Mike Haldane Speaking Topics

• Surviving Cancer – A Story of Perseverance After Tragedy

  My life started out like any other typical American kid. I was born in 1967. I am the oldest of two sons. My brother is five years younger than I am. We grew up in southern California, close to Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. We were just a few miles from the beach, yet we were surrounded by strawberry fields, dairy farms and orange groves. We lived a very middle-class life in a very working-class neighborhood.

  At ten years old, I hardly understood what cancer was. But on that day, cancer changed my life forever. The image is burned into my memory every bit as much as the day I got married and the births of my two sons. Within three words, I knew what my dad was going to say and to this day I cannot describe with words, the distraught I felt. My mom was the center of my world, so the realization of her being gone was just too much to comprehend.

  Over time, I learned to cope, persevere and find happiness again. Those lessons have to a large extent, informed my perspectives in life and in business. Experiences like this help you to understand the importance of moving ahead, even when roadblocks are thrown your way. Being able to do so has blessed me with my own family and a fulfilling career.

  Sometimes in business, things don’t always go the way we plan, but standing tall, remaining confident, reassessing the situation and moving forward with momentum will always win the day.

• Built from Bricks – How to Construct and Launch a Successful as a Service Business

  While as a service businesses have been popular for years, many traditional, “brick and mortar” businesses have largely excluded themselves from this go-to-market model.

  In my experience, these businesses haven’t missed adopting the as a service model because of a lack of interest. Instead, they haven’t moved forward with an as a service model because it’s deemed to be too difficult to figure out, too capital-intensive, or too much change for their organization. All these concerns are valid, but these challenges can be mitigated with careful planning and great execution.

  Since 2008, in various commercial roles, I’ve been building as a service businesses from traditional businesses that have had no such offering historically. Examples of the initiatives I’ve brought to market are ProVation Capital™, Priority Control as a Service™ and Irrigation Management as a Service™, representing a diverse mix of hardware, software and services, in business to business and business to government environments.

  Over the years, I’ve sold as a service offerings to companies, not for profit organizations and government entitles throughout the United States and this presentation is focused on those experiences. We'll cover why an as a service model makes sense for many businesses, how to build it to drive a recurring revenue base and how to avoid the pitfalls that will undoubtedly come up before and after you launch.

• Leadership First – A Practical Guide to Employee Engagement

  We’ve all heard the statistics: most employees leave their manager first and then their company. Before that, we see 'quiet quitting', meaning they’re still there, but not engaged and doing only what’s necessary to avoid being fired. The truth is that people don’t want to work for a manager; they want to work for a leader. There’s a big difference and business results come from leadership.

  Managers manage tasks and resources. Leaders establish a vision and then get people excited about it. Engagement comes from excitement and that’s what enables employees’ superpowers. But what do employees get excited about? They get excited when the mission matters; when the objectives and strategy are clear; when their role is meaningful and key to the organization’s success; when they feel supported and set up to win; and when those involved are truly working as a team.

  Throughout my career, I’ve witnessed good leadership, poor leadership and no leadership at all. This presentation focuses on what good leadership should aspire to be, including:

  • Engaged.
  • Credible.
  • Self-aware.
  • Authentic.
  • Humble.
  • Transparent
  • Empowering.
  • Action oriented.
  • Accountable.
  • Consistent.

• The Journey – A Beginner’s Guide to Career Success

  Early in my career, I remember wondering if I would ever get to a senior level position and if I could ultimately earn what I thought would enable the life I wanted to live. The problem was that I had no idea how to get there and unfortunately, I didn’t grow up around others who had done what I wanted to do.

  Ideally, people graduate from college and know exactly what they want to do. That wasn’t me; I actually had no idea. I started in sales, but knew I wanted more. I eventually moved into marketing and from there, my career took off; but there were many lessons along the way, the first of which was to enjoy the journey. As I look back, every job I’ve had has been meaningful in some way. This presentation is about lessons learned, which provide guidance to those who want to succeed, but don’t know how to do it. A few of the concepts covered include:

  • Work ethic.
  • Energy.
  • Passion to learn.
  • Ingenuity.
  • Desire to succeed.
  • Collaboration, humility and leadership.
  • Your personal brand.
  • Networking and credibility.
  • Unwillingness to stagnate or be a part of a toxic culture.
  • Perseverance.
  • And ultimately, knowing where you want to go and putting plans in place to get there.

• Hope isn’t a Strategy – The Importance of Unbiased Market Research, Great Strategy and Flawless Execution

  There are countless examples of companies that brainstorm great ideas, but neglect to test their concepts, assumptions, prices and messaging with those who will ultimately become their customers. Skipping market research means ideas are limited to an 'internal' view only, which often leads to failure.

  Careful market research, if designed and executed well, leads to valuable insights that can be analyzed to determine interest levels, the priority of features, price sensitivity, messaging that resonates, the validity of assumptions, the size of the market and the factors that determine whether customers will actually purchase.

  Strategy starts with business objectives, which should be based on the organization's growth aspirations, unbiased market research and solid financial modeling. Once realistic objectives are understood, it's a matter of determining the steps needed to get from where we are to where we want to be. Execution

  The best research and strategy don't matter unless execution as close to flawlessly as possible is put into place. To accomplish this, the objectives need to be clear and completely transparent to everyone expected to play a role. From there, assembly of an annual operating plan that can be broken into monthly objectives is needed. Each member of the team should have responsibility for their objectives and progress should be reviewed regularly, in a structured, disciplined way.

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