Zia Consulting’s Mike Mahon Awarded Titan 100 for the Third Time

Mike Mahon,
Founder & CEO of Zia Consulting

Upon being awarded into the Hall of fame, Mike shared, “being a Titan of Industry for three years in a row is a great honor and I do not take it lightly. I know that trust and partnership are earned and I am humbled by the great leaders, partners, employees, and customers that support my innovation and push me to be a better leader.”  The Titan 100 program recognizes Colorado’s Top 100 CEOs and C-level executives that are the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry using criteria like demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision, and passion.

Mike’s Proudest Accomplishments

When asked about his proudest accomplishment over the last two years, Mike said, “I am most proud of my team’s growth. When I say growth, I mean four things: 1) team development, 2) personal development, 3) company growth, and 4) innovation. My team has gained 15% growth in staff and increased 66% growth in top-line revenue. They have worked innovatively to sell new offerings with our partners’ products and focused on creating value to our customers and partners. The pandemic brought a lot of uncertainty and fear. Our goal was to be calm in the storm. The team was able to center around a rallying cry of connectedness, innovation, and growth. That got us past the uncertain times.”

He went on to say, “in 2020, we focused on the theme ‘Calm is Contagious’ by meeting with our employees every month to learn about new technologies, different leadership strategies, and data-driven decisions that spread a sense of ‘calm is contagious.’  Along the way, I asked people to be the Chief Learning Officer of their life.  However, I think it is better phrased as the Chief Growth Officer of their life. I asked them to please continue to learn and find ways to apply how we operated at Zia. Our team focused on creating value for our customers by looking at the past successes, intellectual property, and new technologies that Zia could bundle to save time and money for our customers. We asked our employees to focus on the relationships they had with each other, and to expand their relationships with partners and customers.”

Mike Mahon’s career has always involved having a passion for people and creating an environment where staff are at their very best in their work and personal lives. To Mike, it is not just about getting the job done. It is about getting the right things done and doing it in a way that does not leave you depleted or disempowered. He also believes that leaders can’t be “jerks along the way.” Instead, a good leader is honest, open, vulnerable, and appreciative of the small wins. People who work with Mike know that he has an open door policy to talk about whatever is in the way of being happy and effective at work. Mike believes, “listening is the best quality that leaders can have. Leaders have the most to gain from being curious, flexible, and agile both in how they learn and how they lead teams to work.”

Every company creates company values. Mike has worked hard to ensure that these are truly integral to every decision. The passion with which Mike implements company values creates excitement and consistency both across the organization, and within customer and partner relationships. To Mike, integrity is core to the business practices and applies equally to their relationships with clients, partners, and employees. Zia delivers great solutions to their clients, treats partners with respect, and takes care of employees. Mike says, “having this be central to the way we do business has served us well for almost 20 years.”

Mike describes their core values and company culture as a differentiator in our business. In his words, these values include:

1. Compassionate and Caring: You get what you want out of life when you help enough people get what they want. Your family matters and finding and exercising balance is key. We foster an environment where people focus on being smart and get their stuff done. We have a policy called Uber Flex Time, which gives employees the same luxury that business owners have—control of their time. As long as there is good communication and deliverables are met, employees can attend a doctor’s appointment, son’s play, or daughter’s game in their own time.
2. Awesome Smart: Agility is key, and embracing change is important because it is constant. I ask employees to be brilliant in form, actions, and decisions. I also ask them to always learn from their failures and successes. Great communication is required at every level, including between partners, within internal coaching sessions, and among the customers with whom we work.
3. Driven: Finish what you start! Take responsibility and blame no one. Measure what you want to achieve. Be unstoppable, persistent, take ownership, and have tenacity.
4. Get The Right Things Done: Sometimes the right thing is not what the customer is asking us to do. It’s ok to say no and speak your mind. Seek first to understand, not respond. It takes strength and humility to know your strengths and weaknesses.
5. Zia Family: We care about our people, and that means customers, partners, and employees. We also believe it is important to have fun. Work as a team and lean on each other. We provide coaching and support, and our team knows they can always ask for help. It is also important to take the time to develop each other, and to remember to have fun when spending time together. Just as in life, work is to be enjoyed. 

How Mike Describes Effective Leadership

Mike believes you can measure your effectiveness as a leader by the people you take care of and the results you drive. The company values come through when he says things like, “be generous by treating employees, partners, and customers equally around a core of integrity. At Zia, we call this our EPIC value proposition. This means that while the customer isn’t always right, we will always do right by the customer. It also means that we will create an environment where employees can thrive, be with their families, and still drive amazing results for our customers. It means that when we choose to partner with technology companies, I’m accountable for ensuring that we treat our partners’ businesses with the same care in which we treat our own. Lastly, taking care of our employees looks different. Wicked smart people don’t need to be micromanaged. They like to be trusted that they will get the job done and take their ideas to another level. Our employees have the flexibility to to their child’s school events, make doctor appointments, go skiing on a powder day, and create their own schedules. I believe that success takes care of itself when a leader is aware of all of the things that customers, partners and our employees need.”

Mike co-founded Zia Consulting in 2003 and continues to provide invaluable focus on the company’s mission, vision, culture, and cash flow. His team enjoys working with him and holds the highest respect for his leadership. Zia co-founder and EVP Pat Myers shared, “Mike’s vision and ability to create a culture that makes people want to work for Zia has been a big part of our success. He pushes us to support our clients, employees, and partners around a core of integrity. This means having the honest, open, and sometimes challenging conversations that many leaders won’t have. Mike helps people see problems differently and consider solutions they would have never thought possible. His passion to continually grow and take care of the people he cares about is contagious and inspires employees to grow in ways that push themselves beyond their typical limits. We are very proud of his accomplishment and know that we are fortunate to benefit from his leadership.”

Looking into the Future

Mike believes the industry is going to go through a significant upheaval in the coming years. Opportunities will be endless given the amount of change, new technology, and difficult problems to solve. Mike shared, “I want my company to continue to grow, innovate, and use their deep relationships with our customers and partners to be the stabilizing force in a crazy world. We have shown we can do that by focusing on creating value and strengthening relationships with our Zia family. I know that we can grow and become trusted confidants for our partners and customers as we move into the future.”

When asked about the legacy he wants to leave behind, Mike said, “I want to be remembered as a caring and compassionate CEO that grew a great business, took care of people with integrity, and remained true to my values. I want to exit my business in a way that allows it to continue to thrive in my absence and provides financially for the shareholders and employees that helped it grow. I also hope that my leadership inspires the people I’ve worked closely with to see that it is possible to build a great company, both financially and culturally, and to share in the wealth creation that comes from that endeavor. Lastly, I want people to remember that they should live life fully along the way. I’ve lived by the mantra that there is no such thing as work-life balance. Instead, there is a life well lived. I made a vow to my wife almost 30 years ago that we would live a life of adventure, and you can not do that if you just focus on work. I’ve worked very hard in my career, but I’ve also always focused on taking the time it requires to nurture friendship and deep relationships with family, friends, customers, and partners. It might mean getting up very early to get work done before spending the day with family. Still, I’ve never regretted taking a vacation and getting less sleep. I only remember the wonderful moments I’ve had.” 

Mike urges future leaders to, “find a mentor or group of mentors that you can learn from and will challenge you to be your best. You can avoid problems, work through likely outcomes, and avoid costly decisions with the right group of people in your corner. Be the Chief Growth Officer of your life and encourage your family, friends, and employees to do the same. You will need to challenge assumptions, learn your way through mistakes, and apply what you have learned from books, mentors, and lessons learned. Lastly, be interested, not interesting. It is very easy to spend time thinking about your own problems, having quick answers to questions, and thinking you are the tip of the spear for most things in your life. I’d challenge you to listen to understand, respond thoughtfully, and question your assumptions.”

Mike Mahon, President and CEO of Zia Consulting

Mike is highly effective at developing business units, software teams, and sales teams into high-performing entities. Mike is passionate about building culture and teams that are thriving, personally and professionally. He believes it is important to empower people to live a good life by thriving at home, in business, and in their social circles. This has enabled teams to innovate, collaborate, try new technologies, and harvest old knowledge and apply it to new problems. This has led to growth, and new partnerships, services, product offerings, and customers. He is a board member of the Colorado Thought Leaders Forum (CTLF) and the Titan 100 organization.

About Zia Consulting

Zia Consulting is an award-winning system integrator of enterprise content management (ECM), process management, document capture, and cloud sharing technologies. We address the needs of enterprises to better manage, process, and secure documents by automating business processes and enhancing information governance. Our vertical accelerators for insurance, mortgage, accounting, manufacturing, and more are utilized by some of the world’s largest enterprises to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and mitigate risk. For more information visit www.ziaconsulting.com.