From a podcast interview featuring Alicia Suessmith, President, Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations
In this episode of CEO Growth Talks, host Pete Hayes talks with Alicia Suessmith, President of Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations, an IT asset disposition company that has grown alongside the data center and AI infrastructure boom.
Calling on Alicia's background in HR and people leadership, she recognized when Dynamic had reached a critical inflection point: when strong reputation and solid service alone couldn't open the doors they wanted to open. She walks through how Dynamic evaluated their marketing gaps, brought in a fractional CMO through Chief Outsiders, and built a more disciplined go-to-market approach without overextending their budget or resources.
For CEOs navigating similar growing pains, the conversation offers an honest look at what it takes to professionalize a marketing function from the inside out.
“We knew that we were reaching a point in our growth cycle where what got us to where we were was not gonna get us to where we wanted to be.”
Alicia Suessmith, President, Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations
Follow Alicia Suessmith on LinkedIn
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[Episode Transcript]
[00:00:00] Pete Hayes: Well, hello everybody and welcome to this edition of CEO Growth Talks. I'm your host, Pete Hayes, and I am just delighted to welcome Alicia Sue Smith, who's the president of Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations. And, uh, we're, we're thrilled to have her on the program today. 'cause one, she's been a client of Chief Outsiders for a pretty good period of time.
[00:00:24] Pete Hayes: But what a story dynamic Lifecycle Innovations is in the IT asset. What's the, what's the, what's the it, a d part of that? How does that
[00:00:35] Alicia Suessmith: Disposition?
[00:00:36] Pete Hayes: Disposition? Right. So if you're in that business, you know, you end up if, and most of our listeners probably will not be actually in that world. Uh, but data centers go through a lot of gear.
[00:00:48] Pete Hayes: And that's your main target, right?
[00:00:50] Uhhuh
[00:00:51] Pete Hayes: is data centers and, and you just tell us what you do for large data centers.
[00:00:56] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah, yeah. So data centers as one of our key client groups. So where Dynamic started was in ITS at Disposition focused on corporate, uh, users. So
[00:01:06] Pete Hayes: yeah,
[00:01:06] Alicia Suessmith: I think any organizations who. Really care about the security of their data and where their electronics, their corporate electronics go at the end of their life cycle.
[00:01:17] Alicia Suessmith: So organizations like Dynamic will work with think, think finance, healthcare, telecom those kinds of organizations that have really sensitive enterprise or customer data. Um, and have environmental concerns. So Dynamic comes in and helps manage their fleet of assets at the end of their life. We do serialized tracking, um, whether onsite or in our facilities.
[00:01:43] Alicia Suessmith: We do data erasure, data destruction, and then we do light repairs and resale through e-commerce and wholesale channels and provide revenue shares back to our customers. So that's kind of where we got our s. Start. And then within that, thinking about client devices and client assets, we also manage their data center assets.
[00:02:03] Alicia Suessmith: And so think about in this world of AI and the explosive growth of AI and cloud computing the needs as it relates to data centers and whether that's you know, completely decommissioning and re. Building to meet the new demands of you know, whatever that is. Speed processing different types of, you know, graphics, whatever that may be to, you know, relocation services and everything in between.
[00:02:32] Alicia Suessmith: So our, our business is definitely. Exploded more on the data center side within the last couple of years, and we continue to serve kind of on, on both. And so that corporate IT or corporate corporate, um, enterprise customer as well as the data center customer,
[00:02:48] Pete Hayes: and that just kind of reflects the shift from kind of the desktop and server world into the cloud world.
[00:02:55] Pete Hayes: So, so much more of the gear is now, you know, in a remote, situation. Yeah. Or hybrid, so forth. Yeah.
[00:03:03] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah.
[00:03:04] Pete Hayes: We're I, I wanna get to the data center discussions in a minute, but let's, let's, let's dial it all the way back. 'cause your story at Dynamic is really quite interesting. 'cause your background is maybe not where you would think, I mean, I, I don't think of you as an engineer or a technologist or, I think if you, as a people person.
[00:03:24] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah.
[00:03:25] Pete Hayes: So tell us about your journey. How did you, how did you become the president of Dynamic?
[00:03:30] Alicia Suessmith: Sure. Well, um, you know, joining the company, it'd be 12 years this summer. And really starting the company in, um, in their people function and dynamic is, at the core, really a people focused business. Our founder is.
[00:03:44] Alicia Suessmith: Got into this business to influence the lives of others positively. And they wanted to do business, and they wanted to do business the right way. So having a people leader and a people influencer who was able to be part of that executive leadership team throughout the years to help guide and advise on the people aspects of the bus business decisions we were making was really strategic for them.
[00:04:08] Alicia Suessmith: So that's where I got my start at Dynamic And then.
[00:04:13] Pete Hayes: Now, did that put you onto the leadership team?
[00:04:16] Alicia Suessmith: Yes. At
[00:04:16] Pete Hayes: some point in that role.
[00:04:18] Alicia Suessmith: Yes. And it was very different back then, right? So, 12 years ago we were a much less mature business, small, much smaller than we are now. And so it was a really a great opportunity for me to get in and be really a student of the business as it grew.
[00:04:33] Alicia Suessmith: So really paying attention to the way we were making decisions and why, and what mattered to us. As our customers evolved and our industry evolved, it was just really important to be. To be tuned into that. And throughout that time I was able to take on different projects within the business that, you know, either areas that needed some strategic leadership needed some change, so took on other various shared services and strategic company projects, got involved in our scaling up strategy and moved into more of an EVP or right hand to our president.
[00:05:07] Alicia Suessmith: And
[00:05:07] Pete Hayes: then, hey, let me ask, let me ask you, when, when you were. I mean, you came out of this kind of professional, uh, HR if you will, people, your people side of the business. Did you have ambitions to, to run a business, and did you come into this business with any sort of notion that that was potentially in the future?
[00:05:26] Alicia Suessmith: It's a great question, Pete and I, I think I did. You know, coming into to this company, I was, I was young and really, and even in college, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew that I wanted to, to lead a business. I'd always been kind of tagged as a leader, you know, as I was growing up and things also, um.
[00:05:48] Alicia Suessmith: My family, uh, growing up my, my dad owned a business and so I was always around business, you know, account inventory to buy my first car and filing papers and just always around business. And it was always something that I, I had an interest in. So when I went to college, got into hr, it was because it was a people person.
[00:06:07] Alicia Suessmith: I was like, all right, I'll settle on this. I like people. I, I, I, um, you know, I'd always been told that being able to influence people was a, is, was an important, um, ability to have. And so that's where I, and just kind of set off in my career knowing that I wanted to make a difference and didn't know exactly where that was gonna lead me.
[00:06:25] Pete Hayes: Yeah. Were were, were there any, um. Important figures. I mean, I'm thinking with your background, you might have been looking at Patrick Lencioni and Table Group and were there folks like that and authors that, that you read that were kind of maybe a guiding light in in, in that stage?
[00:06:44] Alicia Suessmith: You know, at Dynamic we do a lot of continuous learning, so I've read a lot of books in the last, uh, 12 years for sure.
[00:06:52] Alicia Suessmith: As an organization we follow Jim Collins principles quite a bit. So, the, but there's been many, but I would point to, to, to that author was really a great influence.
[00:07:03] Pete Hayes: Yeah. Good to Great.
[00:07:04] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah.
[00:07:05] Pete Hayes: How the, how the mighty fall. Ouch.
[00:07:07] Alicia Suessmith: And yeah.
[00:07:10] Pete Hayes: Well, that's awesome. So what it, it sounded like it was a, over, over the 12 years and you've been in the role of president for how long now?
[00:07:18] Alicia Suessmith: Not long. Uh, it is only been about six months.
[00:07:21] Pete Hayes: Okay. Well, fantastic.
[00:07:22] Alicia Suessmith: Still learning.
[00:07:23] Pete Hayes: Wow. What, what has been the change? Stepping into that overall organizational leadership role, what have you had to, what have you had to learn from here in this last six months? What's the, what's the learning been like?
[00:07:37] Alicia Suessmith: Hmm, great question. A lot. So I had been leading the IT ITSA disposition side of our business for the last three years, and we have an entire side of our business that's recycling. So, doing EPR, which is extended producer responsibility, we help, we help OEMs satisfy the EPR law requirements in certain states through our physical recycling processes.
[00:08:03] Alicia Suessmith: So I, um, am now leading that side of the business and so making sure I'm leaning into ensure you know, that everything is running well on the recycling side. So there's that. And then taking all of the additional shared services under my. Oversight. So really trying to understand where everything is at and where everyone's go.
[00:08:21] Alicia Suessmith: You know, setting goals and all in alignment with the company's goals and you know, getting to know the people a little bit better.
[00:08:27] Pete Hayes: So you, so you are one of these best places to work. Um, yeah. Which is interesting. I mean, you, you, you're te tell us about your workforce, the kinds of, the pockets of roles, the ages of people and you, you, I've, I've seen your recruiting, or at least I saw a recruiting video from some years ago, but it was incredibly uh.
[00:08:50] Pete Hayes: Enthusiastic about your core values and how the company lives them. And so give us a sense for what that looks like and, and how, how somebody else is perhaps listening to this can maybe dig a little harder. 'cause, 'cause frankly, Jim Collins, if that's one of the folks that you, you know, kind of structure run your business by.
[00:09:08] Pete Hayes: It's not nearly as much of a, a people oriented, uh, leader. Uh, other than I guess level five leadership, it starts with humility.
[00:09:18] Alicia Suessmith: Mm-hmm. But, uh,
[00:09:19] Pete Hayes: tell us about how that, how that works, about how the, the business part works with the people part and how your core values are lived out and such.
[00:09:28] Alicia Suessmith: Sure. Yeah. So our core values stem from, of course, our founder.
[00:09:33] Alicia Suessmith: And, you know. They cascade through the executive leadership team and through the organization. That's where it starts. I don't think your core values are anything that you read in a textbook or in a book and decide, I want this one or that one. It's just truly what's in the hearts of the people that are setting the direction for the company.
[00:09:52] Alicia Suessmith: So our core values are important to us. They're, they're important to us when we, when started the company 20 years ago, and they're really important that the remain intact evolve, of course, with us, but at the, the core to stay int intact as we grow. And in doing that, you know, you'll see 'em on the walls and every one of our conference rooms in our workspaces, um, they're in our performance reviews.
[00:10:14] Alicia Suessmith: So every six months when people get reviews, they're, you know, we talk about our values and how those are showing up every single morning. We have daily huddles with each of our teams, and the daily huddle ends each day with one of our core values or purpose or our mission. Um, so we hire two our core values.
[00:10:32] Alicia Suessmith: So this all lives in our people. So it's not developed by our people department, it's developed by our leadership, but it lives in the way that we do things from a people standpoint.
[00:10:42] Pete Hayes: Yeah. And it
[00:10:43] Alicia Suessmith: reminders and yeah,
[00:10:45] Pete Hayes: it just, it seems, um. I guess it's really admirable that it's such a core component to not just the sign on the wall, but that you, a sign that you're living it out is bringing attention back to not just the core values, but vision and mission and, and reviews every six months.
[00:11:04] Pete Hayes: That seems, that seems like a pretty nice pace compared to other industries that I'm familiar with.
[00:11:10] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah. Well, it's important, like I said, to our founders, to, to develop people to improve the lives of the people around them, and that has remained from year one to year 20. It was interesting. I was talking to a prospect last week and they said, Hey, I heard Miles say that this is not about.
[00:11:32] Alicia Suessmith: The money. What a can you help us understand that? And it truly, for our founders is not about the money, it's about the lives that they can influence. Of course, we care about winning and we want to grow profits in order to be able to invest back into our people and the communities and the things that we care about.
[00:11:50] Alicia Suessmith: Of course, we wanna do that, but what drives us, the purpose within us really is about. Creating a great place to work for people, empowering them to better them, to better their lives and the lives of people around them. And that's at the center of everything that we do. And of course you know, if you, if you treat your people well and you provide a foundation like that, they're gonna wanna take care of your customers that are gonna want to you know, if they're the right people, which we vet out in the interview process, then they buy into that and that motivates them as well.
[00:12:20] Alicia Suessmith: And so it's really a beautiful kind of. Orchestra of all those things,
[00:12:25] Pete Hayes: you know, we found out in our business and we, we also hire to our core values and I'm, I'm sure you've ever seen them, but 'cause we don't use them as a marketing device. We, we use 'em for recruiting, but we were using performance index.
[00:12:38] Pete Hayes: We were using a PI diagnostic to try to. Hey, is this person a captain, a adventurer, and so forth?
[00:12:45] Alicia Suessmith: Mm-hmm.
[00:12:45] Pete Hayes: And after several years, we look back and this was just recently this past year, and we discovered that there was no relationship between a PI result and success in our business.
[00:12:57] Alicia Suessmith: Hmm.
[00:12:58] Pete Hayes: And we, we scratched our heads and we go, I want wonder what other data we might have too.
[00:13:02] Pete Hayes: To help us figure this out and we ask every one of our prospective Chief Outsiders to write an essay around our core values.
[00:13:10] Oh.
[00:13:10] Pete Hayes: And it turned out that AI was able to differentiate between a group of people that were highly successful and a group of people that failed.
[00:13:20] Alicia Suessmith: Interesting.
[00:13:21] Pete Hayes: And and it became a rubric for us.
[00:13:24] Pete Hayes: So we actually get a score. And it it, yeah. And I know you're a, a fan of Jim Collins now, and you know, humility was one of the things that was able to sense in the, in the writeup. You know, I did this or we accomplished this together. Mm-hmm. And we celebrated. And we all won. And anyway. So, well good for, good for you that you, uh, live into those things.
[00:13:44] Pete Hayes: Okay. Let's get back to the data center thing. You guys are on an interesting end of the, of the AI of Madness, I'll call it.
[00:13:53] Alicia Suessmith: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:54] Pete Hayes: And can you explain that to us?
[00:13:57] Alicia Suessmith: Sure. Yeah. So for where we come in is, um. Serving the data center in the, on the decommissioning side. So we have customers that we serve on just a regular maintenance basis when they're upgrading, changing whatever that is.
[00:14:12] Alicia Suessmith: So we take their end of life equipment, end of life to them, right? Mm-hmm. So we will wipe and, uh, repair and resell and provide revenue share. Back. So we will do just kind of maintenance type of work, and then we'll also do entire, you know, decommissioning of massive data center environments. Um, and then with our in-house recycling capabilities, that really differentiates us in terms of the data security and, uh, chain of custody.
[00:14:40] Alicia Suessmith: We have our own white glove teams, so teams that go in and do the d racking, we'll do the onsite wiping right there at the, at the customer site.
[00:14:50] Pete Hayes: So, so the mad rush to build more AI data centers that's one thing, but in, in the world where you, it typically operate, if we think of current cloud providers and people have the masses of racks and so forth, that, that as stuff comes out, then that comes into your business as people are, I guess I'll call it retrofitting or upgrading or augmenting.
[00:15:14] Pete Hayes: More classical computing with more AI based GPU based.
[00:15:20] Alicia Suessmith: Exactly. And the other thing I'll say is that data centers are kind of at the center of scrutiny for use of resources. And we have some really nice offerings with our, not only our. ESG calculator and but also our carbon inside offering.
[00:15:38] Alicia Suessmith: So we're able to provide them some data that, that they can use to demonstrate how they're working to offset their carbon in carbon footprint and be able to use the insets potentially in their carbon accounting.
[00:15:52] Pete Hayes: Wow. Well that's really interesting to hear that, that part of the business. So, you guys have been on a roll and you've been participating that over the last decade, perhaps.
[00:16:02] Pete Hayes: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, you said 12 years.
[00:16:04] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah.
[00:16:05] Pete Hayes: You reached out to Chief Outsiders. Well, tell, tell me what, what caused that and, uh, what that experience was like. 'cause uh, I'm sure folks that are listening would like to know.
[00:16:14] Alicia Suessmith: Sure. Yep. So, as I mentioned, being kind of a student of the business over the last 12 years, and it's been fascinating to see how we've changed.
[00:16:21] Alicia Suessmith: Changed and evolved. When I started we didn't even have a marketing person, so, you know, it was that long ago and that, that, um. Stage of maturity for us. So, kind of saw when we hired our first marketing person, hired our next one, you know, upskilling marketing talent over time and doing our best with what we had.
[00:16:42] Alicia Suessmith: One point, we just had one of our salespeople doing marketing too, right? And so I came from a really marketing heavy organization and industry, so I was surprised when I came here to see that. Anyway, fast forward to when we reached out to Chief Outsiders is we knew that we were kind of reaching a point in our growth cycle where what got us to where we were was not gonna get us to where we wanted to be.
[00:17:05] Alicia Suessmith: And we knew that we needed to make a massive investment in sales and marketing as our accelerator because we had. A really strong reputation in the industry, a really amazing service offering you know, customer experience and you know, wonderful things. Just really a launchpad. And it, it occurred to us that we either needed, we needed awareness, maybe it was a messaging thing, but it was really ripe for opportunity in professionalizing and upskilling.
[00:17:39] Alicia Suessmith: With when it comes to sales and marketing. So we reached out to, several agencies and talked through kind of our needs and we looked at big and small and really Chief Outsiders was right in that sweet spot for us. And you know, the first conversation I had was with Aurora Toth. And she just really represented Chief Outsiders well, I mean, the first conversation that I had with her, we were, I just, I wanted to hear more.
[00:18:06] Alicia Suessmith: To chat more. We were finishing each other's sentences. It just felt like she knew exactly what dynamic, exactly where we were in our growth cycle, and she was telling me exactly the things we needed. So our needs were really around at the time. We had a marketing function in place. A few people, and they knew that we needed to level up, but they weren't sure exactly how.
[00:18:29] Alicia Suessmith: So, um, we, we chose Tara. And, uh, Tara came in and initially it was a, just an evaluation. What does Dynamic have where are we at? And then helping to identify everything from, you know, our tech stack, our talent, our our budget, our connectivity with sales, our leadership orientation to marketing. And she gave me kind of a readout and recommendations.
[00:19:00] Alicia Suessmith: And then we, we got to work.
[00:19:03] Pete Hayes: . And what was your expectation when you first started?
[00:19:05] Pete Hayes: Uh, it sounded like it started with this assessment of some sort to start with, but.
[00:19:10] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah, no, it was, um, it was an assessment. There were some things that I kind of suspected or things I thought we may need to do, and it was really getting a professional executive outside view from someone who's been there and done that.
[00:19:26] Alicia Suessmith: There was really no marketing true marketing. Background and expertise and dynamic. We were just doing our best. So we needed that person to come in and Okay validate and evaluate. And so initially we had expected this to go for maybe six to nine months and, um, and we're still going. So we ended up keeping Tara on as a fractional executive working with us.
[00:19:54] Alicia Suessmith: Uh, just kind of in the day-to-day, week to week, helping us set strategy goals, marketing plans, leading our team and can be happier.
[00:20:02] Pete Hayes: Wow. Well that's great to hear. That's, that's what we like to do. Are can, can you comment on what's being, so there's, there's, there's kind of the function being managed and hopefully upleveled.
[00:20:16] Pete Hayes: Do you have a sense for what things are gonna look like if Tara is to leave? If she had, will she have built something that you're able to continue to run when you're done? Since, since we're still going sometimes look in the rear view mirror, but maybe you can look out to what you're expect expecting on the other side of this.
[00:20:33] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah. So the reason Tara is still here, uh, is intentional. So we ended up moving on from our former, uh, head of marketing and instead of. S replacing that person. Tara's actually just stayed with us and so it, her still being here doesn't represent that, you know, things didn't go well at all. It really is about our intentional decision to, to keep Tara in place.
[00:21:00] Alicia Suessmith: If, if we didn't have Tara, I think she has built a sustainable, she's made some real sustainable changes within dynamic the. And, and one thing I've appreciated about her is, again, bringing marketing experience to us and helping us understand, uh, what is out there in terms of insourcing and outsourcing the things that we need to do in marketing and sales, and doing it in a way that optimizes our spend instead of increases our spend.
[00:21:29] Alicia Suessmith: Mm-hmm. Um, you know, just thinking about. My chair of p and l management in both wanting to grow top line, but also to manage expense. She's done a beautiful job of towing that line or, or striking that balance.
[00:21:44] Pete Hayes: Yeah. We have a lot of folks that will just think of the marketing function and, uh, so many of our people come from larger organizations that have larger budgets and larger teams.
[00:21:56] Pete Hayes: And yet what one of the first things they do is look around to say, Hey, what can we cut? What can we, what is not producing? What is, you know, what is not delivering on its, uh, on its promise. And that's good to hear. Yeah. We're, yeah. I'll just use a word that we're, we're starting to kick around. Inside Chief Outsiders, we're using an expression called durable value.
[00:22:16] Pete Hayes: And it's an expression that private equity companies are, are looking for too. When they, when they make an investment in just say, consultants or external entities, they're, they're, they, they want more than just the advice. They want something that's gonna last in, in their companies that they have.
[00:22:33] Pete Hayes: Mm-hmm. So, heading that direction with you too, Alicia.
[00:22:37] Alicia Suessmith: Yeah, and I'll say that is one of the hesitations that we had was, you know, Tara had come from Estee Lauder and you know, other, and looking at the other chief outsiders that we interviewed coming from really big. Companies, right, with big budgets and lots of resources, and we weren't necessarily that.
[00:22:56] Alicia Suessmith: So that was a hesitation inside dynamic is, hey, is she gonna know how to get things done with the resources that we have available to her? And, uh, she absolutely has.
[00:23:07] Pete Hayes: Wow. Well, that's good to hear. Well, this has been really a lot of fun, Alicia. We really appreciate hearing about your business. It, it's so interesting and very much a technology company, not just in support of technology companies, but, uh, you have so much going on for you, and congratulations on your continued growth.
[00:23:25] Alicia Suessmith: Thank you.
[00:23:25] Pete Hayes: And your, and your your success as the, as the leader there now.
[00:23:30] Alicia Suessmith: Oh.
[00:23:31] Pete Hayes: Yeah. Anyway, thank you for joining us and I'll just say goodbye to everybody else. Thank you everybody for joining us on this edition of CEO Growth Talks.