Future-Focused Leader Spotlight: Paul Maloney, Newest Principal @ Jump Associates

We’re excited to announce that Paul Maloney is Jump’s newest Principal. As a senior advisor and future-focused leader, Paul has spent his entire career helping some of the most admired companies in life sciences, retail, and climate tech navigate the pressing challenges of our time. Paul is a longtime advisor to many senior executives, a mentor to dozens of startup founders, and a member of Game B, a network of thinkers focused on confronting existential risks and discussing the future of our species. Paul was a partner at ZS Associates and holds a B.A. in Evolutionary Biology and Psychology from Harvard University. He’s also a New England native and a father of two.

Paul fits right in at Jump. From teaching himself to code in order to create proprietary financial models to making game-changing process improvements in client communications, Paul is hybridity incarnate. His ability to combine his technical acumen with a deep understanding for what others need has helped countless clients and friends figure out what’s next.

Now it’s time for Paul’s next adventure. Paul believes that we need a different approach to the ambiguous challenges we’re all facing, especially as business leaders. We need a new way of thinking. It’s no wonder that he’s joined us here at Jump, where our purpose is to transform lives through learning and growth. Whether he was teaching high schoolers in post-civil war El Salvador—even returning 20 years later to advise women-led startups—or transforming the business of a CEO who swore off consultants, Paul has always helped others see new possibilities through his work. Together with Jump, he’s ready to guide clients and Jumpsters alike to navigate the uncertainty ahead.

We sat down with him to discuss his illustrious career and understand why he’s excited to start this new chapter at Jump.

Q: You were at ZS Associates for 25 years and wore many hats while you were there. How did you evolve over that time?

If you ask my friends from college if I’m the kind of guy who stays at the same company for 25 years, they'd say, “Hell no.” But the very simple reason was that I was able to repeatedly reinvent myself. I would get what became known as my “two-year itch.” Every 24 months, almost to the day, I'd be like, “I'm bored, I need to do something different.” I learned very early on in my career that I didn't want to do what everybody else was doing. I’m the kind of person who wants to figure out where there are glaring and problematic gaps in an organization, and how I can fill them.

For example, when I was assigned to the new product forecasting team, I was tasked with being sort of the right-brained guy who was supposed to work with clients and facilitate discussions, but I got really excited about the left-brain technical side of things. I taught myself how to code and built these proprietary models and simulation engines that Excel wasn’t even designed to support. So, I built the entire strategy and modeling infrastructure for a portfolio optimization system for drug candidates, and then I designed and executed the facilitation process on the client side — all from scratch.

Q: You said it took a decade to build the trust that allowed you to close a $2 million deal in 30 minutes with only sketches on a whiteboard. How did you build that trust?

Trust = (Credibility x Reliability x Intimacy) / Self-interest

You need to be credible: do good work and know your stuff. Reliability means you answer when they call. They say, “Jump” and you say, “How high?” Intimacy means that you know about their kids, the books that they're reading, and what they do in their free time on the weekends. I developed friendships. It’s not just about good work. You break bread and develop a relationship as well.?

The key to that equation is the denominator. You want to minimize your self-interest in order to maximize trust. My teams and I at ZS would turn down business or even suggest awarding projects to our direct competitors when we felt it was in our clients’ best interest. We worked hard, consistently delivered, and stayed out of the limelight. As a result, the relationships that I was able to develop with my clients were characterized by deep loyalty. When you have deep intimacy and trust with a client, they share their problems with you, and when you know their problems, you bring new capabilities to them.

Q: What’s your superpower?

If you asked anybody who’s worked with me what distinguishes me, they would probably all start with the same word, which is “innovation.” I emphasized my technical chops in the early days, but when I went from focusing on practice areas to focusing on clients, I focused on their strategy. I focused on their future. I focused on how they were innovating. My mind is always thinking in possibilities. Everything I’ve done has involved building something from scratch — building, launching, growing, going on to the next thing, and having all that stuff compound. So, I don't like fixing broken stuff. I like building new things.

Q: What drew you to Jump?

Jump is looking to the future. I love looking to the future. Jump’s purpose statement — to transform lives through learning and growth — has been my career purpose. How do I learn? How do I grow? How do I develop? How do I get my clients to transform? How do I get companies to transform?

Most legacy consultants will emphasize demonstrating expertise, which means that they impress clients with how clever they are. What Jump does is show clients how smart they are. It's not how smart I am as the consultant. It's what the client is capable of. What I see Jump doing is deploying methodologies, working shoulder to shoulder with clients, and creating conditions where clients truly thrive and own their transformation. And when Jump leaves, that transformation is permanent.

Years ago, when I first attended an event at Jump, I was blown away by how people were acting out what I knew in theory, practicing it, and embodying it. You could see it in the interactions, and you could feel it in the space. That's how purpose is defined. Jump truly embraces the first principles behind things. For example, what are the first principles behind DEI? Most diversity initiatives are about quotas and ticking boxes, and making sure that you don't get in trouble on social media, as opposed to really embracing what it means to have a diverse group of people. But I walk into Jump and there’s not just diversity of sexual orientation or of race or ethnicity. There's a diversity of thinking and a diversity of ideas. And there's an embracing of difference for the power that it brings.

Q: What’s one thing you’re looking forward to doing with Jump?

I'm really aggressive about pulling young talent out over their ski tips. I want promising talent to assume levels of responsibility that we wouldn't necessarily think they’re ready for but that they can grow into.

Paul’s colorful work history is a crash course in daring to try new things and to live and learn with purpose. Here’s to a new beginning with Jump. Connect with him to learn more.