Sarasota leadership consultant buys out partner, emphasizes results

Sarasota leadership consultant Robyn Faucy is fond of saying ‘so what?’ to motivate clients. So much so oftentimes those clients make up pens, T-shirts and other merch with the two-word saying. One nonprofit client even had ‘so what’ shirts handed out to the organization’s entire board. 

‘So what,’ to Faucy, is a call to arms when an organization cites statistics: Sure, you had 100 parents sign up for a program, or doubled the amount of people who came to your event over last year. But are those attendees showing tangible improvement? Are those clients getting better at whatever the mission of the organization is? Those are the results Faucy seeks for clients. 

The company Faucy is CEO of, aptly named Results 1st, is going through its own ‘so what’ moment. Faucy recently bought out her business partner, consultant and author Hal Williams, in a planned succession. And the company, which has worked with 135 organizations in the past four years, is also adding a personal development component to the organizational work it’s been doing. Faucy says this is her time to, in another phrase she’s fond of, “walk in her purpose.”

Faucy and Williams met a decade ago. She was CEO of the Neuro Challenge Foundation for Parkinson’s in Sarasota and attended a leadership class Williams taught in Bradenton. That’s when Williams introduced Faucy to the ‘so what,’ results matter concept. He recruited her to start the business with him, with an eye toward taking it over someday.        

Courtesy image

The idea behind Results 1st, according to the firm’s client pitch, is to guide “nonprofits, foundations, corporations, civic groups and other organizations to use result tools to transform virtually everything they do. We do not bring new helpings to your heaping plate. We help you to more effectively use and activate what is already there. The principle is always present: start with results and then design approaches to achieve them.” (About 85% of the firm’s clients are nonprofits.) 

“We don’t plan for four months and say, ‘let’s give it some time,’” Faucy says in an interview. “We plan for 30 minutes and say ‘let’s take action.’ 

“We take people,” she adds, “from inspiration to activation.”

A look at Faucy’s backstory, and Result 1st’s methods of working with clients, reveals some other key leadership lessons, in addition to digging into your ‘so what.’ The list includes persistence sprinkled with patience; beginning with the end in mind; accepting the help of others; working and living with intention and purpose; and consistent gratitude. Faucy talks about those lessons and more with clients, and in keynote presentations she’s delivered the past few years at conferences, events and even a TedX Talk in Sarasota. 

Choices and curveballs

Faucy was born in Boston and moved with her parents to Sarasota when she was four. Her dad died when she was 12 and her mother struggled financially; her mom worked as a CNA and eventually went on welfare. “There was a period of time where we survived on government cheese,” Faucy says.

Faucy went to youth staples like the Boys & Girls Club and Girls Inc. growing up. She attended New Directions High School in Sarasota, which was, she says, the district’s last-chance, dropout prevention school. “I was a very bad teen,” she says. “I made some really bad choices.” 

She eventually turned around her education track and life, first at Hillsborough Community College, where she graduated with an associate degree in the honors program. She later earned a bachelor’s from Florida State and a master’s in organizational leadership from USF.    

Then another life curveball: Soon after graduating FSU, her son was born. And she was a single mom. “I was broke, broken, unemployed and depressed,” she says.

Faucy got help from programs like Manatee County Head Start, where she also found work, as a family advocate. “That’s when I realized I really wanted to help people,” she says. 

Four pillars

Faucy’s late spring 2021 transition from running a nonprofit, Neuro Challenge, to running a for-profit, Results 1st, that helps nonprofits, was treacherous, she recounts in a June 16 LinkedIn post. “I was terrified, excited, depressed and exhausted from a year of Covid, keeping the nonprofit I was CEO (of) thriving during a pandemic and my marriage coming to an end,” she wrote. “I had no idea when I’d be paid next. I had one prayer: God, please just let me get enough business to pay my rent. I’m still grateful that prayer continues to be answered.”

Results 1st uses four pillars with clients. Those pillars, in part, include:  

• Define what the results are, not “ just ‘deliverables’ such as plans and recommendations,” the company says. “In strategic planning, retreats, fund-raising or anything else, we see success as successfully using a framework, not just creating.” As such, Results 1st has a warranty. “If you do not believe we added significant value,” its methodology sheet states, “you can dock our pay by any amount you choose.” 
• It works with sparkplugs and ‘Go First’ people. “Our style is to get promptly into motion with those ready to act,” the company says. 
• Efficiency is everything. “We work through projects,” the company says. “New tools and approaches are put to use immediately. This, we believe, is how adults learn.”
• The company’s goal, going back to ‘so what’ and walking in your purpose, is to be change agents. “In order to start or strengthen your results journey, something must be done differently. Nothing changes if nothing changes.”