I understood the full cost of what it means to hire an employee, so I wanted to make sure I was going to have a job when I graduated.
 

PCT: Once you graduated, did the connection to your family’s business stop?

Simons: No. Even after I got my first job at Kimberly-Clark, I’d still use my vacation each year to come back and work at the butcher shop during Christmas, one of the busiest times of the year for my parents. It was a way I could honor and respect their support of me growing up. So even though I had chosen a different path for my life, at those times when they needed my support, I wanted to be there for them.
 

PCT: What did you enjoy most during your eight years at Kimberly-Clark upon graduating from college?

Simons: Coming out of engineering school, I wanted to see the world, hoping to secure a position with a global company. After joining Kimberly-Clark, I achieved that dream, by actually working in four different countries — India, South Korea, Italy and Germany — in various capacities. I got to apply my engineering degree in a very practical way, and I got to do it in a global context, gaining a better understanding of product life cycle issues, R&D, patent law, logistics, operations and cultural differences. It was a unique and eye-opening experience.
 

PCT: What made you decide to return your focus back on the U.S. geography?

Simons: While working for Kimberly-Clark, two life milestones and large blessings occurred. I married my amazing wife, Katie. And the birth of our firstborn, Isaac. At the same time, our family decision was that I would go back to school, as I had applied and was accepted into the MBA program at Harvard Business School. Our second child, Sophia, was born while I was attending graduate school.
 

PCT: That’s a pretty dramatic life change. Why did you decide to go back to school after such a successful start to your business career?

Simons: I acted on the entrepreneurial bug. I wanted to meet unmet needs for real people and create real gross domestic product. If you can create something that generates jobs, you not only help your company, but you help society as a whole in so many ways. I wanted to narrow the gap between science and society, creating something tangible in the process.
 

PCT: What made you think you could apply and get accepted in the Harvard MBA program? That’s pretty heady competition.

Simons: I actually didn’t think I would get in, and didn’t even plan to apply to Harvard, but several leaders and peers at Kimberly-Clark encouraged me to apply. They said, “Paul, you may not have a particular skill set, but you always figure it out.” At the heart of it they were saying “I believe in you,” which for me was a huge encouragement. When I was finally accepted, I felt immensely blessed by their confidence in me; it was a life-changing experience.
 

PCT: What did you learn during your time at Harvard?

Simons: I learned how diversity of thought matters in your ability to listen and find solutions to problems. Every day I went to school with 90 different section mates from 45 different countries. To hear their perspective on a whole range of issues and professions — manufacturing, investment banking, non-profits, journalism, finance, etc. — was an education in itself. Half of your grade is based on your ability to communicate; you are required to advance the conversation in all of your classes at Harvard. Debate is encouraged, and it’s not uncommon for someone to challenge your premise for making a particular decision. It taught me to listen closely and think carefully before I speak. I quickly learned that thoughtful ideas — in fact, the best ideas — come from thoughtful listening.
 

PCT: You earned your MBA at the height of the Great Recession. The timing probably couldn’t have been worse. As a result, did you ever have any second thoughts about your decision to return to school?

Simons: Not really. While it was an uncertain time, with the country being in the midst of a recession, Katie and I were at peace with our decision to quit my role at Kimberly-Clark, and that attending Harvard was the right thing to do. We didn’t know how it would turn out, but we were confident it was where we were being called to serve. One of the unexpected blessings from that experience was being at Harvard Business School when they celebrated their 100th anniversary.
 

PCT: After earning your MBA, what initially attracted you to Dow?

Simons: Coming out of business school, I wanted to work for a company that had a real desire to meet unmet market needs, while investing in and valuing science and technology. Dow is that kind of company. I now serve at Dow within our AgroSciences division, and our mission is “science serving the needs of a growing world.” I believe passionately in that mission. There are more than 7 billion people on earth, and nearly half the world lives on less than $2 a day. Joining Dow allowed me to take my passion for science and technology and apply it to help feed and protect a growing world. That’s very important to me. Twenty-five years ago, when I had a conversation with my father that I didn’t know where life was going to take me, I had no idea my passion for science and my desire to serve something greater than myself would one day lead to a career at Dow AgroSciences.
 

PCT: In your role as global commercial director for Dow AgroSciences, what are your aspirations for the U.S. structural pest management industry moving forward?

Simons: It’s a continued commitment to innovation, stewardship and public outreach. For our industry on average it takes approximately 10 years and $250 million to bring a new active ingredient to market, so it’s essential to have a long-term commitment to innovation if you’re going to be successful as a basic manufacturer. You also have to address unmet market needs and listen to what your customers are saying. You also need to listen to the regulatory community and other industry stakeholders. That’s important because what you’re conducting basic research on today typically won’t play out for another 10 years, so you have to understand where the market will be 10 years from now, not where it is today. The Sentricon System is a perfect illustration of how innovation and creativity can change an industry. From the beginning, Sentricon has been about how to make the Certified Sentricon Specialists more efficient and profitable, while simultaneously and successfully addressing a serious pest problem for homeowners.
 

PCT: Given the flagship nature of the Sentricon System for Dow AgroSciences, what are you doing for its 20th anniversary?

Simons: We’re celebrating Sentricon throughout the year, but even more important than that, we’re going to continue investing in the product. The success of Sentricon is a reflection of our core competencies as a company, the drive for continuous innovation. Even though the product is now two decades old, we continue to invest in improving and enhancing Sentricon, making it even more valuable to a PMP’s business. Sentricon with Always Active technology has grown at a double digit compounded annual growth rate for the last four years, which demonstrates the growing value of the product and our commitment to continuous innovation.
 

PCT: You’re also responsible for the turf and ornamental (T&O) side of the business at Dow AgroSciences. What are your plans there?

Simons: We continue to invest in the T&O market. We have introduced three new products in the last three years (Defendor specialty herbicide, XXpire specialty insecticide and Gallery SC specialty herbicide). We are researching additional new active ingredients for the T&O market. For the past three years, thanks to a critical mass of innovation and our own strong process discipline, we have successfully advanced one new molecule per year into predevelopment of our pipeline. We intend to continue that trend into the foreseeable future. We have a critical mass of technology that gives us the ability to introduce new — truly unique — molecules to the market. Dow AgroSciences is growing faster than the industry because of our track record of being able to take molecules from our pipeline to successful commercialization.
 

PCT: What are some of the specific products currently in the R&D pipeline?

Simons: We like to say we have “something for everyone” in our pipeline across all our business units. Our company focus is on finding high-value solutions for our customers and their customers. While investment in our agricultural business is often most noted, we continue to invest in research for our urban pest management business. Along with our turf and ornamental track record, we continue to innovate for our subterranean termite business, and we are eager to introduce our new and novel business platform to the pest management industry, which we expect to pilot in the next 12 months.
 

PCT: What would be your parting message to our readers?

Simons: My final message would be first, thank you. Thank you to all of our customers and industry collaborators who have chosen to partner with us. Your support is greatly appreciated. Secondly, we at Dow AgroSciences will continue to deliver innovation to this marketplace to meet the needs of our growing world. For the most part, I believe that we tend to be a humble organization. That is important to me because when a PMP asks, “Have I partnered with the right company?” we want them to be able to answer “Yes.” That can only happen if we continue to put the customer first by constantly innovating our existing brands and continuing to invest in our R&D for new solutions. We plan to continue to do both.