Welcome to episode 206 of the Business Development Podcast and today it is my absolute pleasure to bring you Monty Pedersen, a world renowned strategy execution Expert.
Kelly KennedyWith over 35 years of experience.
Kelly KennedyMonty is going to teach us about the secrets to mastering strategy execution, unlocking leadership potential and harnessing the transformative power of a personal brand.
Kelly KennedyStick with us, you are not going to want to miss this episode.
Podcast IntroductionThe great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.
Podcast IntroductionValue is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.
Podcast IntroductionAnd we couldn't agree more.
Podcast IntroductionThis is the Business of Development Podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and broadcasting to the world.
Podcast IntroductionGet expert business development advice, tips and experiences and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs and business development reps.
Podcast IntroductionYou'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by Capital Business Development, CapitalBD CA.
Podcast IntroductionLet's do it.
Podcast IntroductionWelcome to the Business Development Podcast.
Podcast IntroductionAnd now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.
Kelly KennedyHello.
Kelly KennedyWelcome to episode 207.
Kelly KennedySix of the Business Development Podcast and today we bring an absolute rock star in the field of strategy and execution.
Kelly KennedyToday I'm bringing you Monty Peterson.
Kelly KennedyMonty is the principal of the CDA Group and he boasts a distinguished career marked by his unwavering commitment to leadership and strategy execution.
Kelly KennedyWith over 35 years in the managed services industry, Monte recognized a critical gap in effective leadership and strategic planning prompting him to establish his own firm in 2016.
Kelly KennedyThe CDA Group LLC specializes in strategy execution management for senior executives and their businesses, providing one on one coaching, senior leadership, team development and hands on training for frontline personnel.
Kelly KennedyMonty's extensive experience includes his roles as Regional Vice President at Sodexo Education Services and Senior Vice President at Off Campus Solutions.
Kelly KennedyIt has equipped him with the insights and the skills necessary to transform organizations into high performing entities.
Kelly KennedyMonty's approach centers on the belief that the ability to execute is the ultimate leadership identity.
Kelly KennedyHe is dedicated to embedding the discipline of strategy execution into the daily management practices of his clients teams ensuring alignment, accountability and continuous improvement.
Kelly KennedyHis passion for helping others avoid the pitfalls he encountered in his corporate tenure drives his full time focus on strategy execution.
Kelly KennedyMonty's influence extends far beyond the boardroom with remarkable presence on LinkedIn where his posts have garnered over 43 million views in 2023.
Kelly KennedyA lifelong learner and an advocate for true human leadership, Monty's dedication to excellence is not just professional but deeply personal as he strives to make every day an opportunity to be a better Human and leader.
Kelly KennedyMonty, it's an absolute honor to have you on the show.
Monty PedersenThanks, Kelly.
Monty PedersenI appreciate that.
Monty PedersenAnd I try not to read my own press clippings, but that sounded pretty impressive.
Monty PedersenAnd if I may, if we could start at the end, that last part that you talked about, I think that's an appropriate place to begin, because what undergirds everything that I do is, is the purpose of sort of business in general, if that makes sense.
Monty PedersenThat business I see as the greatest economic force for good on the planet, and it's an awesome responsibility, and that if we all took it as seriously as we should, we'd be helping a lot more people than, than just the people that we personally touch.
Monty PedersenSo I really strongly believe in that and that might be important for people to know about me, that, that, that undergirds everything that I do that, you know, if you, if you, if you work hard, you treat your people well and they return the favor to you, and that, that affects, you know, downstream lives of almost, you know, anyone.
Monty PedersenYou can't even, you can't even tell where it ends.
Kelly KennedySo the impact that we can have as leaders is unbelievable.
Kelly KennedyAnd I would say the impact that we can have as leaders in 2024, 20, 25, 20, is unlike any impact that anybody could have ever had before.
Kelly KennedyYou know, you are a testament to that.
Kelly KennedyYou know, you have, you know, hundreds of thousands of followers on LinkedIn and each one of them is looking to you for guidance.
Kelly KennedyWhen in history was, you know, an individual able to, able to kind of throw that type of, of power around?
Kelly KennedyYou know, like I've had Liz ryan on here, 3 million followers, you know, tune in and comment on her stuff on a daily basis or seeing that, those posts and things like that, it's like we have the ability to lead unlike ever before.
Kelly KennedyAnd I guess the question we have to ask ourselves is, how are we going to do it?
Monty PedersenYeah, I mean, there's two things to that, right?
Monty PedersenThere's the visibility that we can get through the Internet through social media platforms.
Monty PedersenBut the second part of it is probably the more important part is what are we going to do with it?
Monty PedersenBecause there are people who, who, who look at it, you know, solely from the standpoint of, of access.
Monty PedersenI mean, from a business development standpoint, right?
Monty PedersenThey think that, that it's this gold mine of person of people that, you know, you can just reach out to and start doing business with.
Monty PedersenAnd that's not the, that's not the intention.
Monty PedersenI think.
Monty PedersenI think it's an artifact of social media and social capital in general.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenThat, that if, if, if, if you deliver quality content, people respond to it, you're able to help them and a business relationship breaks out.
Monty PedersenThat's a, that's a good thing for both people.
Monty PedersenBut there's a lot of people that see it as a get rich quick scheme.
Monty PedersenAnd, and, and, and so, you know, so, so what, what you choose to do and how you do it, you know, I think is pretty important to, you know, to get to the kind of numbers that you're talking about and have the kind of influence that is going to be positive and have, have high impact.
Kelly KennedyYeah, yeah, no, I agree.
Kelly KennedyI actually find it kind of funny that you brought that up because I, I had a person reach out to me the other, you know, hey, I have an 80,000 following and we're doing nothing with it.
Kelly KennedyWhat, you know, in your opinion, what should I do with it?
Kelly KennedyAnd honestly, I didn't have an answer for him, Monty.
Kelly KennedyI was like, you know what?
Kelly KennedyI'm not the right person to ask about this.
Kelly KennedyI'm not sure what you should do with your following.
Kelly KennedyRight.
Kelly KennedyAt the end of the day, you have that following because you're providing value.
Kelly KennedyIn my mind, just keep doing what you're doing because obviously you're helping the world.
Monty PedersenYeah, yeah, yeah.
Monty PedersenI mean, if, if you have to ask that question, I think you, you've really got to do some soul searching and consider what it is, what it is you're doing.
Kelly KennedyYeah, it was, it was a very successful CEO, actually, and he has multiple, multiple companies.
Kelly KennedyAnd I think in his mind, he's thinking, I have all these followers and we do absolutely nothing with them.
Kelly KennedyYou know, in your opinion, like, what is the right thing for, you know, a CEO with a level, with a following like that?
Kelly KennedyWhat, what should they do with that?
Kelly KennedyBecause obviously they built it by providing value about their company, by helping a certain industry.
Kelly KennedyIs that not the point?
Monty PedersenThat's part of the point, but I think, I think the bigger point is, is that, that that CEO has the opportunity to affect all of their stakeholders with, with their influence.
Monty PedersenAnd again, there aren't, there aren't a, I would describe, There aren't a ton of.
Monty PedersenI mean, there's 950 million people on LinkedIn, but not a lot of CEOs.
Monty PedersenAnd again, some of it's a time issue.
Monty PedersenSome, you know, but if you're thinking about it, right, your social capital as an organization, as a CEO, your digital footprint.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenYour branding, like what we were talking about before we went live, that's your platform.
Monty PedersenAnd you can talk to your employees, you can talk to your customers, you can talk to prospective employees, prospective customers.
Monty PedersenI mean, there's really no limit to who you can reach and the conversations that you can start that just may be, you know, really positive and alter the course of your business, you know, maybe at a time when you really need it.
Monty PedersenSo I think CEOs have to, have to leverage it and again, not think of it in terms of sort of an Instagram, Facebook TikTok mentality.
Monty PedersenLike, you know, I'm, you know, I'm old established and, you know, I have a reputation, but, you know, that's not it at all.
Monty PedersenIt's really just connecting with, you know, the right people that are going to, that you're going to have a positive impact on and they can potentially help you where some.
Kelly KennedyYes, yes.
Kelly KennedyAnd I would say, like, since launching this podcast, you know, the greatest thing that has happened from this has been the amazing connections, both in person and digital, that I've been able to make with people because of the content that I put out to the world.
Kelly KennedyAnd these have turned into real friendships, Monty.
Kelly KennedyReal, real relationships with real, real people that have provided immense value to my life, both monetarily and personally.
Kelly KennedyAnd I think that that should be the goal of social media.
Kelly KennedyThat should, it's not about the number of followers.
Kelly KennedyIt's about, did you create great relationships along that way?
Monty PedersenYeah, I have to, I have to be honest with you.
Monty PedersenI, I, up until 2017, I never had a Facebook account or I was never on social media.
Monty PedersenSomeone just suggested to me after I launched my business that LinkedIn might be a good channel to pursue.
Monty PedersenAnd now it's eight years later, and just like you, I feel like I've almost earned a PhD just in terms of the knowledge and the people I've met.
Monty PedersenI mean, I've had conversations with former CEOs of major corporations, talked with people I never thought I'd have access to.
Monty PedersenI mean, it's just, it's an amazing tool, but it, but, but like all things, you know, it's an, it's an investment.
Kelly KennedyThat's right.
Kelly KennedyThat's right.
Kelly KennedyAnd, you know, you can't just have a social media account and leave it blank or like, not contribute and think it's going to grow.
Kelly KennedyLike, you're right, it is.
Kelly KennedyIt sometimes feels like another job.
Kelly KennedyI'm getting a lot better at managing my social media and making sure that we're putting out great content, that we're actually creating more content.
Kelly KennedyWhen I, when I created this podcast.
Kelly KennedyI wasn't sure, you know, I didn't come from a media background.
Kelly KennedyI didn't come from a podcasting background.
Kelly KennedyI started from ground level and started talking to a wall and learned the whole thing on my own, the production on my own, how to manage a social media on my own.
Kelly KennedyLike, I'll be honest, Monty, I am still learning every single day, and we're improving every single day, but it is a lot to learn and it's a lot to manage.
Monty PedersenYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd 206 episodes is a testament to all that.
Monty PedersenSo you don't, you don't get that far without, you know, some, some.
Monty PedersenSome level of sacrifice.
Monty PedersenI, I remember one of the podcasts I listened to.
Monty PedersenI'm trying to think of the marketing guru who, who writes all in the short tidbits all the times, but he's very well respected.
Monty PedersenAnd this particular podcast that I listened to, he was trying to get him on his show.
Monty PedersenAnd, you know, I mean, this guy's like, Liz Ryan, like, he's got millions of followers.
Monty PedersenAnd he just said to him, call me when you, when you've done your 75th or your 100th episode.
Monty PedersenAnd I think that was his way of saying, you know, you know, go out and do something and commit to it, and then I'll know that, you know, this is worth my time in terms of, you know, investing in your audience.
Monty PedersenSo, yeah, yeah, it's a good thing.
Kelly KennedyI actually agree with that.
Kelly KennedyI actually do.
Kelly KennedyI think people of your stature, like, the reality is, if you showed up to every single podcast that you were invited to, you would have no time.
Kelly KennedyLike, and I think it's really important for, for my fellow podcasters to understand that I did not get high quality guests like Monty until, you know, now, until way, way later in my journey.
Kelly KennedyAnd I had to earn the right to have these conversations.
Kelly KennedyI had to, I had to put in the effort and build my own ability, build my own show, build our own following so that there is value for Monty too.
Kelly KennedyBecause Monty's time is incredibly, incredibly valuable.
Kelly KennedyAnd I think we need to remember that.
Kelly KennedyI think sometimes as podcasters, it's easy to forget that the people, people on the other side of the line are actually people who are trying to manage their time just like we are.
Kelly KennedyAnd this is an hour to an hour and a half out of Monty's day that he could be using to generate real revenue for his company.
Kelly KennedyAnd so I've gotten to a point of just graciousness and appreciation, and I'm thankful and Honored to be able to bring on guests like you at this point in our career.
Monty PedersenYeah, it's a great perspective to have.
Monty PedersenI appreciate you sharing that.
Kelly KennedyWell, Monty, you know, bring us back to the beginning.
Kelly KennedyHow did you end up on this, on this journey?
Monty PedersenYeah, it's interesting.
Monty PedersenLike, like so many people.
Monty PedersenAnd, and again, I'm a.
Monty PedersenJust, just so, just so your audience knows, I'm a latent baby boomer.
Monty PedersenSo, you know, I, I grew up with parents who were of a.
Monty PedersenYou know, my, my parents are both high school graduates and in fact, they're still alive today.
Monty PedersenThey're, they're both 88 and in fairly good health.
Monty PedersenSo that's a, that's a, that's a good thing.
Monty PedersenBut, you know, I, I was raised to kind of, you know, in a blue collar background that, that, you know, where your parents say they want more for you than what they had.
Monty PedersenAnd, you know, so their vision for, you know, all of their kids was really to, you know, go to college.
Monty PedersenAnd, you know, back then it was to get a good job, you need a good education, right?
Monty PedersenAnd that was sort of drilled into you.
Monty PedersenSo, you know, so, you know, I went to college and, and, you know, had a, had a good time, but was pretty aimless, you know, you know, when it was all said and done, you know, I did, I did finally earn a degree.
Monty PedersenBut it, you know, it took it a lot.
Monty PedersenBut the thing about it was, is as I worked all the way through college and the way I, you know, the way I, you know, financed my way through college, if you will, was was working in hospitality and, you know, in food service on, you know, on college and university campuses.
Monty PedersenAnd so, you know, when I got out, it just sort of seemed like a natural.
Monty PedersenI was a journalism sociology major.
Monty PedersenAnd, you know, journalism was a highly competitive field.
Monty PedersenAnd just looking back on what, you know, mainstream media has become, I think I dodged a huge bullet in terms of not pursuing that as a, as a career.
Monty PedersenChances are I probably would have failed pretty quickly, but I had a passion for writing and I enjoyed that aspect and that's really all I knew.
Monty PedersenBut I knew that I liked people and I liked working in hospitality because it was something that it seemed like the more I did of it, you know, the more I learned, you know, cooking banquets, bartending, the more skills that I added to my, you know, to my repertoire, the better I was at it.
Monty PedersenAnd so I just sort of seemed like a natural.
Monty PedersenSo I, you know, so I basically just answered an ad and started, you know, working for A contract service management company.
Monty PedersenBy this time, mind you, I had had about four years in, you know, working, you know, at the school where I went to school and you know, they of course hired me and, and that started my, you know, almost, you know, 35 year career, you know, in hospitality.
Monty PedersenThat, that allowed me to grow and, and, and you know, so, and then here's the interesting thing, Kelly, is that I, you know, if I look back on my career, you know, it was very, it was very successful and, and did a lot of things for me and you know, helped put my kids through college and just, you know, do a lot of things.
Monty PedersenBut towards the end, the last four or five years, the business became what was already highly competitive, but it became highly commoditized as a result of that competition.
Monty PedersenThere were three major players and we just ate each other's lunch.
Monty PedersenWe traded business and it really got to the point where leadership was.
Monty PedersenWe had taken so much out of the business, out of the margins in the business to try and maintain our market share that there was no money to do some of the things that we really needed to do to differentiate ourselves and succeed.
Monty PedersenSo it was a lot of the last four or five years were just pretty brutal.
Monty PedersenLeadership didn't really respect my ability to manage.
Monty PedersenThey, they sort of dictated to us what, you know, what they wanted us to do.
Monty PedersenAnd so, you know, I knew, you know, that the end was near, that, you know, something was, something was going to happen soon.
Monty PedersenAnd I, you know, I actually did a.
Monty PedersenSo I spent 25 years with one organization, Aramark, if people are familiar with that, and that's a Philadelphia based service provider.
Monty PedersenThey, if you remember versus Services in Canada, they, they acquired versa during my, during my tenure with them.
Monty PedersenSo their presence probably grew in Canada a little bit at that time.
Monty PedersenBut anyway, So I did 25 years with earmark and I never thought I wanted to leave.
Monty PedersenAnd then, you know, I just, I got a bad boss.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd I was doing something important for the organization and you know, he wasn't making my life too comfortable.
Monty PedersenAnd so their biggest competitor came along and had recruited me and, and at the, I had never listened before.
Monty PedersenI'd been approached several times before and I just wasn't interested because I like my organization and never thought I wanted to leave.
Monty PedersenBut they just kind of called at the right time and I had the conversation and, and it led to some really good things for me that you know, the, you know, working with, you know, off Campus Solutions.
Monty PedersenYou mentioned that, you know, their subsidiary was a, you know, A tech startup that they had bought for their business.
Monty PedersenYou know, another great case study story for later maybe, But I got, I got to do some things I had never done before and was really appreciative of that.
Monty PedersenBut then, you know, the business, the business started to crash.
Monty PedersenAnd along about that time, one of my clients and I'd worked in the higher education market, so the largest percentage of my business were, you know, colleges and universities across the Midwest.
Monty PedersenAnd one of my clients was a major big ten university.
Monty PedersenAnd I had a team on that campus.
Monty PedersenAnd it turns out my district manager, his wife had worked for this gentleman who created a strategy execution management system.
Monty PedersenHe's a gentleman who was working in the aerospace business out in Southern California.
Monty PedersenAnd he had a boss that came to him.
Monty PedersenNot a boss, I'm sorry, a client who came to him and said, Wayne, Wayne Nelson is his name.
Monty PedersenBut he said, wayne, my people don't understand what I'm trying to do.
Monty PedersenI need a system or something that gets them connected to what we're trying to achieve.
Monty PedersenAnd Wayne, you know, like all good consultants, took his, took that client's problem to heart and went home to his wife, who was an Organizational Development PhD, and explained it to her.
Monty PedersenAnd over the weekend they created, you know, this was in 99, 2000, created an execution management system.
Monty PedersenSo they basically created a paper based system that they could go back to their client and said here, if we do this, we think this will pull your people into what you're trying to accomplish.
Monty PedersenAnd it works so well that within four years, Wayne went from just general business consulting to making it his whole business.
Monty PedersenSo anyway, Wayne Nelson was now living in Bloomington, Indiana and met my district manager's wife and employed her.
Monty PedersenAnd through that relationship got to know my district manager.
Monty PedersenAnd Wayne essentially gave that team, my team, his system and trained them on it.
Monty PedersenAnd when I inherited the account, I learned about it.
Monty PedersenAnd so this was about, around 2013.
Monty PedersenSo I was actually kind of a student or a client of this system before I, I decided.
Monty PedersenBut once I learned the system and I saw how effective it had been with my team, I just said to myself, holy cow, if I ever, if I ever get away from this field, and I know that time is coming soon, I could see myself doing this because if just in looking back, if I had had it and the level of responsibility that I had, I could have helped a lot more people and I could have probably helped the organization, you know, significantly achieve more as part of that.
Monty PedersenSo, so yeah, in 2016, when I, when I Got my.
Monty PedersenMy ticket to leave.
Monty PedersenI took it.
Monty PedersenAnd it probably took me all of about one or two weeks to decide.
Monty PedersenI'm gonna.
Monty PedersenI'm gonna start a.
Monty PedersenStart a firm.
Monty PedersenAnd it sort of focused on leadership training, but essentially I'm gonna work on strategy execution with, you know, with businesses and organizations.
Monty PedersenAnd I'm going to try and, you know, teach people to avoid, you know, what I learned over the course of nearly three decades.
Kelly KennedyWow.
Kelly KennedyYou know, one of the questions that I immediately have is I think a lot of companies, they.
Kelly KennedyThey don't even have a strategy.
Kelly KennedyAnd I know that sounds.
Kelly KennedyI know that sounds funny, but, like, how many companies.
Kelly KennedyI've been at so many companies, and I don't think I've had one of them ever sit down and lay out and say, kelly, this is the plan for how we are going to accompl our goals over the next year.
Kelly KennedyTwo years, five years.
Kelly KennedyI think there's like hundreds and thousands or hundreds of thousands of companies that don't even have a strategy.
Kelly KennedyThe strategy is don't fail by any means necessary.
Monty PedersenYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd it's pretty easy to understand why when you.
Monty PedersenWhen you sort of peel back the layers of the onion, because most organizations have tried strategy, and they've just not.
Monty PedersenThey've just not understood it at a level that they need to.
Monty PedersenAnd I think.
Monty PedersenI think, you know, consultants like me and other organizations have just overwhelmed them and made it more complicated than what it really needs to be.
Monty PedersenAnd so they've just gone back to a set of performance metrics.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenLet's, you know, let's just add 10% to this year's budget and let's try and hit this number.
Monty PedersenI mean, you know, some strategies are as simple as that.
Monty PedersenSo that's one of the primary reasons why I'm in this field, is because there are experts on the strategy side and there are some expertise, although it's not quite as common as the strategy side.
Monty PedersenBut there's just this huge gap in between that even if I had a good strategy, I don't know how to get to the results.
Monty PedersenSo I almost use the metaphor of a bridge where someone's standing on one side with their strategy, you know, in their building tools, in their materials, and they're trying to figure out how they craft the path to execute to get to the results that they need.
Monty PedersenAnd so that's essentially, you know, what my mission is, to fulfill that gap, get people understanding what strategy is demystifying, simplifying the process of strategy and execution and showing people a repeatable methodology that allows them, you know, to, to, to make that, to make that jump.
Monty PedersenBecause it's, it's not, it's not as complicated as, as people make it seem.
Monty PedersenAnd, and when you really, when you really sit down and you look at it, it helps to have a good strategy, really does, as, you know, and, and then, and then that's what, that's what elicits, you know, great execution.
Monty PedersenBut, you know, you can still execute even if you just have three or four key initiatives that you want to accomplish in a year.
Monty PedersenSo we can always get people moving.
Monty PedersenI can meet them where they're at and we can get them moving.
Monty PedersenBut over time, we're going to learn how to develop a good strategy and then we're going to learn what it takes to execute on it and get better at it year after year.
Kelly KennedyAmazing.
Kelly KennedyWell, we're in, it's early new year 2025 at this point.
Kelly KennedyThere's a lot of people who could benefit from understanding not only how to create a strategy, but obviously will lead into how to execute it to success.
Kelly KennedyBut, you know, I was hoping today, Monty, that you would really just give us a 101.
Kelly KennedyWe're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs, we're talking to a lot of, you know, executives.
Kelly KennedyWe're talking to a lot of people who maybe are looking to start their first company this year and, you know, understanding how to implement a strategy, plan a strategy and execute a strategy, to me could be the difference between failing and succeeding.
Kelly KennedyAnd so, you know, if you could maybe give us a bit of a hypothetical situation and just run us through how do we create a strategy and then take us through to the proper execution.
Monty PedersenThe biggest thing that people get wrong about strategy is just not understanding what it is.
Monty PedersenAnd I ascribe to, and this is really interesting and might appeal to some of your Canadian viewers, but I have some strong Canadian influence in my thinking.
Monty PedersenAnd one of them is Roger Martin, you know, from, from Ontario, who's, you know, I, I forget the name of the school of business, but the University of Toronto, but he is one of the foremost leaders on strategy.
Monty PedersenAnd basically Martin's description of what a strategy is, it's largely a theory that it's a guess.
Monty PedersenIt's our best case scenario for how we win on the playing field of our choice.
Monty PedersenAnd whereas I think that explains, you know, what, what a strategy is, right, and why you don't, you know, why you don't have to, why you don't take it so seriously, right?
Monty PedersenYou're, you're you're just making, I guess, so many people think that they have to go out and, you know, they need a, you know, they need a big consultant, McKinsey or Boston Consulting or whoever it is to come in and tell them how to, you know, how to do it.
Monty PedersenAnd then.
Monty PedersenAnd then.
Monty PedersenAnd then go out and do it.
Monty PedersenThat's not the way it happens, you know, at all.
Monty PedersenAnd then the second influence is a gentleman by the name of Richard Rumhalt.
Monty PedersenAnd if you want to.
Monty PedersenIf you want a really good book on strategy, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rummel.
Monty PedersenHe's a professor of management at Anderson at ucla, and he may be emeritus at this point because I think he wrote that book in 2011.
Monty PedersenBut Rummel brings strategy down to three things.
Monty PedersenSo whereas I like Martin's description in terms of what it is, Rummel put some meat on the bone by, you know, he talks about it like being a kernel of corn.
Monty PedersenAnd evidently, I mean, I'm from the Midwest, I should know this.
Monty PedersenA kernel has three components.
Monty PedersenSo does.
Monty PedersenSo does strategy.
Monty PedersenAnd the first one is to have a rich or clear diagnosis of your problem.
Monty PedersenSo, for example, Southwest Airlines, you know, in the U.S.
Monty Pederseneverybody knows them, and, you know, in 1967, they wanted to democratize the skies.
Monty PedersenSo, so, you know, their.
Monty PedersenTheir diagnosis of.
Monty PedersenOf their strategy was that the common man couldn't afford to fly, right?
Monty PedersenThat it was, you know, business people and, you know, executives and took money to fly.
Monty PedersenIt was.
Monty PedersenIt was expensive.
Monty PedersenAnd so, you know, he wanted to, you know, become the greyhound of the skies and, you know, make it, you know, make it affordable for.
Monty PedersenFor.
Monty PedersenFor people to, you know, to fly.
Monty PedersenBut there were.
Monty PedersenThere were extensive regulations right at the time.
Monty PedersenAnd a lot of people don't know this, but, you know, Southwest was founded in 67.
Monty PedersenThe first flight didn't happen until 1971 because they spent.
Monty PedersenThey spent four years fighting regulations, trying to earn the right, you know, to fly.
Monty PedersenAnd that was at that point in time, it was just around Texas.
Monty PedersenSo so obviously, Herb Kelleher and his partner, you know, had a vision, and that was their strategy.
Monty PedersenSo their clear diagnosis was that most people can't afford to fly, and there's not a reasonable offering for them in the marketplace.
Monty PedersenAnd they felt they could fill that void.
Monty PedersenAnd so that's a pretty rich diagnosis, right, according to Rummel's theory.
Monty PedersenSo the second component, the second part of the kernel of strategy is, is to have a guiding policy.
Monty PedersenAnd a guiding policy is nothing more than a framework that helps you achieve Your achieve your vision or achieve your, you know, reach, you know, your diagnosis.
Monty PedersenAnd so, you know, in the case of Southwest Airlines, and I just love this about, about them because they're, you know, this permeates their organization.
Monty PedersenBut you know, they have three things that they stand for.
Monty PedersenThe first thing is low fares.
Monty PedersenThe second thing is on time, departures and arrivals.
Monty PedersenIt's just, you know, it's a non negotiable.
Monty PedersenWe will keep these planes running and keep them on time.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd the third important element to them is to not tolerate anybody who stands in the way of the first two elements.
Monty PedersenSo a guiding policy applies to everybody inside the organization and everybody knows what to do because they, you know, they said we're, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna be this low fare, cost effective airline.
Monty PedersenBut things have got to run well and they've got to run quickly and we've got to take costs out of the system and you know, we've got to make it function and operate.
Monty PedersenSo you know, whether you're a baggage handler or a flight attendant or a gate agent or someone in the, in the front office, you can, you can make decisions based on that guiding policy.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenYou know, someone says, you know, we want to, you know, well let's, let's consider serving salads on our planes and you know, they're going to go out of ignore.
Monty PedersenIt costs too much money, takes too much time and you know, it doesn't, doesn't fit what we're all about.
Monty PedersenThat's our guiding policy.
Monty PedersenSo, so, so you can kind of see where a clear, you know, guiding a clear diagnosis and a guiding policy really benefit each other.
Monty PedersenThe third element of strategy is to have a coherent set of actions.
Monty PedersenAnd this is where a lot of organizations fall short.
Monty PedersenAnd I can tell you the strategies where it falls short is where they create strategies that are sort of pie in the sky, warm and fuzzy, a lot of fluff, sound good, public facing statements, but there's no meat on the bone and you need those coherent actions because that's what you're going to execute against.
Monty PedersenSo, so in the case of, in the case of Southwest, you know, defeat, defeat the regulations, right?
Monty PedersenLet's, let's, let's get, you know, let's get our case stated and let's get out there and let's be, let's be able to operate first of all.
Monty PedersenSecond thing, let's go to, let's go to these underutilized secondary airports in major cities and let's revitalize them.
Monty PedersenLet's you know, let's rent gate space from them, you know, at a more cost effective rate.
Monty PedersenAnd we can, and we can compete.
Monty PedersenLet's not have seating assignments.
Monty PedersenLet's only serve peanuts, right?
Monty PedersenYou know, let's, let's make, let's make customer service a hallmark of what it is we do.
Monty PedersenLet's make this fun, right?
Monty PedersenPeople, people may begrudge the fact that they don't have an assigned seat and that they have to board quickly and get off quickly and, but, but, you know, let's make this fun for them.
Monty PedersenSo, you know, the flight attendants are, I mean, they hire the right people, right, that they're singing in the aisles and they're making people happy.
Monty PedersenAnd, you know, people look forward to that time that they spend with Southwest.
Monty PedersenAnd then the real big one, right, was let's fly point to point.
Monty PedersenLet's just, let's keep our aircraft in the air.
Monty PedersenLet's only use one aircraft, a 737.
Monty PedersenSo, you know, everything's consistent and maintenance needs are all met.
Monty PedersenSo, so you, everybody knows the story.
Monty PedersenBut, but when you lay it out against Rumelt's strategy, Colonel, and saying you need these three actions, you can see why they're successful.
Monty PedersenSo just in the scope of understanding these last few minutes, what strategy is and if you apply Rumelt's three kernels to it or three components of a kernel to it, you understand what you need to do.
Monty PedersenAnd then, and then it's all about execution and then it's about planning and putting that together and, you know, turning sort of the intangible, you know, into results.
Monty PedersenBut what I'll say on the execution side from a, you know, from a one on one standpoint, is that it's not intuitive.
Monty PedersenAnd a lot of people think it is, that if we create and we craft this brilliant strategy, we make assignments, you know, marketing does this, operations does this, sales does this, that everything's just going to come together in the end and it's going to be peachy.
Monty PedersenAnd never has a bigger load of crap been sold to more people because it just doesn't happen that way.
Monty PedersenExecution is something that you need to manage and you need to pay attention to it.
Monty PedersenAnd you need to be able to take that strategy and effectively translate it throughout the organization and empower people to act against it and stay connected to it.
Monty PedersenOtherwise you're just going to have a, you know, you're just going to have a disparate group of tools and people that are out there doing what they think is best and, and Again, in some cases, businesses have been doing things certain, you know, long enough that, you know, that they can cover up problems and you know, they can maintain profitability and do those things, but they'll never be high performing.
Monty PedersenSo there's this natural, natural flow.
Monty PedersenAnd one of the things, one of the missions that I'm on personally right now and that I mentioned to you, my partner, Jacob Boven over in Switzerland, that we've sort of identified this huge gap, right, this chasm, this bridge where CEOs and leadership teams are standing on one end, wondering how to get to the other end.
Monty PedersenAnd that's what we're trying to fill.
Monty PedersenWe're trying to fill that void, to create an awareness around strategy and execution and what it takes to get there.
Monty PedersenIn addition to that, obviously, for the right people, for the committed organization, that 2% out of the 10% that probably make their strategy annually, the only way you're going to get to high performance is through us, through a system, you know, a repeatable framework and methodology that's going to, you know, that your people, that's easy to understand, that your people are going to learn and they're going to be able to do it year in and year out and improve as a result of it.
Monty PedersenSo I really, I mean, I love the system that's the core of my business and what I go to market with.
Monty PedersenBut I've just recently come to terms with this idea that we can't get those people to that point unless they really understand what strategy execution is all about.
Monty PedersenAnd so that's where I've sort of landed.
Monty PedersenAnd with the help of Jacob, that's who we've launched this recent program with.
Monty PedersenAnd strategy execution, Unriddled is what it's called, but that's why we've done it and, and where we're at right now.
Kelly KennedyAmazing.
Kelly KennedyI love that you stopped on process and because, you know, I look back at my career, I've been doing business development at this point for home and business development sales for the Greater part of 18 years.
Kelly KennedyAnd I didn't really get great at business development until I created a process and followed it on a regular basis.
Kelly KennedyIt was consistency and process over time that made me successful.
Kelly KennedyNot, not necessarily amazing talent, but just following a system that I created and following it consistently and when it worked, repeating that system over and over and over again.
Kelly KennedyNow we teach that system here at Capital.
Kelly KennedyYou know, I coach that system, but it was, it was consistency and a good process over time that led to success.
Kelly KennedyI like that you also talked about the simplicity.
Kelly KennedyThe more I could simply simplify the system, the better it was, the easier it was to follow and the easier it was to keep going.
Kelly KennedyBut it's funny because it makes sense that it would translate into just about everything, including execution of a plan.
Monty PedersenYeah, there's no question that execution's involved in everything that we do.
Monty PedersenAnd you found it out.
Monty PedersenAnd here's the world's worst kept secret, right?
Monty PedersenYou don't have to have the smartest people in the world.
Monty PedersenYou just have to have committed people that understand what you're trying to do and, you know, sell them on your, sell them on your process and the benefits and they'll execute on it.
Monty PedersenI mean, they will.
Monty PedersenThere's just, I mean, people don't go to work wanting to do a bad job.
Kelly KennedyThat's right.
Monty PedersenYou know, they want some guidance, they want to be directed, but yet they also want the autonomy to make decisions on their own and to contribute.
Monty PedersenAnd, you know, when you allow that to happen, when you unleash that in people, you're gonna, you're gonna see some stars, you know, come out of nowhere and, and you've probably, you've probably, you know, found that to be true in your business.
Kelly KennedyWell, like I said, you know, like, I'm pretty good at speaking with people, but if I was not following a process, if I hadn't created something that I could follow on a weekly basis that was repeatable, I would not have been as successful.
Kelly KennedyIt was being able to do the same thing over time, consistently, consistently, that made me successful.
Kelly KennedyBecause with business development, we're always planning for the future.
Kelly KennedyWe're always looking for the future opportunity.
Kelly KennedyAnd sometimes that opportunity takes three months of consistency for that to come in.
Kelly KennedyAnd so if you're constantly doing something that's going to lead to more lead generation, you're going to always have leads coming in, even ones that you've been working on for three, six, eight months because you've put in that work consistently.
Kelly KennedyThey know who you are.
Kelly KennedyAnd you don't know when they're going to ring the bell and say it's time to have that conversation.
Monty PedersenYeah, that's, that's, that's so important, you know, because, because everybody sells, right?
Monty PedersenI mean, I don't care what it is you're doing, you know, whether you're selling internally or externally, you've got to have that.
Monty PedersenAnd so, you know, process is, is sort of, you know, king in terms of, you know, in terms of doing that.
Monty PedersenYou've got to have something to, you Know, teach and guide and lead your people because it's a, it's a human behavior issue.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenI mean, I love, I don't know if you're familiar with the book Detonate, came out in 2018 by a couple of Pricewaterhouse consultants.
Monty PedersenBut what I, what I love about it is, you know, they, they really feel like you have to blow up best practices that, that we've gotten into this.
Monty PedersenI mean, for, for decades, right, Businesses have run just, you know, based upon how, how we did things in the previous decade.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenBut, but now the, the, the millennials and the Gen Xers and, and the, the Gen Zers, you know, are dominating the workforce.
Monty PedersenAnd, you know, they're, they're essentially showing us a different way.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenA different way to sell, a different way to work, you know, a way to use technology, you know.
Monty PedersenYou know, to our advantage.
Monty PedersenAnd so you've got these, you've got these people who are kind of proving the boomers wrong, right, and the traditionalists, you know, in terms of how things have to operate.
Monty PedersenI mean, we, you know, going back to my story, right, we just thought we needed to, you know, work for a company for 30 years and, you know, get the gold watch and have the, the retirement party.
Monty PedersenAnd they're, and they're, they're looking at it and going, no, I don't think I want to do that.
Monty PedersenWhy would I do that?
Monty PedersenAnd so, so what are they doing?
Monty PedersenYou know, they either like what you're doing and they'll continue to work with you and learn from you.
Monty PedersenThey don't like what you're doing.
Monty PedersenYou know, they'll probably quit and they'll, they'll get a side gig and they'll figure out what, you know, what they're going to do until they find something else, or they'll take what you're doing and they'll go out and build a better mousetrap and then, and then go out and, and develop that as a business.
Monty PedersenAnd, and I mean, this is unprecedented in terms of, you know, what we've seen happen in, you know, in business, you know, for decades.
Monty PedersenAnd, and so that's what we're dealing with.
Monty PedersenAnd that's, that's why you need a, that's why you need a process.
Monty PedersenBecause, you know, these, these kids, I guess I'll call them that because they're very calculated, right?
Monty PedersenThey know what they're doing.
Monty PedersenThey have a strong digital presence.
Monty PedersenThey understand what technology and what social platforms do for them.
Monty PedersenAnd quite frankly, I think it's going to drive even more success in our economy.
Monty PedersenAnd AI is only the latest chapter, right?
Kelly KennedySure.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Kelly KennedyIt's like everything is being designed to simplify almost all systems using AI, which, you know, and, you know, we.
Kelly KennedyAI is a whole nother topic because the reality is it's changing so quickly that trying to keep up with it is almost damn near impossible.
Kelly KennedyI've been, you know, I mean, I've been using it since we launched this podcast for the most part.
Kelly KennedyAnd like, the amount of changes we've had with AI programs simply in the last year and a half or two years has been absolutely astronomical.
Kelly KennedyBut you're right, it's going to change everything.
Kelly KennedyAnd it's so funny because recently.
Kelly KennedyWell, I guess not recently now, but I had spoken with Liz Ryan and she was really talking about, yeah, like, the future is personal brand.
Kelly KennedyThe future is everybody needs to.
Kelly KennedyNeeds to be able to look after themselves and have their own skill sets because the days of the gold watch and retirement seem to be long, long gone.
Monty PedersenPeople are waking up and recognizing that they have a choice and who they work for and what they do.
Monty PedersenAnd whereas I think that was probably true, you know, in previous generations, people, people got to a point where they just didn't want to start over.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenSo they, you know, so they, they remained.
Monty PedersenAnd again, that.
Monty PedersenThat probably drove a good part of my career.
Monty PedersenThey have no fear.
Monty PedersenAnd so what they're proving to others.
Monty PedersenAnd again, there's, there are people of my age who are, you know, who have been let go.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenThey've just been, you know, they rise to a level of salary and, you know, that, you know, call it ageism.
Monty PedersenDon't call it ageism, but basically, you know, organizations weed out people that cost them, you know, money.
Kelly KennedyThat's right.
Monty PedersenEspecially if they don't feel they're being effective enough.
Monty PedersenAnd, and, and those people are still willing to work and contribute and, you know, do things and, and they're, they're, I think they're a valuable part of the workforce that, that, you know, right.
Monty PedersenRight now are being neglected.
Monty PedersenSo in effect, they're rising up and, and responding by, you know, doing their thing and, you know, personal branding and, you know, creating a digital footprint is, are probably the first, you know, two things they think of.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Kelly KennedyWell, either way, it's happening and it's happening all over the place.
Kelly KennedyAnd it does seem to be the trending conversation that I've really had over the last year has been a lot of people just chatting about, you know, the power of personal brand.
Kelly KennedyBut, you Know, I want to spend some time.
Kelly KennedyWe did spend some time on that in the beginning.
Kelly KennedyI do want to spend a little bit of time on it before we, before we end today.
Kelly KennedyBut, you know, I want to go back into the execution part because me and you discussed this, you know, in our very first conversation.
Kelly KennedyYou were saying, Kelly, you know, like a lot of people are, they're pretty good at making a plan.
Kelly KennedyThey're pretty good at making some type of strategy plan.
Kelly KennedyWhere it falls short.
Kelly KennedyShort.
Kelly KennedyWhere it falls short is the execution.
Kelly KennedyAnd you mentioned that like most plans, 60 to 90% of them are never able to execute properly.
Kelly KennedyCan we talk about how can we change that?
Kelly KennedyThat number is horrible.
Monty PedersenYeah, yeah, it really is.
Monty PedersenAnd it's one that's hard to put an accurate number on because I think people aren't, they aren't honest about it in terms.
Monty PedersenAnd again, it just may be an artifact of how they did things.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenBecause you could.
Monty PedersenI mean, holy cow.
Monty PedersenI worked for a $16 billion organization.
Monty PedersenAnd one of the hallmarks of our CEO, he was a great CEO at the time, no complaints about his leadership, but he always believed in stretch assignments.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenSo all of our business plans, and that's really what we followed.
Monty PedersenRight?
Monty PedersenWe did, we didn't have a, I mean, there might have been a global strategy or something which, which were just, you know, words developed by the board or, you know, so forth.
Monty PedersenBut he, he would hang the number out there pretty, pretty high, aggressively, be very aggressive.
Monty PedersenAnd if we got to 60 or 70% of it, you know, the leadership would be pretty happy.
Monty PedersenYeah, and, and that, the idea of that is just crazy to me.
Monty PedersenBut it's, it's indicative of what business leaders do, you know, from an execution standpoint.
Monty PedersenThey, you know, they sort of do what works for them and, and that's what, you know, that's why, you know, the majority of these strategies have just been a, you know, a list of performance metrics.
Monty PedersenAnd you know, at that point you overlook the whole cultural element of what strategy execution can do for your organization.
Monty PedersenYou have no common purpose.
Monty PedersenYou have, no, again, you may have a long term vision, but you don't do an effective job of communicating it throughout the organization.
Monty PedersenAnd so you miss that opportunity to get your people united around like Southwest.
Monty PedersenThe idea of, you know, people never before flying, you know, getting to get on a plane and go somewhere quickly and cost efficiently.
Monty PedersenYou know, another, another, you know, great story along that line of, of execution and relating it back to, you know, to, to culture and common direction and Purpose is in, in America there's a.
Monty PedersenAbout a 15, I think they might be almost 20 years old now, a mortgage company called Movement Mortgage.
Monty PedersenAnd they were, they came out of the financial crisis and basically the CEO had this vision where coming out of the crisis and you know, what kind of a debacle that was with homeownership, right, where, you know, they were selling mortgages and putting them in subprime, you know, tranches and, you know, collapse the market.
Monty PedersenSo his idea was people are going to want a different kind of experience coming out of.
Monty PedersenOf that crisis.
Monty PedersenSo he created this company that was just focused on sort of love and, you know, caring for, you know, caring for people.
Monty PedersenWell, one of the early problems they had as an organization was in the loan processing documents.
Monty PedersenThere were just a lot of errors and omissions, you know, being done by the, you know, people in the, you know, in the back of the house.
Monty PedersenAnd so he got this idea that, you know, there was just something missing.
Monty PedersenWell, the missing element was they weren't seeing the impact of what it is they were doing.
Monty PedersenAnd so he, so he asked the mortgage companies, the lending partners that they worked with, once you close the sale, take a picture of the new owner with the keys and the, you know, and their loan papers or, you know, whatever.
Monty PedersenBut they would get these smiling shots of a single mom with, you know, two kids, you know, being able to, you know, to buy a home.
Monty PedersenAnd.
Monty PedersenYeah, and what he did is he took all these pictures and he posted them on a bulletin board in the loan processing department so all these people could see what, you know, what they were doing and what it contributed to, and it like, cut their error rate, like in half almost, Almost overnight.
Monty PedersenAnd so, so you, so you see the connection that, you know, having.
Monty PedersenHaving a strategy, right?
Monty PedersenSomething that.
Monty PedersenA purpose, a common purpose that you want to do, having that vision.
Monty PedersenSo you have all these foundational elements and they just don't reach people.
Monty PedersenBut you've got to do that.
Monty PedersenYou've got to get those connected to people so that they understand their role and that what they're contributing to means something to somebody.
Monty PedersenAnd then they have purpose.
Monty PedersenSo there's a cohesive relationship here that comes from the strategy and then the execution part.
Monty PedersenBut the primary execution driver in all of that is this understanding that from our strategy.
Monty PedersenAnd again, people get this idea that you need a strategy every year, and strategy doesn't happen every year.
Monty PedersenYou gotta trash the calendar when it comes to picking a time for strategy to work, because you don't, you Just don't know.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenIt's, you know, going back to Roger Martin, it's just your guess.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenSo it may take three years, it may take five years.
Monty PedersenYou know, who knows, it may take less.
Monty PedersenYou have to be prepared to live through multiple years.
Monty PedersenSo, so you set strategic initiatives every year that you think get you to that strategy or that, you know, comply with your vision.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenThat's, that are directionally correct.
Monty PedersenBut those strategic initiatives that you create annually need to be crystal clear if you're going to execute well.
Monty PedersenBecause when you write initiatives for each level of the organization that tell that, spell it out in words that those people understand so they know what it is they have to be doing.
Monty PedersenAnd then when you write clear, relevant and engaging goals for the people you know who are going to drive the completion of those initiatives, it's a multiplier effect.
Monty PedersenThose initiatives then add up to, you know, the strategic initiatives all get accomplished and that directly contributes to the overarching objective of the whole organization.
Monty PedersenSo execution has to have, has to have that connectivity and it needs those key drivers.
Monty PedersenYou really want to get to a point where execution is intuitive with your people that every year they know that there are going to be four or five key initiatives that the organizations want, wants to accomplish and they and their department may touch two or three of them.
Monty PedersenAnd from those two or three, they're going to be figuring out what they, you know, what they need to do, you know, goal wise in their department to contribute to those, to those initiatives.
Kelly KennedyAmazing.
Kelly KennedySo it's like stepping stones, like instead of it just being like, you know, almost a little bit unbearable because it's a long way away to that, to that, to that goal, you essentially have a whole bunch of mini goals that will eventually get you there over time.
Monty PedersenYeah.
Monty PedersenThe important thing to remember is that organizations on their own don't execute.
Monty PedersenIndividuals execute.
Kelly KennedyYes.
Monty PedersenAnd individual performance leads to collective results.
Monty PedersenSo when you get people understanding what it is that you want to do and you get them focused like a laser on accomplishing the things that are going to drive those initiatives, then that's where the magic happens.
Monty PedersenAnd this is the getting back to your original question.
Monty PedersenThe reason why execution fails is that most organizations and most leadership teams aren't willing to do what it takes to do that.
Monty PedersenAnd I love the, I love the James Clear quote, Clear quote that says we tend to romanticize our ideas, but the magic we, we seek is in the work that we're avoiding.
Kelly KennedyYeah, I agree, I agree.
Kelly KennedyI would say that most of the time if you're struggling to grow or achieve something, it's the thing you're avoiding.
Kelly KennedyIt's, you know, mean the thing that you're avoiding is the thing you need to be doubling down on 90% of the time.
Kelly KennedyThat happens in business development, literally all the time.
Kelly KennedyI.
Kelly KennedyI can't tell you how often most the recommendations I'm giving to people are pick up your phone and actually call somebody.
Kelly KennedyBecause that's the secret.
Kelly KennedyIt's no secret.
Kelly KennedyThe secret is no secret.
Kelly KennedyJust get in touch with the people who actually need your products and services, and you'll probably sell some of them.
Monty PedersenThat's right.
Monty PedersenThat's right.
Monty PedersenWhen you, when you, when you, when you break it down to the lowest common denominator and you simplify it, that's where.
Monty PedersenThat's where it's going to happen.
Monty PedersenAnd you know what, what people don't get is it's just fundamental human behavior.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenYou've got it.
Monty PedersenYou've got to.
Monty PedersenIf you're going to change anything, you're going to ask a human being to do something different than what they're doing today.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd that's.
Monty PedersenThat's all it comes down to.
Kelly KennedyTotally.
Kelly KennedyTotally.
Kelly KennedyNo, this has been amazing, Monty.
Kelly KennedyThank you so much.
Kelly KennedyYou know, I think, I think strategy and execution, like I said, this is the first show we've ever actually had on strategy and execution in 200 episodes, and I appreciate it immensely.
Kelly KennedyYou're a leader in that area.
Kelly KennedyYou're a leader in leadership.
Kelly KennedyYou know, I wanted to chat with you.
Kelly KennedyWe got into it at the beginning of the show, and we're going to circle back to it now, just because I feel like 2024, 2025, you know, the real thing that everyone seems to be talking about is personal branding.
Kelly KennedyYou have a following of, you know, 200,000 people on LinkedIn.
Kelly KennedyLet's chat a little bit about that.
Kelly KennedyYou're leading in this area.
Kelly KennedyYou've been able to build an amazing personal brand.
Kelly KennedyCan, can you speak to your strategy and why you chose to go that route, or was it just something that happened?
Monty PedersenI started out with the idea that visibility gave you exposure and that if you could meet people.
Monty PedersenAnd I'm a huge relationship person.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenI think relationships undergird so much.
Monty PedersenIt's the reason we're in business.
Monty PedersenSo I thought relationships were what I was after, and I got that.
Monty PedersenBut I think what I learned was that, you know, there was, there was something bigger there, that when you put out quality content and you helped people and you could, you could see the almost daily, you know, the benefits of, of the content that you're putting out there, that, that inspires you.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenThat, that, that motivates you, you know, to, you know, to want to do it.
Monty PedersenAnd I think maybe for a while, I got caught up in the numbers.
Monty PedersenWhat was interesting about it, Kelly, was the first three or four years that I was on social media, my numbers didn't grow.
Monty PedersenI mean, up until probably about three years ago, maybe I had 20,000 followers.
Monty PedersenBut then all of a sudden, about three years ago, it just sort of took off and I started getting, you know, posts with, you know, half a million, three quarter of a million, a million impressions.
Monty PedersenAnd, and then, and then all of a sudden you're kind of saying, you know, I've ignited a spark here.
Monty PedersenAnd, and so you, you know, you, you sort of follow that.
Monty PedersenAnd.
Monty PedersenBut, but the idea of it is, is that just put out quality content, meet the right people, create the.
Monty PedersenCreate the, you know, the right relationships, help the people that you can.
Monty PedersenAnd again, you can't help everybody.
Monty PedersenIt's a big world out there.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenAnd there's a lot, you know, 950 million people, obviously not all of them are active, but, you know, sometimes, you know, people show up from places you never thought you, you know, you'd ever.
Monty PedersenYou'd ever touch.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd want your help, you know, encourage people, you know, give them, you know, give them courage, you know, give them something, you know, to believe in and understand.
Monty PedersenBecause there's a.
Monty PedersenThere's a lot of organizations that just aren't doing it.
Monty PedersenYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd I think, I think, you know, education's being reformed somewhat through social media, you know, because you've got.
Monty PedersenYou've got topics of, you know, you've got subject matter and you've got topics of conversation that we've never had before, and the only place you can learn it are from the people who are online already doing it.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd so that's where the, you know, the online programming and coursework, I think, is performing it.
Monty PedersenPlus, we have two generations that comprise about 65% of the workforce right now that think, you know, pursuing a college education, you know, when there's no degree in their field for what they're trying to do, doesn't make any sense to them.
Monty PedersenSo, you know, they're out there trying to.
Monty PedersenTo learn.
Monty PedersenAnd unfortunately, you know, you run into the major influencers.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenThat are just, you know, buying paid ads and cranking people in and out of their system for money.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenYou know, I mean, I guess you have to expect that.
Monty PedersenBut if, if you're really serious about it and you build a relationship with somebody on, you know, on social media, build your brand, sell your footprint.
Monty PedersenYou know, people subscribe to what it is you do, they go to your website and they, you know, they buy into more than just what you post in terms of articles and content.
Monty PedersenYou've probably got a friend for life, right?
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd somebody who may be willing to invest in your services if they feel they need that.
Monty PedersenBut the way that I looked at it was build the relationships and create that relationship.
Monty PedersenBecause even if it doesn't end up in a business transaction, you still have that.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd that, and that's something of value.
Monty PedersenAnd I think that's what most people don't get about, you know, the whole process.
Monty PedersenAt least, at least the people that, you know, are interested in building long term success with their, with their enterprises and their own, you know, their own digital footprint and, you know, market viability.
Kelly KennedyI had a great conversation with a gentleman named Marcus Chan and he said that you should give away 90% and at most charge for 10.
Kelly KennedyAnd that was his, his kind of motto.
Kelly KennedyAnd he's like you, he's got a pretty massive following on LinkedIn and he shares it all.
Kelly KennedyHe doesn't hold anything back.
Kelly KennedyHe's written an amazing book and it just, I believe it was called Six Figure Sales.
Kelly KennedyAnd yeah, it was just one of those, it was one of those great pieces of advice.
Kelly KennedyAnd, you know, I mean, I think he's completely on point.
Kelly KennedyYou know, when we started the business development podcast, I said, why not?
Kelly KennedyI'll just tell them exactly how I do business development.
Kelly KennedyI'll teach them the lessons that I learned.
Kelly KennedyThere was nothing in the space for business development.
Kelly KennedyIt was completely overlooked.
Kelly KennedyAnd I remember getting into it and wondering, what the hell should I be doing?
Kelly KennedyAnd so I just wanted to help the world with this show.
Kelly KennedyAnd obviously it's turned into something much bigger than just business development.
Kelly KennedyBut when I initially started, that was it.
Kelly KennedyIt was like, why, you know, I don't want to be.
Kelly KennedyI think now I have the knowledge that I could help past me.
Kelly KennedyWhen I got into this and didn't know anything about it and there was no resources available, we needed to give back and it was a way that I could.
Kelly KennedyAnd so it was my way of giving 90%.
Kelly KennedyAnd I think that is the future of the world.
Podcast IntroductionRight.
Kelly KennedyLike you can find out just about anything you want to find out on YouTube, on LinkedIn, through podcasts.
Kelly KennedyWe live in this amazing time where almost Anything you want to learn is available to you.
Kelly KennedyI think that might be the real challenge that you're seeing with universities, is that people are realizing that they don't need to go to one organization to find this information.
Kelly KennedyA lot of it is readily available to you.
Kelly KennedyThem.
Kelly KennedyIt's a different time.
Monty PedersenYeah.
Monty PedersenAnd a lot of the, you know, a lot of the professors and the really, the really smart, active people who see education as being, you know, a real need, they're out there already.
Monty PedersenThey're, they're online and they're, they're working through a number of different sources and institutions and, you know, creating even greater value and probably, you know, profiting personally from it, you know, more than if they just, you know, stayed in one place and, and affected, you know, whoever comes through their door and sits in their classroom.
Kelly KennedyYeah, yeah, yeah.
Kelly KennedyIt's a brave new world.
Kelly KennedyAnd, you know, while we're getting into that, I did just want to close the show today.
Kelly KennedyYou know, you've been a leader for over 35 years.
Kelly KennedyYou know, you've experienced a lot.
Kelly KennedyI'm sure a lot has changed in that time with regards to leadership.
Kelly KennedyYou know, we're talking to a lot of people in the new year.
Kelly KennedyYou know, maybe they're new leaders, emerging leaders, or been leaders a long time, but, you know, there's a lot of lessons that you can impart on them.
Kelly KennedyAnd I guess I would just say what would be, you know, say your top three leadership pieces of advice here going into 2025 for people.
Kelly KennedyWhat should they be considering in this new world?
Monty PedersenWell, the biggest thing from a leadership standpoint is, and I like to say it this way, own.
Monty PedersenOwn the real estate that you walk on, meaning invest in, you know, invest in your people.
Monty PedersenObviously, I'm an advocate of truly human leadership, human centric approach that it all starts and ends with people.
Monty PedersenBut the reality is, as there are leaders who look at themselves and they sort of take care of themselves, they lead others and they do certain things, but they don't invest in their people.
Monty PedersenAnd the way I look at owning your own real estate is if, if one of your people fail, you fail.
Monty PedersenYeah, that, you know, you've got to own everything that goes on.
Monty PedersenThe good, the bad.
Monty PedersenYou know, when, when something happens inside your team or your organization that, that, that shouldn't have happened.
Monty PedersenAre you evaluating your role in, in how that happened first before you start pointing fingers and going after other people?
Monty PedersenAnd the reason why that's sort of number one on my list is I spent 30 years doing the Opposite, right, Where if somebody screwed up, if somebody failed, that was on them.
Monty PedersenI had my story and I knew what I was doing and I thought it was sound.
Monty PedersenAnd so that's a very non linear view of leadership, but it's pretty important.
Monty PedersenAnd so the second one kind of dovetails from that.
Monty PedersenAnd that's, it's always remember that it's not about you, it's about them.
Monty PedersenYou know, that you, you know, leadership ultimately is, is about, you know, getting things done through people.
Monty PedersenYes, you, yes, you contribute on your own.
Monty PedersenYes, you guide through information and obviously you're, you're privy to the big picture and other things that you do.
Monty PedersenBut when it comes down to it, you're, you're, you're inspiring, empowering and serving people that you haven't within your charge.
Monty PedersenAnd you know, if the minute you take the focus off of them, the minute you, that you start losing your leadership credential, at least in my mind, and then the last thing that I would say is more than ever, and this probably applies to your 2025 thinking, is that, you know, business needs courageous leaders.
Monty PedersenWe really do.
Monty PedersenIf you can't call somebody out within your organization.
Monty PedersenRight.
Monty PedersenI mean, assuming you have a psychologically and safe environment, I don't, I don't want people marching into the boss's office and, you know, you know, chewing them out if it's going to get them fired.
Monty PedersenBut yeah, we've, we've got to be able to have the difficult conversations with people.
Monty PedersenWhen someone's screwing up, you've just got to go to them and say, what, what's going on?
Monty PedersenWhat can, you know, what can I do differently?
Monty PedersenWhat can I help you with?
Monty PedersenOr is this just not a good fit?
Monty PedersenAnd maybe there's something else we can do with you, you know, inside the organization if this isn't what, you know, what you, what you feel passionate about.
Kelly KennedyYeah.
Monty PedersenSo most managers, I would say, aren't, aren't willing to have those.
Monty PedersenYou know, they do, they do things by the book.
Monty PedersenYou know, they're all about the nuts and bolts.
Monty PedersenAnd we need, we need good managers and we need good leaders.
Monty PedersenThere's no question about it.
Monty PedersenBut, but a leader will be able to have that difficult conversation and make those hard decisions and be courageous in terms of how they lead.
Monty PedersenThat's, that's the only way we surface reality and that's the only way we can act on it when, you know, when we know something needs to change.
Kelly KennedyAmazing.
Kelly KennedyAmazing.
Kelly KennedyThank you so much for that, Monty.
Kelly KennedyI think leadership is challenging And I think a big part of that is that we can be reluctant sometimes to look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves, what could we have done better?
Kelly KennedyRight.
Kelly KennedyIt's a lot easier, easier to point fingers sometimes than it is to look in the mirror and say, look, there's usually a failure on both sides.
Kelly KennedyIt's not usually one sided.
Kelly KennedyThere's usually things that we could do.
Kelly KennedyAnd I think as leaders, the more that we can try to reflect on ourselves and how we can do better, the better, the better off we'll be.
Monty PedersenAbsolutely, absolutely.
Monty PedersenAbsolutely.
Monty PedersenYou know, you and I, and I know that, you know, central Canada is a lot like the great Midwest in the US and you know, we have this tendency to be, what we call, it might be called something different in Canada and down here it's called Minnesota.
Monty PedersenNice, right?
Monty PedersenWhere we don't want to offend anybody.
Monty PedersenWe want, we like to please people and we need more of an east coast attitude, you know, where somebody gets in your face because, you know, you know, the number one right of every team member is to know where they stand with their manager and the boss, you know, the company every day.
Monty PedersenAnd if we're not, if we're not giving them that, then, you know, then we're shortchanging them and we're missing out on an opportunity to, you know, optimize their, their abilities with, you know, within our, our group or department or whatever.
Kelly KennedyYeah, absolutely.
Kelly KennedyAnd I agree.
Kelly KennedyYeah, I think we do struggle with that.
Kelly KennedyWe do struggle for it's confrontation.
Kelly KennedyRight.
Kelly KennedyWe're, we're avoiding confrontation.
Kelly KennedyAnd you know, I, I know I've struggled with that and so have many, many, many people.
Kelly KennedyAnd I'm, I'm a recovering, I'm a recovering confronter.
Kelly KennedyIs that the right way of saying it?
Monty PedersenYeah.
Kelly KennedyMonty, this has been absolutely amazing.
Kelly KennedyYou know, I want to chat a little bit about CDA Group.
Kelly KennedyYou guys offer a wide range of services as we talk.
Kelly KennedyLike it started off with one, but it's starting to expand into more.
Kelly KennedyCan we chat a little bit about CDA Group and the services that you provide?
Monty PedersenYeah, so, so, so CDA comes from clarify, Deploy, achieve, which, which is really, you know, what great execution is all about.
Monty PedersenYou know, clarify what, what you need to have done, deploy the resources necessary to the right people and then go out and deliver on it.
Monty PedersenAnd so that's sort of where the, where the acronym came from.
Monty PedersenBut you know, we are a leadership training firm and leadership is firmly embedded into everything we do.
Monty PedersenSo we have, you know, we have an execution management system That I think is the best in the market.
Monty PedersenThere aren't that many.
Monty PedersenThey haven't been around that long.
Monty PedersenBut this is a very, very solid, easy to learn, understand and manage process that will get you executing really, really, you know, quickly.
Monty PedersenAnd so we have, that I just mentioned, you know, our educational platform in terms of, you know, that we're moving into where we're, we're trying to bring knowledge and understanding to the whole strategy to execution gap that exists out there.
Monty PedersenAnd so, you know, strategy Execution Unriddled is the, the know the program that I've built with, you know, with Jacob Boven in Switzerland.
Monty PedersenAnd we're, what's interesting about it is, you know, we're trying to affect, you know, Central Europe and the United States, you know, in, in the same sort of in the same bucket.
Monty PedersenBut, but we have, we have a, we have a couple of online courses that we've developed.
Monty PedersenOne of them is the Strategy Execution Essentials course.
Monty PedersenJust completing the first cohort.
Monty PedersenWe have a second cohort starting in August.
Monty PedersenSo if you follow my stuff or you know, go to clarify deployachieve.com, you'll find out more about that.
Monty PedersenAnd then I've just sort of by accident been asked to keynote and so I do formalize presentations for organizations that are interested in it.
Monty PedersenIt's not what I would consider that I'm in the business to do, but for the right opportunity.
Monty PedersenIn, in October, I'm going to be in Moncton, New Brunswick speaking with the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium.
Monty PedersenThey're having, they're having a fall one day conference and I'm going to keynote for them.
Monty PedersenSo that, that's October 22nd, if anybody in Atlantic Canada is listening or interested.
Monty PedersenSo, so yeah, so there are other things including formalized workshops and customized, you know, strategy execution programs that, that, that we do.
Monty PedersenSo we've, we've diversified quite a bit here over the last eight years and it just I guess continues to get more and more exciting.
Kelly KennedyAmazing, Amazing.
Kelly KennedyMonty, thank you so much for joining us today, sharing all the information.
Kelly KennedyUntil next time, this has been episode 206 of the Business Development Podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.
Podcast IntroductionThis has been the Business Development Podcast with Kelly Kennedy.
Podcast IntroductionKelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.
Podcast IntroductionHis passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.
Podcast IntroductionThe show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.
Podcast IntroductionFor more we invite you to the website at www.capitalbd ca see you next time on the business development podcast.