FOR INSTITUTIONS
Before they choose what's next, they need to know who they are.
A sixteen-year-old weighing IB subjects. An undergraduate questioning the path they're on. A graduate entering work in a world AI is reshaping. The form of the question changes; the question itself does not. ÉTHOS COMPASS works alongside institutions supporting young people through these moments — with the rigour they deserve.
WHAT WE RECOGNISE
Most institutions come to us not because something has gone wrong, but because something important is at stake. A sixteen-year-old choosing subjects that will open or close doors they cannot yet see. An undergraduate beginning to wonder whether the path they chose still fits. A graduating cohort entering a labour market that AI is rewriting as they arrive. A careers team asked to guide young people towards paths no one can yet map. How an institution supports young people through these moments shapes the futures they build, the confidence they carry and the trust the institution earns.
WHO WE WORK WITH
Four moments in a young person's path where knowing themselves first changes what happens next.
Sixth-formers and IB students — when subject choices made at sixteen quietly set the range of what comes next. At sixteen, decisions are made with limited information and limited self-knowledge, yet they narrow or widen what becomes possible years before the consequences are visible. Most guidance at this stage starts with league tables and demand forecasts, not with the young person it is meant to serve. When a student understands what draws them and where their strengths lie, a guess becomes an informed choice. Our work helps young people make these early decisions from a clearer sense of who they are.
University applicants — when the choice of a degree can feel like the choice of a whole future. The weight of that decision pushes many young people towards what looks safe, what pays, or what others expect of them, rather than what fits. The result is degrees begun with conviction that fades by the second year. A clearer sense of values, strengths, and what holds their attention lets a young person choose a path they can stand behind. Our work gives applicants that clarity before the decision, not after it.
Undergraduates — when they are far enough into a degree to sense whether it fits, and unsure what to do if it does not. Doubt partway through a degree is common and rarely spoken about. Students carry it quietly, unsure whether they face a path worth adjusting or one worth staying with, and afraid that questioning the choice means admitting the time so far was wasted. Understanding their values and strengths helps them tell the difference before doubt hardens into drift or a costly switch. Our work gives undergraduates a structured way to make that call with confidence.
Recent graduates — when the first eighteen months will shape the kind of professional they become. The first eighteen months of working life are when judgement forms, when habits set, and when the patterns of navigating change are established. Graduates step into a labour market AI is reshaping as they enter it, and those who know what they bring and what they value adapt with more confidence and less fear. The rest tend to drift towards whatever opens first. Our work helps graduates begin from intention rather than pressure, with the self-knowledge to keep adapting as the work changes.
THE ÉTHOS ALIGNMENT METHOD
Built on research-validated instruments.
Designed for real people.
At the heart of the ÉTHOS approach is the ÉTHOS Alignment Method — research-validated psychometric instruments measuring two interdependent dimensions: who each young person is internally, and how well that holds up when education and working life demand change. Together, they produce the ÉTHOS Alignment Score — a personalised picture of where each young person stands, and what they are ready for.
Internal Alignment
Values · Purpose · Behavioural Profile · Character Strengths · AI-Era Readiness (insights only)
How well who each young person is holds together — and how clearly that shows up in the choices they make.
Adaptive Alignment
Resilience · Adaptive Capacity · Future Orientation
How ready each young person is for the change they want — and how capable they are of navigating the change they didn't choose.
The foundation — Psychometric Assessment & Insights Report.
Every engagement begins here. Each young person completes the ÉTHOS psychometric assessment (approximately 60 minutes, online), producing a personalised Alignment Score — an evidence-based picture of their values, behavioural profile, character strengths, and adaptive capacity. Each report is a rigorous tool in its own right, and the anchor for everything that follows. Because every report is built on the same framework, the picture also scales: across a cohort, the same measures show where a group is strong, where it is stretched, and where guidance will count for most — a read the institution can act on, alongside the individual reports each young person keeps.
Modern instruments. Real human conversations. Lasting change.
HOW WE WORK WITH YOU
Four ways to bring ÉTHOS into your institution, from a single conversation to an embedded programme.
University & Business School Programmes
Embedded support for undergraduates and graduate cohorts — assessment, individual reports, and facilitated sessions that help students choose, commit, and adapt from a clearer sense of who they are. Designed to sit alongside existing careers and personal-development provision.
Secondary School Programmes — launching during 2026
The same approach adapted for sixth-formers and IB students facing subject and university decisions, delivered in partnership with schools.
Workshops for Careers Teams
Practical sessions for the people who advise young people every day — equipping careers staff with the language and framework to hold deeper, more useful conversations about direction and fit.
Discovery Conversations
A low-commitment first step: a short, structured conversation to explore where ÉTHOS could help your students, and whether the approach is right for your institution.
FOUNDER
Tony Kouloumbris — Founder & CEO · Lead Coach
CPCC (Co-Active Training Institute) · MBA, Columbia Business School · Fulbright Scholar. Thirty years of senior leadership at Mars, Gillette, P&G and Reckitt.
"I built ÉTHOS because I lived the transitions it was designed to navigate. Thirty years of leading global teams brought me deep professional expertise — and eventually, my own crossroads: the moment when the question was no longer what to do next, but who I was, from the inside out. Young people today face that same question far earlier, with far less to steady them, in a world that rarely holds still. They deserve to begin from a clear sense of who they are — not to arrive at it late, and by chance. That is what ÉTHOS exists to give them."
BEGIN THE CONVERSATION
One conversation.
No commitment.
We read every message personally. We reply within two working days.
Your Éthos. Your Alignment. Your Strength.