About
As technology reshapes how organizations communicate, make decisions, and compete, the leaders making a meaningful mark are often those who recognize what innovation cannot replace: human judgment, trust, empathy, and connection. Dr. Anthony L. Simmons, PMP, CAPT, USN (Ret), brings this perspective to leadership development, combining decades of experience in demanding global environments with a forward-looking approach to organizational performance.
Today, as President and Founder of Sixth Gear Consulting, LLC, Dr. Simmons helps organizations strengthen leadership, organizational wellness, and performance while navigating an increasingly technology-driven workplace. His philosophy reflects a simple but consequential belief: effective leadership is not defined by the number of people willing to follow, but by the number of capable leaders one helps develop.
That perspective was shaped through 28 years of service in the United States Navy. During his career, Dr. Simmons held four at-sea command and CEO-level assignments, operated across high-stakes and volatile environments, managed multi-million-dollar national assets, and contributed to the development of more than 1,200 personnel. His experiences also took him across more than 60 countries, providing firsthand exposure to different cultures, organizational dynamics, and approaches to human interaction.
Rather than leaving those lessons within the military environment, Dr. Simmons transformed them into a foundation for helping contemporary organizations address complex leadership challenges.
Through Sixth Gear Consulting, based in Chesapeake, Virginia, he works across executive leadership and career coaching, strategic organizational design and communications, talent management, engagement, team development, and organizational wellness. The firm takes a research-based and actionable approach, tailoring its work to the strategic objectives and realities of each organization.
Central to this work is Dr. Simmons’ focus on the relationship between Human Intelligence (HI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). At a time when businesses are rapidly integrating AI into their operations, he cautions against allowing technological capability to weaken the interpersonal abilities upon which healthy organizations depend.
His view of AI is particularly distinct: it should be understood as a multiplier rather than an enabler. Technology can process enormous quantities of information and expand existing capabilities, but information itself does not guarantee sound decisions. Dr. Simmons points to lessons from consequential moments such as 9/11 to illustrate that possessing data and knowing how to interpret, prioritize, connect, and act upon it are fundamentally different things.
For organizations, this means AI should complement HI rather than displace it. Strategists, analysts, and leaders must remain engaged in interpreting information, exercising judgment, and considering the human and ethical consequences behind decisions.
The name Sixth Gear Consulting itself reflects this philosophy. Dr. Simmons describes a “common (sixth) sense” approach that brings instinct, emotional intelligence, and practical human awareness back into organizational decision-making. Body language, tone, eye contact, active listening, empathy, and self-awareness may appear basic, yet they become increasingly valuable as workplaces grow more digital, distributed, and technologically dependent.
His research into inter-organizational relationships, combined with decades of international experience, reinforced his conviction that many organizational problems are ultimately relationship problems. Sixth Gear Consulting therefore works to help leaders and teams rebuild mutual trust, understand themselves more clearly, and develop the ability to meet others halfway.
Dr. Simmons has further translated his leadership thinking into Championing Organization Wellness (C.O.W.), a best-seller-recognized book that incorporates his Coaching Triangulation Model as part of his approach to strengthening organizational wellness and leadership effectiveness. The model reflects his emphasis on creating meaningful alignment among the people, relationships, and leadership practices that contribute to healthier and higher-performing organizations.
Another important dimension of his work is the A.C.T. Concept, Appreciate, Communicate, Trust—which he associates with the APEX (Accelerated Pathways to Excellence) Performance Podcast. APEX reflects the pursuit of practical pathways that help individuals and organizations move toward sustained excellence. Through A.C.T., Dr. Simmons emphasizes the importance of appreciating people and perspectives, communicating with intention, and establishing the trust necessary for meaningful relationships and organizational performance.
Equally important is his concept of “upside-down leadership.” Instead of viewing leadership primarily through authority and control, Dr. Simmons approaches leaders as servants and coaches working alongside co-equals. The objective is not simply to manage people at their existing level of capability, but to help aspiring leaders evolve beyond it.
That philosophy is reflected in what he considers among his most rewarding accomplishments: seeing former understudies advance beyond his own achievements. For Dr. Simmons, their growth represents leadership succeeding exactly as intended.
His approach to diversity and inclusion similarly emphasizes connection, appreciation, and cultural understanding. Rather than allowing differences to become organizational dividing lines, he encourages leaders to create environments where people can better understand and value one another while remaining connected to a shared purpose.
Looking ahead, Dr. Simmons is extending this mission through the APEX Performance Podcast, alongside continued engagement with education systems to strengthen relationships and help address turnover. His broader ambition remains focused on helping organizations align culture, strategy, people, and technology without surrendering the human qualities that make sustainable performance possible.
As AI continues to redefine the workplace, Dr. Anthony L. Simmons represents an emerging vision of leadership that does not resist technological progress but insists that progress remain anchored in humanity. Through Sixth Gear Consulting, his writing, coaching, Coaching Triangulation Model, A.C.T. Concept, and APEX Performance Podcast, he is advancing a message particularly relevant for 2026: organizations may accelerate through technology, but their ability to thrive still depends on people who know how to trust, connect, serve, and develop one another.
