Michael Bergdahl
Former Wal-Mart Executive & Business "Turn-Around" Specialist
Michael Bergdahl, author of What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World, combines his insider expertise with a powerful, high-energy style that inspires, electrifies, and entertains audiences. Bergdahl's power-packed, to-the-point presentations and his unique knowledge of Wal-Mart's methods have made him one of today's most in-demand business speakers. The methods and processes he explains are far more than just theory – he has helped some of the nation's largest and most influential organizations restructure, refocus, and rebuild.
If you're serious about success in today's business world, you need Michael Bergdahl. An internationally acclaimed speaker, business coach, and author, Bergdahl combines a lifetime of insider expertise with a powerful, high-energy style that inspires, electrifies, and entertains audiences as he teaches them how to compete in a Wal-Mart world.
Bergdahl worked directly with Sam Walton at the Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas for Wal-Mart, as the Director of "People." It was Sam Walton who gave Bergdahl the nickname, "Bird Dawg"!
Bergdahl's power-packed, to-the-point presentations and his unique knowledge of Wal-Mart's methods have made him one of today's most in-demand business speakers and coaches. The methods and processes he explains are far more than just theory - as an experienced "turn-around" specialist who has helped some of the nation's largest and most influential organizations restructure, refocus, and rebuild, Bergdahl knows how to help businesses get results.
To help Wal-Mart's domestic and international competitors develop proactive success strategies, he wrote What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World. He recently released his second book entitled, The 10 Rules of Sam Walton: Success Secrets for Remarkable Results.
ADDITIONAL LINKS
-
5. Change/Challenge/Choice©
"Because yesterday's success is no guarantee of success tomorrow, your team has to adapt & change now or risk failure in the future!"
Competition with manufacturers from countries like China is brutal. The manufacturing world as you've known it has changed and you and your team must be willing to Change also, if you intend to survive. The Challenge for manufacturers of products is what to do to re-level the playing field. In order to succeed you and your team must make the Choice do what's necessary to reinvent your business, and the way people think, to remain successful.
The fact is that competition is more difficult than ever before. Those who are used to simply picking up the fruit of their labors right off the ground or from the branches within closest reach are finding that success today requires that people stretch and even climb up into the branches to gather the highest hanging fruit to succeed. Unfortunately, Change is always hard for people, which adds to the Challenge faced by organizations forced to make the Choice to reinvent their business in order to compete, survive and thrive in this complex and competitive world. In this speech, Change/Challenge/Choice, Bergdahl will discuss the following strategies:
CHANGE
·Get Efficient - you're going to need to produce more with less people.
·Benchmark Best Practices – seek out the ideas used by other manufacturers
·Innovate – grow revenue by getting creative with products, services and service enhancements, technology, strategy and tactics. Brainstorm new ideas – new markets, services, bundling products, delivery, in-sourcing.
CHALLENGE
·Continuously Improve – empower people to improve every area of your operation
·Increase Productivity – improve "internal and external" customer service
·Control Expenses - teach everyone in your organization to manage costs
CHOICE
·Continuously Learn – learn from and imitate the success of others
·Leverage People – tap into the creativity of your own people and change the way they think, focus everyone on your brand and a common agenda - "Your people make the difference."
·Focus on your Competencies – play to your strengths and shore up your weaknesses
·Customer Partnerships – become the supplier of choice, by asking your customers what kind of products and services they need, when they need them and what you can do to partner with them.
-
4. AntidisestablishmentWalMartarianism©
"The battle for the heart's and mind's of Wal-Mart's two million employees."
"Antidisestablishmentwalmartarianism" is a term coined by Michael Bergdahl, a 26 year HR Professional, who defines it as, "the opposition by Wal-Mart's leaders to the unionization of its non-union workforce anywhere in the world!"
As the "Director of People" at Wal-Mart, Bergdahl had the chance to work directly with the founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton, from whom he learned firsthand the behind the scenes story of the famous Wal-Mart culture."
In this speech Bergdahl describes the ongoing battle between union organizers and Wal-Mart's leaders, and why after decades of effort not one of the more than 4000 USA Wal-Mart stores has a collective bargaining agreement. This is a remarkable accomplishment given the fact that the company has been under a corporate union campaign for decades. Bergdahl believes Wal-Mart has no choice but to battle unionization, because remaining union-free is not only the key to the company's continued profitability, it may also be the key to its long term survival!
Why are the unions so interested in organizing Wal-Mart's employees? Why are Wal-Mart's leaders such adamant antidistablishmentwalmartarians? In this speech he answers these questions as he reviews, "The Wal-Mart Way," and its employee relations practices that have contributed to maintaining its non-union status.
Audience members will learn some of the inside leadership secrets of "The Sam Walton Way" which are utilized to this day by company leaders. Bergdahl reviews Wal-Mart's "best people practices" that have contributed to Wal-Mart becoming the world's largest company, and which have helped keep its stores union-free! -
3. Growing Your Business - "The Sam Walton & Wal-Mart Way"©
"Wal-Mart is a Logistics, Distribution and IT driven company that also has Retail Stores."
When he died, Sam Walton was the wealthiest man in the world with an estate worth over US$100 billion dollars! How did he achieve such phenomenal success in just over 30 years? How does Wal-Mart focus its 2 million employees, 7100 stores and 120 massive distribution centers? What were Sam Walton's secrets for growing Wal-Mart to become the world's largest company?
Wal-Mart's successful growth is a result of specific strategies and tactics put in place long ago by the company founder, Sam Walton. Sam Walton had a vision, a specific game plan, and rules upon which he focused his team to grow his business. In this speech Bergdahl discusses the success strategies and tactics of "The Sam Walton and Wal-Mart Way."
Audience members will learn the success secrets of the world's most successful merchant, Sam Walton, and the best practices of the world's largest company, Wal-Mart. The focus of this program is to help audience members transfer the knowledge gained into action to grow their own businesses, through innovation, risk taking, and thinking outside the box "The Sam Walton & Wal-Mart Way." -
2. The 10 Rules of Sam Walton©
"Tactics of the World's Richest Man"
In Michael Bergdahl's book called, The 10 Rules of Sam Walton: Success Secrets for Remarkable Results, he unveils the tactics of the world's most successful entrepreneur.
In this speech, he discusses Sam Walton's 10 self-professed rules for success, which Walton embraced as he grew Wal-Mart from a single store to a 7000+ store global enterprise. Did you know that when he died Sam Walton was the world's richest man? He was worth US$100 billion, which at the time was almost double the wealth of Bill Gates! Conference participants really want to learn the success secrets followed by the world's wealthiest man and now they can!
Based on his second book, The 10 Rules of Sam Walton, Michael Bergdahl will discuss "The Sam Walton Way" through a discussion of the tactics behind Sam Walton's self-professed rules for entrepreneurial success. Sam Walton credited these 10 rules as the reason he became the World's Richest Man.
Your conference participants will gain actionable ideas, from the tactics followed by Sam Walton, which they can adapt, and utilize in their businesses and personal lives. In this speech, Bergdahl uses great stories only an insider can tell about Sam Walton's unique brand of leadership! -
1. Picking Wal-Mart's "POCKETS"©
"Strategies of the World's Largest Company"
Based on his first book, What I learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete & Thrive in a Wal-Mart World, this speech reveals "The Wal-Mart Way" through a discussion of the 7 key strategies of Wal-Mart. Using storytelling, humor, inspiration and his real world experience working with Sam Walton as examples, Bergdahl unveils those seven strategies. He uses the acronym, "P.O.C.K.E.T.S.", which stands for Price, Operations, Culture, Key Item Promotion, Expenses, Talent and Service. Bergdahl believes, "Finding your unique niche in the marketplace or "POCKETS" is the key to success no matter what market or business you are competing in!"
In this speech he explains the key to each of Wal-Mart's seven strategies, and the Best Practices, that have made Wal-Mart the World's Largest Company. More importantly, Bergdahl will discuss specific strategies that audience members can take away from "The Wal-Mart Way" to make their businesses even more successful. Conference participants will learn techniques other companies have used successfully to compete, survive and thrive in a Wal-Mart World! He also reviews a checklist of success strategies and tactics audience members can implement in their businesses immediately upon return. Whether your conference participants love Wal-Mart, or hate Wal-Mart, if they are in business anywhere around the globe, they will benefit by "Picking Wal-Marts POCKETS!"
-
Your "P.O.C.K.E.T.S." speech at our annual meeting exceeded our expectations. I heard nothing but positives from everyone who attended. One of our petroleum marketers expressed it best, saying he was "spellbound". Thanks for being so easy to work with and for your contribution to making our convention a great success!
-
Your speaking ability coupled with your exceptional experience with great leaders gives you something that everyone who wants to succeed should hear.
-
He's a sales and service guy who knows how to motivate people to reach their full potential. Speaking from his hands on experience, he inspires people to give that extra effort that yields big results. If you haven't heard him, you've got to hear him speak!
-
Dynamic, exciting, no nonsense, no pie in the sky, no wishful thinking but nuts and bolts, guts and glory as to how to become successful delivering your product to the world...speaking directly to people, communicating directly to people, with a timely and important message.
-
May 2007The 10 Rules of Sam Walton: Success Secrets for Remarkable Results
During his successful career, Sam Walton developed a list of what he considered the most important rules for entrepreneurial success. As far as he was concerned, there were ten key result areas that he considered pivotal to his own success. Now, in The 10 Rules of Sam Walton, author and former Wal-Mart employee Michael Bergdahl reveals these rules—and the stories behind them—to help you achieve success in both your professional and personal lives. Straightforward and to the point, this book offers valuable lessons that Walton himself followed, and taught, throughout his lifetime—from Rule #1: "Be passionately committed to achieving success" to Rule # 10: "Be different and challenge the status quo."
-
August 2004What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World
If you want to compete in today’s Wal-Mart world, what better way to improve your business than to learn from the strongest and fastest competitor? In What I Learned from Sam Walton, author Michael Bergdahl uncovers and unravels the principles, culture, and secrets of Wal-Mart’s unprecedented success in a way that no one else can. As a former director under Sam Walton, Bergdahl draws upon his firsthand observations of Walton, his company, and its executive team to help you adapt Wal-Mart’s best practices and principles to your own organization.
Tweet
