Leon Simpson

Experienced Business Professional | Executive and Corporate Advisor

Relationship to Tony: Professional colleague who brought Tony Torres into a confidential corporate consulting engagement during a major reputation crisis.

Worked Together On: Corporate reputation strategy, crisis response, executive decision-making, credibility, messaging, and high-stakes strategic consulting. Specific details of the engagement remain confidential.

Professional Background: Leon Simpson is an experienced business professional whose career has included extensive work alongside executives, consultants, and corporate decision-makers. His experience in boardroom and high-stakes business environments has given him firsthand exposure to how organizations and leadership teams respond when reputation, credibility, and difficult decisions collide.

Leon Simpson on Working With Tony Torres

I’ve spent my career around executives, consultants, and decision-makers. I’ve sat in more boardrooms than I can count, and one thing I’ve learned is that when a company is in real trouble, everybody suddenly becomes careful with their words. That’s exactly when you need somebody who’s willing to tell the truth.

I first worked with Tony Torres when I brought him in as a consultant on what became one of the biggest corporate reputation crises of my career. Because of the confidentiality agreements surrounding that engagement, I can’t discuss the company or the details. What I can tell you is what I saw.

Tony was a young buck. He was also one of the least senior people in the room. Most folks would’ve kept their head down and waited for permission to speak. Tony didn’t.

While everyone else was talking strategy, messaging, and trying to soften the situation, Tony spoke up and asked, “So what do we do once everybody finds out this was technically a lie? This has already literally blown up in our faces.”

You could’ve heard a pin drop.

It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t wrapped up in consultant language. It was honest. More importantly, it was the question everybody needed to answer, whether they wanted to or not.

That day taught me something about Tony. He doesn’t confuse honesty with popularity. He understands that protecting a company’s reputation starts with protecting its credibility. You can’t build trust by pretending the truth isn’t eventually going to show up.

After that meeting, I caught up with him in the elevator and asked him where he found the nerve to say something like that. I figured he must’ve been afraid of nothing.

He laughed and said, “Oh no, I had a lot of fear. I thought I was going to shit my pants. The first step to being brave is admitting to yourself that you’re afraid. If what you’re doing is really the right thing, then it’s easy to do it.”

I’ve carried those words with me ever since.

Over the years, I’ve found they apply to just about every difficult decision a leader has to make. A coverup almost always gets uncovered. Facing a problem head-on may not be the easiest path, but it’s usually the one that gives you the best chance to earn people’s trust back.

If I ever found myself dealing with another major reputation crisis, Tony would be one of my first calls. He has the rare ability to break through an echo chamber, tell leaders the hard truth, and do it for the right reasons. That’s not something you can teach. It’s who he is.

I’ve worked with a lot of smart people throughout my career. Very few had Tony’s combination of courage, judgment, and conviction. I recommend him without hesitation.