Michael Bergdahl

Biography

Michael Bergdahl is an experienced international business speaker, author and turnaround specialist. Bergdahl worked in Bentonville, Arkansas for Wal-Mart, as the Director of “People” for the headquarters office, where he worked directly with Sam Walton. It was Sam Walton who gave Bergdahl the nickname, “Bird Dawg”! Previous to Wal-Mart he worked for PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Division in the sales organization and headquarters staff assignments. He has experience as a turnaround specialist who participated in two successful business turnarounds at American Eagle Outfitters and Waste Management.

Michael Bergdahl is considered an authority on Wal-Mart. He has appeared on CNN, CNBC, CNN FN, MSNBC, CNN International, CBS National Radio and Bloomberg TV. He has participated in debates on “Power Lunch”, “On the Money”, “Morning Call” and “Closing Bell”. His articles have appeared in leading business newspapers and magazines.

His international speaking experience includes: * Brisbane, Australia * Melbourne, Australia * Vancouver, British Columbia * Toronto, Quebec * Caracas, Venezuela * Bogota, Colombia * Panama City, Panama * Cologne, Germany * Istanbul, Turkey * Malaga, Spain * Moscow, Russia * & across the USA. * He will be speaking at events later in 2007 in Port Douglas, Australia, Santiago, Chile, and Beijing, China. *

He wrote his first book about his experiences working for the World’s Largest Company entitled: What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World. His second book is entitled, The 10 Rules of Sam Walton: Success Secrets for Remarkable Results. John Wiley & Sons published both of these books and they have been translated into other languages.

Michael Bergdahl is a professional international business speaker with substance, who is one part business, one part inspiration and one part storyteller. His customized speeches are designed to teach others Wal-Mart’s Best Practices & how they can improve their ability to serve their customers, control their expenses and increase their sales. He has spoken at association and business conferences domestically and internationally to Retailers, Non-Retailers, Manufacturers and Suppliers who are interested in improving their ability to compete successfully in a Wal-Mart World!

Publications

The late Sam Walton began his march to retailing supremacy by building stores in rural areas across the southern United States. After establishing himself and gaining momentum, he began his expansion campaign in the west, north, and northeast - using his innovative business techniques to catch his competition flatfooted. Walton was innovative, visionary, and hardworking, but these weren't the only traits that enabled him to take Wal-Mart to the top of the retailing 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.

With an insider's perspective, Bergdahl peels back the cultural layers of Wal-Mart and gives you a glimpse into the mind of the founder of the world's largest retailer. he also shares seven effective strategies you can take from Wal-Mart to build your business. These seven strategies are illustrated by the acronym P.O.C.K.E.T.S. - because to compete effectively you have to carve out a niche or business "pocket" for your company.

Each aspect of the P.O.C.K.E.T.S. strategy is fully examined, with the author devoting an entire chapter to each tactic - Price, Operations, Culture, Key Item Promotion/Product, Expenses, Talent, and Service

In each chapter, you'll be introduced to some of the inside strategies and tactics utilized by Sam Walton and Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart's success strategies and tactics are easy to understand, yet hard to duplicate. What I Learned From Sam Walton offers a portrayal of Wal-Mart's strengths and provides strategies, tactics, and ideas you can implement today that will enable you to compete.

Titles

Picking Wal-Mart’s “POCKETS”
In this speech, using the acronym “ P.O.C.K.E.T.S.”, which stands for Price, Operations, Culture, Key Item Promotion, Expenses, Talent and Service, Michael Bergdahl describes several effective strategies competitors can and have used to counteract the inevitable pressure created by “big box” retailers. Finding Your niche in the market or “POCKET” is the key to Your survival! The key is to avoid the temptation to compete on price. You’ve got to make the commitment to differentiate yourself by finding your unique niche or pocket. Audience members will learn techniques other companies have used to compete, survive and thrive in a Wal-Mart World! Bergdahl also reviews a checklist of success strategies and tactics others can implement immediately. This speech is designed around Bergdahl's book, What I Learned From Sam Walton, How to Compete & Thrive in a Wal-Mart World.

Secrets to Living a Passion Driven Life, (A Motivational Speech)
In this inspirational and motivational speech, Michael Bergdahl shares his personal Secrets to Living a Passion Driven Life. Drawing on his own life experiences as a Fortune 500 company executive who became the caregiver to a profoundly deaf child with Aspergers (high functioning autism) and a wife who suffered a stroke and survived, he tells the story of the day to day challenges he has faced in balancing his life. A breadwinner who was forced by circumstances to become “Mr. Mom” to two children, Michael Bergdahl tells a story of inspiration and overcoming life’s obstacles in order to succeed. Using humor and anecdotal stories he provides his own recipe for overcoming obstacles and shows audience members the importance of Living a Passion Driven Life. The speech is broken into five parts: 1. Believe in yourself, 2. Develop a big dream 3. Don’t listen to the naysayer, 4.Do whatever it takes and 5. Don’t give up. Author of three books, and a professional keynote speaker, Bergdahl shares his story and his secrets, as an example, in his personal mission to make a difference in the lives of others. This speech is a great opening or closing keynote for both business and non-business meetings or conferences.

The 10 Success Secrets of Sam Walton
Do you want to achieve greater levels of success in your personal and professional life? The answer of course is everyone does. In Michael Bergdahl's forthcoming book called, The 10 Rules of Sam Walton: Success Secrets for Remarkable Results he shares the success secrets of the world's most successful entrepreneur. In this speech, he will discuss Sam Walton's self professed ten rules for success which Mr. Sam embraced as he grew Wal-Mart from a single site to a 5000 store global enterprise. Audience members will take away success strategies they can use in both their personal and professional life.

F.I.R.S.T – Secrets to Outperforming the Pack
From his experiences working for World Class “Best Practice” Companies like Pepsico’s Frito-Lay Division and Wal-Mart, Michael Bergdahl shares with you some of the secrets of their success. As a turnaround team member at American Eagle Outfitters and Waste Management, learned what it takes to turn a failing company around. He shares the secrets of outperforming the pack in this speech using the acronym F.I.R.S.T. which stands for; Focus on the Customer, Inspirational Leadership, Results through People, Succession Planning/Bench-Building & Tactics for Driving the Business. Combining energy, storytelling and humor with his practical experience working with executives like Sam Walton, Bergdahl will entertain and provide practical and actionable business ideas to those in attendance.

Building Bench – Attract/Retain & Upgrade
What is your standard for staffing talent in your organization? How do your people compare to those of your competitors? Are you selective in choosing very bright, high potential people for your business or do you settle for whoever walks through the door and applies? Are you getting your share of “A” Players? The selection and retention of quality employees is the foundation upon which every one of your other strategies is based. Staffing should be one of your most important competitive advantages. In this speech Bergdahl will challenge your staffing paradigms. He will share with you “World Class” Staffing strategies and tactics from his experiences working for PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Division. He will review the methods of creating a “human inventory” or “bench strength” analysis for your organization to help you improve your ability to compete. In the competitive world we live and work in the companies with the best talent…WIN!

Change/Challenge/Choice
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.