The Journey Matters.

This has been my lived experience. We all move through life playing different roles. I’ve played many—some better than others—but each has taught me something worth holding onto. The Journey Matters is a place for those lessons: reflections on life, travel, culture, leadership, and the quiet wisdom earned along the way.

Today, my roles include entrepreneur, author, speaker, strategist, husband, father, recovering tennis pro, aspiring guitarist, and an unapologetic believer that some of life’s best thinking happens on a motorcycle. I serve in national leadership with USTA Coaching, helping shape the future of coach education and the sport itself. I’m also the founder of Ian Symmonds & Associates and the creator of FirmSmith, an incubator for purpose-driven consultants and founders. At my core, though, I’m a teacher and a student of culture—deeply committed to the transformational power of education and allergic to hypocrisy and self-absorption.

This site is shaped by a living body of work I often call Things I’ve Learned—short reflections, patterns, and truths collected through work, travel, leadership, failure, and renewal. Some of it is my own thinking; much of it is borrowed wisdom. In a digital world full of noise, I’ve stepped back from performative social media and recommitted to sharing work that aims to add value, invite reflection, and contribute—however modestly—to healthier humans and communities.

You’ll also find interspersed my shortlist of the unmissable: moments, miles, and places that have stayed with me—iconic stops, hotels, roads, coffee shops and eats worth noting along the way.

I live and work in Southern California and travel extensively for consulting, board leadership, racket sports, and personal exploration. If you’re looking for my research, consulting work, or speaking engagements, you can find that at iansymmonds.org.

The Journey Matters, though, is something different: a record of movement, meaning, and the belief that how we travel through life is just as important as where we arrive.