William W. Simmons (executive)
William Wilson Simmons | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1912 |
| Died | 1997-10-11 |
| Occupation(s) | Business executive, strategic planner, futurist, consultant, author |
| Years active | Late 1940s–1970s |
| Known for | Director of Strategic Planning at IBM; co-developer of the Consensor; pioneer in corporate futures studies |
William Wilson Simmons (1912 – October 11, 1997) held a leadership role at IBM as Director of Strategic Planning during the late 1960s. He is acknowledged as a trailblazer in implementing futures studies within the corporate sector.
Biography
Simmons entered IBM in the late 1940s as a sales manager. Advancing through the ranks, he was appointed Director of Product Control for the Data Processing Division by the late 1950s. Later, in the late 1960s, he assumed the position of Director of Planning Systems based in New York. While in this capacity, he authored various papers discussing the "background and philosophy of the IBM Corporate Planning System."
After dedicating 25 years to IBM, Simmons retired around 1971 or 1972 and transitioned into independent consulting focused on strategic planning. Throughout the 1970s, he published numerous books and articles and penned his memoir, Inside IBM: the Watson years : a personal memoir, which provides an insider’s perspective on IBM’s corporate evolution.
In the early 1970s, Simmons co-developed "the Consensor," an innovative Audience response technology aimed at facilitating efficient consensus-building during business meetings. This system integrated anonymous input terminals, a computer processor, and a display unit to streamline group decision processes.
The Consensor
Developed in the early 1970s, the Consensor ranks among the first Audience response devices. Noticing inefficiencies in corporate meetings and drawing on his experience as a nonacademic futurist involved in IBM’s long-term planning efforts, Simmons pursued practical solutions to enhance group decision-making dynamics.
He partnered with Theodore J. Gordon from The Futures Group, who had pioneered initial audience response methodologies. Simmons tailored these concepts for corporate environments by enabling participants to submit anonymous feedback through individual terminals; aggregated consensus data was then instantly shown on a display. This method encouraged candid input while mitigating conformity pressures prevalent within IBM’s culture and many other organizations.
Applied Futures, Inc.
Following his departure from IBM in 1972, Simmons joined forces with Gordon to establish Applied Futures, Inc., dedicated to developing and marketing the Consensor system. A patent application was filed in 1972 and granted in 1973 listing Gordon and Becker as inventors; a subsequent patent filed in 1974 and issued in 1976 named Simmons and Marquis. Commercial sales commenced in 1974.
The Consensor utilized dials alongside indicator lights (red, yellow, green) to measure consensus levels on spoken questions, illuminating green when majority agreement was achieved. Although it achieved significant sales among corporations and government bodies, it encountered skepticism from traditional command-and-control management styles that distrusted consensus-driven tools. Simmons observed that top executives frequently resisted democratic approaches within hierarchical organizations.
In October 1984, Applied Futures was acquired by Brooks International Corporation and rebranded as Brooks Communications Technology International. After a management buyout at Brooks in 1986, the company separated as Communications Technology International Incorporated (ComTec). In 1992, Tom Campione joined and steered a transition from wired to wireless systems and from DOS-based to Windows-based software platforms.
Campione departed in 2004 to found Audience Response Rentals, LLC but reacquired ComTec in 2006. Due to substantial financial setbacks amid the U.S. economic downturn, ComTec ultimately ceased operations in 2011.
Selected Publications
Books, selected works:
- 1975. 1974-75 Exploratory Planning Briefs: Corporate and Agency Future Planning, Both Domestic and International. Center for Planning & Implementation, American Management Associations.
- 1977. How to Develop a Long-range Plan. Planning Forum.
- 1977. Exploratory Planning: Practice Summaries. Planning Executives Institute.
- 1988. Inside IBM: The Watson Era – A Personal Memoir. Co-authored with Richard B. Elsberry. Dorrance. A firsthand account of IBM’s evolution from the World War II period through the 1970s.
Articles, selected contributions:
- Thoroman, D. G. "IBM’s Approach to Strategic Planning." Long Range Planning 4.1 (1971): 2-6.
- Simmons, W. W. "Effective Practical Planning." Long Range Planning 5.2 (1972): 32-39.
- Simmons, W. W. "Issue Management as Both Challenge and Opportunity for Planning Executives." Strategy & Leadership 7.6 (1979): 15-18.
External Links
- A Computer That Sparks Collaborative Thinking By Martin D. Hirsch, December 6, 1981