Richard Domikis

Rich has had the great fortune to work with amazing people and customers during his career. One customer shared “Rich, I have a super intelligent staff, but I also need people who think about things differently.” Another customer Hondo embodied his self-proclaimed mantra “Fail Fast.” Hondo wanted his teams to take risks to innovate and realized that his mandate means there will be failures and the key was to fail fast, learn and evolve. Rich admits he was lucky to work with folks that genuinely want to understand not just the solution but the path and logic that created that solution. 

Innovation comes from taking a different mindset and path to solve a problem. It is fraught with risks, complexities and many that will say “it won’t work” or “I wouldn’t do it that way.” Success is the path that recognizes risks but isn’t afraid to fail in order to grow. Rich encourages those to find others who embrace innovation.

When he was younger he raced open-wheeled formula cars competitively. He learned that one thing was always clear: if this part fails, he will likely crash and get hurt. With that in mind, he gained a certain appreciation for the impact of decisions and actions. The actions of putting together a car and the thought process behind it  doesn’t create fear it creates attention to detail and a process to truly make good decisions. 

While he doesn’t often put his body at risk anymore, he still thinks about past designs and decisions with that same “decisions have consequences” thought pattern. 

Along with the fact that “you don’t win going slow.”