Get to Know Our Experts: Taylor Tricarico

You have three decades of building, managing, and scaling business operations. What patterns or truths about business success have remained constant over that time?

Taylor: The fundamentals haven’t changed nearly as much as people think. Clear thinking, disciplined execution, and trust, those are still the core drivers. Businesses that win tend to be the ones that know who they are, know who they serve, and are willing to do the unglamorous work consistently over time.

The other constant is that complexity is usually self-inflicted. When things start to break down, it’s often because the business has drifted away from its core value proposition or overcomplicated how it delivers.

As an Executive Partner, you translate big-picture vision into action. What’s your own process for turning something abstract into something measurable and real?

Taylor: I start by pressure-testing the vision, making sure it’s actually clear and not just aspirational language. From there, I work backwards, what would have to be true in 12 months, six months, and 90 days for this to exist?

Then it becomes about sequencing. Not everything matters at once, so I focus on identifying the few critical levers that will create momentum. Once those are defined, we translate them into ownership, timelines, and simple metrics that tell us if we’re moving in the right direction.

The goal isn’t just a plan, it’s a system that creates clarity and accountability without adding unnecessary overhead.

You’ve worked with both pre-market startups and established businesses of all sizes. How does your approach differ between the two? Or does it?

Taylor: The principles are the same, but the emphasis shifts.

With early-stage companies, it’s about finding signals in the noise, validating demand, tightening the offer, and building just enough structure to support growth without slowing it down. Speed and learning matter most.

With more established businesses, the challenge is usually different. There’s already traction, but also layers, processes, people, and assumptions that may no longer serve the business. The work becomes about realignment, simplifying, refocusing, and sometimes making harder decisions to unlock the next phase.

In both cases, it comes back to clarity and discipline, just applied in different contexts.

At Open Eye, we pride ourselves on working with values-driven clients. How do you help clients stay aligned with their values while still making tough, bottom-line decisions?

Taylor: Values aren’t really tested when things are easy, they show up in the trade-offs.

My role is to help clients make those trade-offs explicit. When a decision is framed clearly, what we gain, what we risk, and what it means for the business long-term; it becomes easier to see whether it aligns with who they say they are.

In my experience, values and performance aren’t in conflict. The tension usually comes from a lack of clarity or a short-term lens. When you align decisions with both your values and a disciplined strategy, you tend to build something more durable.

You dedicate your free time to rehabbing and rehoming off-track Thoroughbreds, what drew you to that work? Are there any parallels between retraining racehorses and guiding businesses through change or growth?

Taylor: I was drawn to it because it’s meaningful, hands-on work, where you can see real transformation over time. These horses come off the track with a very specific kind of training and need to be reintroduced to a completely different way of thinking and moving.

There are definitely parallels. In both cases, you’re working with something that already has history, conditioning, and habits. You can’t just impose change, you have to understand what’s there, build trust, and introduce new structure in a way that allows for adaptation.

Progress isn’t linear in either world, and forcing it usually backfires. The best outcomes come from consistency, patience, and knowing when to push and when to give something space to develop.

It’s always fun to get to know our team through a little speed-round, so here’s a few for you!

Go-to coffee order? An Americano.

Your most trusted news source? A mix of sources, I try to avoid relying on any single outlet and instead look for patterns across perspectives.

Favorite song of the moment? “Blue” by Ingrid Andress.

The last live show you attended? I know this usually means music, but I’m not a big concert goer. The last live “show” I attended was the Defender Three-Day Event 5* Grand Prix at the Kentucky Horse Park.

How do you personally define success at this stage in your career? Has that definition evolved? It’s definitely evolved. Earlier on, success was more about growth and proving capability, building, scaling, achieving measurable outcomes. Now, it’s more about impact and alignment. Doing work that matters, with people I respect, in a way that’s sustainable. It’s also about creating systems and outcomes that continue to work without constant intervention. If the businesses I’m involved with are healthier, more focused, and better positioned because of the work we’ve done, that’s success.

In thinking about the current rate of technology growth and adoption in the era of AI, I’m curious about your thoughts on how the role and value of the consultant will evolve with it?

Taylor: AI will compress a lot of the execution layer, analysis, documentation, even parts of strategy. That’s a good thing.

What it creates more room for, and arguably more demand for, is judgment, wisdom, and experience. Those are the elements that determine how effectively these tools are used and whether the outputs actually move a business forward.

The role of the consultant becomes less about producing information and more about applying context, asking the right questions, and guiding decisions. AI can accelerate efficiency, but it doesn’t replace discernment.

At the end of the day, the outcomes still depend on how well someone can interpret, prioritize, and act. That’s where the consultant’s value not only remains, but becomes more critical.

On this theme, when you look ahead, what excites you most about the future, both in your work with businesses and in your personal pursuits?

Taylor: On the business side, I’m excited about the ability to build more focused, efficient organizations. There’s a real opportunity right now to strip away unnecessary complexity and operate at a higher level with fewer resources.

What’s especially meaningful is the impact that values-driven organizations can have, and the role I get to play in strengthening and scaling that impact. When the right structure, clarity, and discipline are in place, it amplifies what these organizations are already trying to do in the world.

Personally, it’s about continuing to invest time in things that are tangible and meaningful, whether that’s working with horses or just being present with my family. There’s a balance there that I value more now than I did earlier in my career.

Thank you so much for your time and insights, Taylor! You lead Open Eye with intentionality and embodying the very values that we stand for as a collective; thank you for walking the walk and inspiring us all to do great work for great clients around the world.