About Simpli5
Discover the story behind Simpli5 and our commitment to transforming the way people work together.
To help companies scale with less people friction and keep teams performing at their best.
A future where work becomes a place of energy, clarity, and joyful human connection.
How Simpli5 Began
From the outside, Karen Wright Gordon's first business looked like a triumph. As a seasoned telecom executive, she had scaled the company to $10 million in ARR. But on the inside, the team was on the brink of burnout. Despite the financial wins, the work lacked joy, and Karen knew something had to change.
That change arrived when she met leadership expert Michael Sturm. His 5 Dynamics framework for understanding work styles — Explore, Excite, Examine, Execute, Evaluate — didn't just save her team; it transformed them. Friction turned into flow, and burnout was replaced by genuine collaboration.
Karen saw a bigger vision: a way to bring this clarity to every organization. She acquired the intellectual property and spent years refining the science, blending neuroscience and psychology into a scalable platform. In 2018, this evolved into Simpli5.
But Karen knew that assessments often fail because they are one-time events. To create lasting change, she and her team introduced SenSai, an AI-powered coach that integrates Simpli5 insights directly into the daily workflow of both individuals and teams.
Today, Simpli5 solves the most expensive problem in business: people friction. By providing a common language and real-time coaching, Simpli5 isn't just a tool for efficiency — it is a way to make work more human, more effective, and more joyful every single day.
The Science Behind Simpli5
Mike Sturm, the creator of the 5 Dynamics methodology, was an educator, psychologist, and psycho-educational consultant in the Northeast with decades of experience.
The 5 Dynamics starting point assessment was inspired by his experience researching how to improve student/teacher outcomes in the classroom and was influenced by Gestalt Psychology and process thinking.
He spent over two decades rigorously researching and refining the assessment. Guided by Thurstone's theory of "just noticeable differences" and a 7-point Likert scale, he found an inverse relationship in length and accuracy — the shorter the assessment became, the more validity and reliability actually rose.
Today, 5 Dynamics is the lifeforce behind the Simpli5 platform, helping thousands of people become more self-aware and more satisfied in their work and personal lives.
Built on Principles That Last
Human-Centered
Simpli5 builds systems around how people actually think, learn, and behave — not how frameworks say they should.
Clarity → Action
Understanding is only valuable if it leads somewhere. Simpli5 makes the complex simple so teams can move forward with confidence and speed.
Purposeful Innovation
We build what lasts, not what trends. Simpli5 designs forward-thinking solutions that solve real problems and stand the test of time.
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