Josh Steimle

MWI, a marketing agency, is the first "real" business I started, way back in 1999. Today, MWI has offices on multiple continents and works with clients like Marriott, Sony, LG, Hotels.com, and Orangetheory Fitness. 

MWI is actually more than a single company, it's a collection of marketing agencies. We grow by diversifying ourselves across geographies, services, and industries. 

Geography: We're always interested in opening or acquiring offices in new locations. If you currently run a marketing agency and want to be part of the MWI network, please reach out.

Services: We started out as a web development agency but then moved into services like SEO, paid search, social, PR, content, and video. We start subsidiary agencies focused on these services, while MWI HQ acts as the coordinating hub for clients who need multiple services. If you run a firm that focuses on a particular marketing service and are interesting in partnering with us, I'd love to talk.

Industries: We launch subsidiary marketing agencies that focus on niche industries such as self storage, dentists, hospitals, and hospitality. If you have a marketing agency that focuses on a particular industry and would like to discuss a potential acquisition, let me know.

For more info visit www.mwi.com.

Founder

Pando Partners

It took me over 20 years to figure out why I'm an entrepreneur. I used to think I wanted money, or stuff, or for people to see me as successful. But chasing all of that left me empty, and it didn't seem to work out well business-wise, either.

Instead, what seemed to align everything in my business and personal life was a desire to help others progress, to see them maximize their potential. I started Pando Partners as a way to create businesses as vehicles to help people get unstuck and keep learning and growing.

Of course, we care about money—a business can't survive without profits, just like a person can't survive without food. Money matters like food matters. But if all you live for is to eat, and all your business exists for is to make money, what kind of existence is that?

At Pando, our first core value is people. Our other core values are purpose, abundance, partnership, and stewardship. Through Pando's multi-business system (MBS), I can partner with great experts, leaders, and creators to find unlimited opportunities. At other companies, you compete against your own team to move up the corporate ladder. At Pando, there is no limit to the number of companies we can create, which encourages collaboration and loyalty. 

The Pando plan involved two phases. Phase I is to create several self-managing businesses related to marketing and promotion. During Phase II, we'll use those companies to help larger, more scalable companies grow quickly.

Interested in joining the team? Shoot me a message.

Published Author

Want 1-1 book coaching? Contact me at josh@publishedauthor.com. Published Author helps entrepreneurs write, publish, and leverage business books to grow their businesses.

Canvas PR

In 2013, I published my first article in a major publication (FastCo). Then I was invited to write a column for Forbes. Then I got into Entrepreneur, Insider, Fortune, TIME, Mashable, Techcrunch, and ultimately I wrote hundreds of articles for more than two-dozen publications.

However, the more I wrote and published articles, the more I got on the radar of PR firms. At first, it was just a few pitches each month. Then it was dozens, then hundreds, and some months I'm pretty sure it neared 1,000 pitches. 

The pitches came from all types of PR firms, including big NYC PR firms, and yet they were all the same. "Hey, I've got big time CEO so and so available, would you like to talk to them?" It was almost like every PR firm gave their people the same "How to Pitch PR" book that included a single template which everyone copied and then mass-emailed to everyone they could find on MuckRack.

I knew there had to be a better way.

I looked at the pitches I actually read, the ones that were customized so I knew they were only sent to me and no one else. I saw how they reached out to me because they knew what I wrote about, and had a client they thought would fit well with my swim lane. And they didn't just say, "Hey, I've got so and so!" they would also give me ideas for headlines and offer to help me put together the article by gathering data, quotes, other interviews (even though not clients), etc.

Actually, no one ever pitched me that way, I only wished they would.

We started offering PR services through my marketing agency, MWI, using this type of pitch, but then we launched Canvas PR as a standalone agency. Because of our process and the relationships we've developed, we are able to offer our clients guaranteed PR placements for a flat fee. Finally, there's accountability in PR.

If you're interested in learning more, reach out to Logan Derrick at logan@canvaspr.com.

Harvard Business School

Since 2007 I've harbored an interest in doing academic research, primarily on the intersection of government policy with entrepreneurship/startup hubs globally. I've done light work with a number of professors, but to get more hands-on experience I've taken on contract work at HBS writing case studies.

Research Assistant

BlueMethod

While writing for Forbes circa 2014, I began testing whether my articles got more attention on Forbes.com or LinkedIn, and found that LinkedIn did 10x as much for me when it came to connecting with the right people and spreading my message.

The more I experimented with LinkedIn, the more I saw it as a powerful platform for content marketing and personal branding. I began providing LinkedIn services to others, helping them optimize their profiles, add lots of high-quality connections, and create compelling content, which led to the founding of BlueMethod, an agency that provides these services to clients at scale.

AuthorVoice

Should every business book author also host a podcast? Maybe not, but at least 100,000 of them should, so we launched AuthorVoice to serve this niche audience. We work exclusively with nonfiction, business book authors to help them launch audio and video podcast shows to promote their book, connect with collaborators, and grow their audience.

7 Systems

I believe most people in the world are good and if I can help people become more influential, they'll use that influence to make the world a better place. That's the "why" that led me to create 7 Systems, a publishing, training, and events company that helps clients increase their influence using The 7 Systems of Influence framework.

The 7 Systems framework is used by executives, entrepreneurs, educators, marketing and PR professionals, parents, and government leaders to zero in on their objectives, identify their ideal audience, and create compelling content that moves their audience to action.

Freelance Writer

I'm the author of Chief Marketing Officers at Work, 60 Days to LinkedIn Mastery, The 7 Systems of Influence, and I've written over 300 articles for print and online publications including Forbes, Fortune, Mashable, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, TechinAsia, TIME, Entrepreneur, CMO.com, Fast Company, ClickZ, CBS, Fox Small Business, Asia Trail Magazine, and The Salt Lake Tribune. 

Chief Marketing Officers at Work (http://amzn.to/2lK6t4q) contains 29 exclusive, in-depth interviews with chief marketing officers like Jeff Jones of Target, Linda Boff of GE, Brian Kenny of the Harvard Business School, Trish Mueller of The Home Depot, and Seth Farbman of Spotify.

Writer/Author

Entrepreneur Media

I always have and always will see myself as an entrepreneur, which is why I loved writing for Entrepreneur Magazine. It's where I connect with my tribe. Check out my articles about entrepreneurship, marketing, and personal influence at https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/joshua-steimle.

Contributing Writer

WSJ & USA Today bestselling author. Book coach, speaker, multi-entrepreneur. I'm here to maximize human potential.

I love starting businesses but I'm not good at running them, so I find partners who love running and growing businesses but don't love the risk of starting them. This allowed me to create Pando Partners, a holding company where I can do what I truly love, which is to start businesses, see them succeed, and see individuals learn and grow within those businesses as they maximize their potential. Right now, my primary project is MWI, the marketing agency I started in 1999. I recently bought out my partners there after 10 years and find myself back in the driver seat. However, there are a lot of other projects up and running or in early stages.

If you're interested in partnering with me, I am currently looking for partners in the following spaces:

- Self storage
- Public relations
- Marketing
- Book coaching
- Web and app development
- Design
- Streetwear/fashion
- Retail/online retail
- Education

I'm a husband, father, skater, Dinosaur Jr. fan, political news junkie, ultra trail runner, triathlete, adoptive parent and active advocate for adoption, aspiring academic researcher, and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Originally from LA, I lived in Utah from '98-'13, then moved to Hong Kong, and then to Shenzhen, China in 2016. In Jan, 2019, I moved to Boston, where my family and I lived on a farm with 21 horses, 3 guinea pigs, and 1 dog, before moving to Arizona in 2021, without the horses. 😥

I would LOVE to connect with everyone, but LinkedIn maxes out accounts at 30K. Sorry, it's not you, it's me (actually, let's blame it on LinkedIn). But please click that "Follow" button above so we can stay in touch!

If you have employees, think of each one and ask, "How would I react if they came in and told me they were quitting?"

"Whew, thank you!" = C player
"Dang...oh well, we'll find someone else." = B player
"What?! No! No, no, no, no...NO!" = A player

Fire your C players.

Improve or fire your B players.

You better make sure you keep your A players.

Now do the experiment again with your clients or customers (or customer personas). How would you react if a specific client, or a type of customer, quit?

"Whew, thank you!" = Toxic customer
"Dang...oh well, we'll find others." = Not ideal customer
"What? No!" = Ideal customer

Fire your toxic customers.

Turn your non-ideal clients or customers into the ideal, or fire them.

Double down on your ideal customer(s).

Now do the experiment one more time...How would your ideal clients or customers react if you told them you were quitting?

"Good riddance!" = You've got big problems
"Oh well, we'll find someone else." = You've still got problems
"Noooo! We can't live without you!" = Keep up the good work, but still look for ways to do better.

Agency founder. Marketing for multi-location businesses (storage, hospitals, hotels, gyms, etc.). Maximizing human potential via entrepreneurship. WSJ + USA Today bestselling author. Trail runner. Skater. Husband. Dad.

AI produces trash. Smart humans using AI are producing masterpieces. Don't trash AI. It's a losing battle. 

"People don't want to watch movies where people talk." 

"Nobody wants to watch movies at home." 

"Nobody wants to order groceries online." 

"Nobody wants restaurant food at home." 

"People like working with travel agents." 

"People want to hold a book and read it, not listen to it." 

"I'm not putting my credit card info into a website." 

"Nobody wants their banking info online." 

"Wait, a Nigerian prince wants to send me $17M...?!" 🤦‍♂️

"Nobody will read a book written by AI." 

"Nobody will watch a movie made by AI." 

Don't fear the future. Don't fight it. Embrace it. Push it even faster.

LinkedIn feels like a nonstop scroll of ads. I struggle to remember what it was like before this, but I know it was better.

I hate what AI has done to the emdash. I used the m-- all the time before AI! Now I'm all self-conscious about it.

Digital marketing & content expert. Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Keynote speaker. Writer.

Good people of LinkedIn! >> Why do people now think Ye Olde Em Dash is a sign of AI writing?

It's been around for roughly 400 years—long before Clippy, autocorrect, neural networks, or anyone imagined punctuation could enrage a mob. It's vintage!

So why are people now patrolling the streets of LinkedIn with torches and pitchforks, rounding up em dashes like it’s CSI: Grammar Unit?

>> Because of a perfect storm of style, superstition, and machine mimicry.

AI models love the em dash... because *humans* do.

Large language models are trained on millions of human-written sentences. (Mostly stolen, it must be said.)

And we modern writers use em dashes a lot. They mimic our conversational, emotional, sometimes delightfully digressive voice—the kind that wanders, like it's doing right here—before it plops its peach 🍑 into a seat and parks itself on the page.

So when AI learned to “sound human,” it slipped on our favorite cardigan: the em dash.

When people started noticing dashes popping up everywhere in ChatGPT writing... I  mean, "outputs"... they mistook the symptom for the cause.

Maybe before you accuse anyone of “writing like AI,” ask yourself:

Who’s actually robotic ... the writer using rhythm and nuance?
Or the reader... following a rulebook?

* * *

Here's why this matters at all: Punctuation isn’t about grammar.

It’s a kind of wingman for your words—it helps them come alive in another’s mind.

Writing, like punctuation, is less about rules and more about listening for the rhythm and the beats beneath the words. It’s taste, timing, feeling... and the beautiful mess of being unmistakably human.

Which is all to say... ***Justice! For! Em Dashes!***
 
Notice how em dashes work—whether you're reading them here, on LinkedIn, on a tote bag, in a poem. rhythm of writing—the beats beneath the words.
 
Said another way:
 
You can tell a lot about a writer by how they use an em dash.
You can tell even more by whether they're afraid to.
 
It's time for us writers to reclaim what's ours! It's time to BE FEARLESS. 

Who's with me?

P.S. Should we actually produce this rallying cry of a t-shirt? Y or N. 

P.P.S. Print On Demand companies: Anyone wanna help? 👕

P.P.P.S. Thanks for reading this far. #WritingCommunity #AI #JusticeForEmDashes #ContentWriting

If you could change 3 things to make LinkedIn better, what would they be?

Bring Proactive Agility™ to Your Organization: Turn Uncertainty into Advantage.

Bring Proactive Agility™ to Your Organization: Turn Uncertainty into Advantage.

Media Recognized: Yahoo Finance,  Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Forbes,  SUCCESS, MSN.

Keynote Speaker | Workshop Facilitator | Executive Coach | Executive Search Consultant | M&A Deal Originator

Available globally from Seoul, South Korea & Charlotte, North Carolina.

My journey, shaped by extraordinary resilience from a life-altering accident at 14, fuels my mission to empower leaders with agility and purpose.

I served in senior leadership roles for 13 years at Adidas, Reebok, and other leading athletic companies.

With over 25 years of experience in executive search and leadership consulting, my approach combines hands-on C-suite experience with guiding transformation for organizations of all sizes. 

I help unlock proactive leadership and build cultures for lasting impact, whether inspiring ambitious start-ups or Fortune 500 giants across Asia, North America, and beyond.

New Book Publishing Q1 2026 :GLOBAL MINDSET: A Guide for Cross-Cultural Leadership Co-authored with Bryan McKinney, (My Son!) Director at McKinney Consulting.

If your organization values cross-cultural insights and transformative leadership, consider connecting about workshops or bulk booking events.

Services:
•	Keynote Speeches (Proactive Agility™, Leadership, Global Mindset)
•	Actionable Workshops
•	Executive and Leadership Team Coaching
•	Global Executive Search
•	M&A Origination

Clients have included world-renowned brands, SMEs, top leaders, and hundreds of executives over the past 25 years.

Ready to future-proof your organization or energize your next event? Let’s connect to explore how Proactive Agility™ can drive your organizational transformation, develop your leaders, or elevate your conference.

[Visit stevemckinney.com and mckinneyconsulting.com] for testimonials and speaking reels, or message me directly here to get started.

Steve McKinney

When I was Production Manager at Reebok, I made a multi-million-dollar decision based on the opinion of a blue-collar factory line worker.

It was Reebok's largest factor at the time.

5,000-person workforce.

1.2 million pairs of shoes produced each month.

We were evaluating a new production design in the technical trials, which looked brilliant on paper.

Engineers were confident.

Executives were excited.

But to me, something felt off with the design.

I wasn’t sure if it was possible.

But instead of trusting the leadership team's consensus, I did something unorthodox.

I said to my leadership team, “Okay, out of this 5,000-person factory, who is the ONE person that has the most knowledge on this part of the process?

Them: “We have 13 finishing lines where all the products come to finish. Mr. Kim, on line 1. He's our best operator.”

I said, “Okay, bring him up here. I want to talk to him.”

Them: “Why? He's blue-collar. He's a line worker.”

“It doesn't matter,” I said.

Them: “But he's not well educated. His English isn’t strong.”

I took a breath.

Then responded, “I'm about to make a multi-million dollar decision, okay? I need to know if this design can pass the trials. So, let's go to the production line. And talk to him.”

We went to the production line, asked him if this new project was possible.

In less than a minute, we had our answer.

“No. It will not work.”

Mr. Kim didn't have an MBA. He wore work clothes, not a suit. But he understood the specific machinery and process on the production line better than anyone else in the building.


Here’s why I trusted Mr. Kim’s judgement:

He executed this specific process on 3,000 pairs of shoes a day.

But you know what? We have 2 feet, a left and a right.

So he did it 6,000 times a day.

And we have 24 working days in a month.

So that’s 144,000 reps a month.

1,728,000 reps a year.

To me? That makes Mr. Kim a genius in his realm.

Within 30 seconds of explaining the design, he spotted the flaw.

He saved us from a multi-million-dollar mistake.

One that would've cost months of delays and damaged relationships with retailers.

Unsung heroes are in YOUR company, too:

A warehouse supervisor who knows why orders keep getting delayed. A maintenance worker who can spot equipment failure before it happens. A customer service rep who knows what features customers actually want.

But most companies ignore these voices because they don't come with fancy titles or degrees.


The biggest mistake leaders make is assuming intelligence correlates with hierarchy. It doesn't.

Mastery exists at every level of an organisation.

My job isn't to be the smartest person in the room.

It's to identify where the real expertise lives and create systems to capture that knowledge.

I call this “Unleashing the Collective Genius.”

Don't ignore the genius sitting right in front of you.

In 1995, I was the Head of Footwear Product Development at Adidas International headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

Here's the delegation process I built that's still serving me 30 years later:

Picture this scenario. Your company's about to go public. The brand is red-hot. Orders are flooding in. You need to deliver more products than ever before.

But there's a catch.

You can't hire anyone new.

Classic chicken-and-egg problem. You need PEOPLE to execute the business, but you need the business first to get the BUDGET for the people.

What do you do?

Many would panic, work 80-hour weeks, or let quality slip. None of which would work for us.

So here's what we did:

I sat down with each team member and identified their superpower (beyond their CORE role).

Bill? Technical genius. From now on, he'd handle all technical queries for the entire team.

Sue? Fashion guru with incredible design instincts. She'd provide color analysis and trend monitoring for everyone.

Each person got 2 roles: their category leadership AND a team contribution. Everyone contributed something special to the group effort. No one felt singled out or overburdened.

Now we had the bandwidth of a much larger team.


Here’s why it worked so well:

1. It Maximized Resources: Bill's technical expertise served multiple      
 categories instead of one. Sue's fashion sense elevated every product line                     

2. It Created Genuine Buy-In: When you ask someone to contribute their strongest skill, they feel valued.

3. It Built Cross-Functional Knowledge: Team members started understanding challenges beyond their own areas.

4. My Time Was Freed Up for Strategy: Instead of being the bottleneck for every decision, I had specialists handling their areas of expertise.


30 years later, I still use this approach.

When resources are tight, look inward first.

Your team has more capability than you're using.

The key isn't finding MORE people.

It's finding more ways to leverage the brilliant people you ALREADY have.

Don’t think of delegation as dumping tasks.

Think of it as unlocking superpowers.

Ever wonder why some teams navigate change before the numbers shift, while others get caught off guard? The secret isn’t just data, it’s knowing what the lessons are really telling you.

Some years ago, I watched a leadership team hit a wall. The metrics looked good—on the surface. But the real insights came in the after-action review,

Open article: Decode the Trajectory: Using Data and Reflection to Lead Change by Steve McKinney • 2 min read

Decode the Trajectory: Using Data and Reflection to Lead Change

My dad told me something when I was younger that I thought was complete nonsense.

He said, “No matter what you do, work hard, do your best and you'll never go hungry.”

And I laughed (inside my mind).

I thought, “That’s not really smart. It’s kind of naive.”

Years later I realized I owed him an apology - He was absolutely right.

Imagine you’re running a company… One of your employees comes to you and he says, “I don't like this job. I’d like a job in another department please.”

But he's not giving it his all in his current role.

He's dragging his feet.

The first question in my mind would be, “What's my guarantee that he'll do a good job in the new position when he's doing a lousy job now in the one he doesn't enjoy?”

But let’s flip the story around.

Let’s say the guy comes to me, he's doing a great job where he's at, but he doesn't like the job.

And he says, “Steve, I'm working in a job and I'm doing my best, but I’d really like an opportunity to do something else. I don’t enjoy the work I’m doing right now.”

I can bet that guy would do a top notch job in the new role.

Why? Because he's already doing a brilliant job at something he doesn't even like. So if he applied his mind and work ethic to a job he DID enjoy… the upside would be infinite.

This principle extends way beyond individual performance:

(1) In hiring: Look for candidates who've excelled in roles they didn't love.

(2) In partnerships: Work with people who deliver quality even when circumstances aren't ideal.

(3) In leadership: Recognize that attitude and work ethic make passion irrelevant.

(4) In business development: The clients who respect your process during difficult projects become your best long-term relationships.

What my dad was actually trying to tell me back then wasn’t, "Hard work is all you need." But that a person's true character reveals itself when things are tough.

Not when it’s sunshine and rainbows.

Breaking the Approval Chain 🚦

Bureaucracy slows everything down, sometimes to hilarious extremes. 🐢

Ever watched a great idea die in the approval process?
One signature leads to three.
Three lead to five.
And suddenly, the spark is gone.

A client once needed nine signatures to hire one person. By the time it cleared, their top candidate had joined a competitor.

Not a lack of interest, just a lack of speed.

Bureaucracy kills momentum, innovation, and morale.

The best leaders simplify.
They push decisions closer to where work happens.
They empower teams to move, not wait.

Here’s a challenge:
What if you removed just one approval step this quarter?
How much faster could your team move?

What’s the longest or funniest approval chain you’ve seen, and how did you finally break through the red tape?

Share your story below. Let’s laugh, learn, and maybe fix a few bottlenecks together.

Every week, I hear how B2B sales are just about “closing deals.” But no one seems to talk about the reality:

When you need toothpaste, you go to the store and grab your favorite brand.

If they don't have it, you buy your 2nd favorite.

And you go home.

Unlike your favorite toothpaste, multi-step purchases involve:

💠 Months of conversations

💠 Multiple stakeholders

💠 Investments that make a mortgage look modest

I've worked with Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, and multinationals. And here's what catches people off guard:

Every corporate culture operates differently. Some clients obsess over individual leadership metrics. Others care only about team success.

Some are focused on ticking every compliance box imaginable. The mistake most people make is assuming one approach works everywhere. It doesn't. You have to listen and adapt without compromising your standards.

One client wants weekly progress reports with detailed breakdowns.

Another just wants results and finds updates irritating.

Miss these cues and you're stuffed.


EXAMPLE:

Let's use my company, @McKinney Consulting as an example.

I need to be ready when a client comes to us with an Executive Search project.

They may say, "I want to learn about your background and leadership."

Or they may say, “I want to talk about your team. Your success track record, your performance reports, etc.”

Or they may even say, “I want to talk about your processes. Do you follow best practices?”

Because they're trying to test us.

Sometimes they'll say the equivalent of, "I want you to sit there while we describe the Superman or Superwoman that we need for this role."

The money side trips people up, too.

Executive search project fees can be anywhere from $25K, $50K, or upwards of $100K.

Industry-standard fees for retained search assignments are 30% of the first-year compensation, split across three payments.

And most clients have never hired for these roles before.

A CEO might run a $50 million company but be unsure how to structure a hiring process for a senior role. And this is completely understandable. They've never recruited for it before.

Your job becomes part consultant, part coach, part project manager.

You're guiding them through decisions they're unsure how to make. You're delivering what they actually need, not what they think they want. The clients who succeed are the ones who admit they don't know everything and trust the process. We don’t know everything either, so together we’re better.


The companies that struggle with complex purchases usually think they can:

(1) Take shortcuts (2) Micromanage every detail

Complex purchases demand different skills, patience, and expectations.

There are no shortcuts to navigating them.

What works is understanding each client's world and adapting your approach to suit.

Some live events fade as soon as the applause ends, but the best keynotes create momentum that transforms how teams work together, long after the stage goes dark.

Ever seen a keynote light a spark, then watched that energy spread across your organization? The right event can become a true culture shift, not just

Open article: From Keynote to Culture: How Live Events Spark Real Change. by Steve McKinney • 2 min read

From Keynote to Culture: How Live Events Spark Real Change.

Real breakthroughs happen when teams solve problems together, not just when a few leaders call the shots. In top organizations, group innovation is the engine for lasting progress.

Let’s explore how Proactive Agility™ lets leaders unleash collective genius and make breakthroughs a true team sport. Breakthrough progress doesn’t ha

Open article: 
Unleash Collective Genius: Making Breakthroughs a Team Sport  by Steve McKinney • 2 min read

Unleash Collective Genius: Making Breakthroughs a Team Sport

A few years ago, I spoke with a CEO who'd been searching for a CFO for 8 months - burning $20k monthly on interim costs while missing vital growth opportunities.

He called executive search firms "headhunters." But a retained executive search firm is not a recruitment agency. Here's why this mindset costs companies millions (and how the smartest leaders think differently):

THE REALITY:

Retained executive search firms don't post jobs and wait for applications.
We map markets, identify passive talent, and assess cultural fit before candidates even know opportunities exist.

Yet some companies and clients still think we're:

💠 Middlemen adding unnecessary complexity

💠 Salespeople pushing whoever's available

💠 CV collectors charging premium fees

💠 Cost centres rather than profit drivers

This misunderstanding creates a vicious cycle:

Companies treat search firms transactionally → Get transactional results → Conclude executive search "doesn't work" → Waste months on internal hiring → Miss market opportunities whilst competitors move faster.

Our clients approach it differently:

    1. They brief us like strategic partners, not vendors

    2. Share real challenges, not sanitised job descriptions

    3. Invest time in market intelligence and competitor analysis

    4. Recognise that vacant C-level positions cost more than search fees

    5. Understand that quality candidates need compelling narratives, not just salary bumps

The CEO I mentioned... once he shifted perspective, we placed his CFO in 12 weeks.

Here's why it matters now:

Executive talent is scarcer than ever. The best candidates aren't actively looking. They're being approached by multiple firms simultaneously.

When you treat executive search like commodity recruitment, you get commodity results. When you treat it like a partnership, you access hidden talent markets.
——
The bottom line:

How you search determines who you find. It's about making unavailable candidates available, not just finding available ones. The best-fit hires weren't looking until the right opportunity found them. And that's the nuance. The companies that source the best talent invest in market positioning and candidate experience.

In 2007 — minutes after hearing his speech — the Secretary of State walked up to me and we talked about Heinz ketchup.

(Yes, you read that right.)

That's former Secretary of State Kerry.

I'm in the VIP section after the ceremony. He's doing his rounds, shaking hands as he goes. But he stops at me. We start having a proper conversation.

10 minutes later, I walk back over to my group.

Now, everyone around me is dying to know what we discussed.

"Steve, what did you talk about? What did the Secretary say?" they continued. "You have to tell us everything!"

Fair enough, I thought.

"We talked about ketchup."

"What do you mean, Ketchup…?" Their faces were puzzled.

“His wife owns Heinz Ketchup, she's part of the Heinz family. And my company has done business with them.”

When the Secretary approached me, I knew I couldn't ask him about state secrets. But I thought if I had the chance, I'd bring up something we could actually discuss - something we had in common.

So I said, "Hello sir, It’s a pleasure to meet you… I actually do business with your wife's company here in Korea."

He put his hand on my shoulder.

"Really? Tell me about it. What do you do here?"

And we had this brilliant conversation - all because of Heinz ketchup.

I could’ve tried to impress him by blurting out policy knowledge or industry insights. But I found some common ground instead. Whether you're networking at industry events or meeting potential clients, there’s always one common touch point you can find with someone.

So at your next big event, instead of trying to be impressive, start being interested in the person in front of you.

P.S. - Look at that red hair! That's probably the only decent picture I have of this moment, but what a moment it was.

Recently, one of our clients asked us to find a new country manager for their company. I gave our top candidate 16 questions to prepare him for his first interview with the company:

(We narrowed over 50 candidates down to just a few…)


(1) How would you set a 5-year plan for the client’s revenue growth while maintaining long-term partnerships over short-term gains?

(2) Tell me about a time you entered a new market or business model - how did you balance risk and opportunity?

(3) What’s your approach to building a sales and marketing strategy in a specialized B2B environment like beverages?

(4) How do you use data and field intelligence to adjust commercial priorities or product focus?

(5) Describe a time you transformed a team during a change or crisis - how did you preserve morale?

(6) How do you build trust across a small, diverse team serving key accounts and distributors?

(7) The company values openness and constructive debate. How do you encourage candor and feedback with your team?

(8) What type of culture have you built or sustained in previous organizations?

(9) What emerging trends in the beverage or FMCG industries excite you most, and why?

(10) How do you see sustainability and digital innovation shaping the Korean market in the next 5 years?

(11) What strategies would you employ to strengthen partner engagement and customer loyalty in Korea?

(14) How do you ensure alignment when co-leading an organization with equal responsibility?

(15) Give an example of a time when ethical considerations affected your business decision.

(16) The company emphasizes “entrepreneurial spirit with reliability.” How does that balance show up in your leadership decisions?


Most candidates don’t lack experience.

They've never been forced to reflect on it properly.

These 16 questions are designed to make the invisible visible, so candidates can present their best selves when it matters most.

The goal isn't to manufacture perfect answers.

It's to help candidates recognize their own value and communicate it clearly.

I've been the president of an executive search firm for 24 years, but there's one thing I've never really understood:

Why do so many companies hire internally without even browsing to see what talent is out there?

Walk into any boardroom discussion about recruitment, and you'll hear the same logic. "Let's ask around internally first," or "David knows someone who might be perfect." Agreed, there's some comfort in hiring people you know, I get it. I really do. But it's a convenient shortcut that limits your company's options and long-term growth.

This mindset is tough to crack because companies assume internal referrals are somehow safer. But they're far more volatile than you think.

Sure, you get convenience in the short term.

"Okay, we've filled the position. We've ticked the box. Job done."

I mean, giving the job to a friend or in-law feels harmless in the moment, but it's at the expense of your company’s growth.

“I've got a buddy who would do great in this role."

There are 8+ billion people in the world. What are the chances that your buddy is the best guy or girl for the role? You haven't searched the market yet. And I've seen first-hand what actually happens when you search it properly.

Professional search firms understand cultural nuances and manage expectations. When you work with them, they hunt in places you'd never think to look.

Where would they be?

Where would they be working?

What would they be doing?

Who would make sense?

Executive search firms find superstars who aren't even job hunting (but would transform your business almost overnight).

We look for the ideal Superman or Superwoman.

At my firm, McKinney Consulting | Kestria South Korea, we've watched exceptional hires change a company's trajectory. Because searching the market properly brings the kind of fresh thinking to your company that internal referrals simply can't offer.

The market is full of brilliant people you've never heard of. Sticking to your existing network guarantees you'll never find them, but your competitors might.

Your next real Super-hire is out there somewhere, waiting for you to scoop them up.

Have you noticed
how the coolest breakthroughs always start with one big question?
How do humans and technology truly collaborate?


Spent some time recently with my Kestria executive search partners.
The hot topic?
Automation and AI-driven predictive maintenance.

All across tech,
the talent spotlight is shifting to those who “speak” both machine and human.
Machine learning.
Data science.
Cybersecurity.
But also soft skills:

🔵  Clear communication

🔵  Driving change

There’s no autopilot for leading teams through this shift.


Lesson I’m seeing everywhere:
The most futureproof teams are led by people who can forge trust,
not only between humans, but also between humans and machines.

The leaders making waves?
Not just technical pros.
They’re master relationship-builders.
They champion ongoing learning.
And adapt, fast.


Brotherly advice:
If you lead through change,
don’t just hunt for code.
Champion curiosity.
Empathy.
Adaptability.
That’s the stuff that scales,
no matter what comes next.


Let’s connect!
Tell me how you’re building “future-ready” teams
from engine room to boardroom.

Want to future-proof your leadership team? DM me. I help organizations identify and attract top talent who can lead change. 

McKinney Consulting | Kestria South Korea is a Partner Firm of Kestria, the world’s largest executive search alliance 90+ cities | 40+ countries | 6 continents

I recently appeared on  Joe Dalton Weekly Sales Show for a brilliant conversation on what leadership really looks like today, amidst the craziness of AI and other market shifts.

Drawing from my decades across Adidas, Reebok, Converse, Asia-Pacific business culture, and the creation of my "Proactive Agility" framework, I took listeners deep inside the mindset today's executives must develop to not only survive, but actually thrive.

WHAT WE COVERED

I shared my journey growing up in a small Appalachian town, career pivots, and reaching senior leadership roles without a traditional business degree. I opened up about my failed startup and how it shaped my approach to running my firm McKinney Consulting | Kestria South Korea today.

I explained why modern leaders need multiple styles: coach, trainer, listener, and visionary. We discussed how culture, communication, and mindset shape high-performing teams.

BONUS

We also discussed cross-cultural leadership. I shared techniques for spotting early indicators of market shifts and team dysfunction. As well as how artificial intelligence is reshaping leadership requirements and what emerging talent must develop now.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one! It was a pleasure. Thanks again for having me, Joe Dalton.

Check it out on Spotify! Link in comments below.

Unlocking Big Wins Through Small Changes 

A few years ago, our team was struggling to move fast on client projects.
Everything required layers of approval, even small design or scheduling tweaks. It was slowing down creativity and frustrating everyone.

So, we changed one rule:
We empowered each project lead to make real-time decisions without needing sign-off for routine items.

The result?
Projects flowed smoother.
Creativity reignited.
And accountability actually increased, not because we added structure, but because we removed friction.

Sometimes the biggest wins come from the smallest shifts.
A single adjustment, like eliminating a bottleneck, rewriting a rule, or trusting your people a bit more, can transform momentum across an entire team.

If your team could change one rule this week to move faster or innovate more, what would it be? 

Drop your thoughts below.
Let’s learn from each other and build teams that think boldly, move swiftly, and make work energizing again.

I was the production manager of the largest Reebok factory in the world (Busan, South Korea).

5000-person workforce.

1.2 million pairs of shoes produced each month.

Have you ever noticed those little plastic tips at the end of your shoelaces?

Well, I noticed our shoelace suppliers kept making these tips shorter and shorter.

It got to the point I was struggling grab hold of them. Hold on a sec, I have average-sized fingers!" I said.

I wanted them to be easy to hold as you grabbed them and pushed them in.

So we started making them as wide as the average-sized finger.

It's subtle.
But details matter.

And as I went down this lace tip rabbit hole, I found out we had almost 30 lace suppliers. Yes, 30!

So I went in and said, “This just isn't going to work.”

Here's what had been happening:

Designers and developers sometimes met a lace supplier, saw something they liked, and started doing business with them.

Our buying power was completely diluted.

Each supplier got tiny orders, so we had zero leverage for better pricing or priority treatment.

Do you need more than one supplier? Of course.

But how many different suppliers can you have meaningful relationships with?

Maybe 5, 6, or 7 at most.

We were dealing with quality inconsistencies across the board.

Suppliers were cutting corners.

It was causing other issues, too:

1. Quality control became a nightmare with 30 different standards to check
2. Innovation stagnated because no single supplier had enough volume to justify R&D investment
3. Admin overhead was huge - 30 relationships to manage

So we made a radical change.

We cut our lace suppliers down to 5-7 key partners. 

With concentrated volume, we could actually influence product development.

This new approach gave us:

- Leverage to demand better pricing
- Faster turnaround times
- Priority during busy periods

___

Quality became consistent.

We were working with proven partners who understood our standards.

When you're working with dozens of suppliers, you're not a valued customer to any of them.

The best flexibility comes from having fewer, stronger relationships.

Not endless mediocre ones.

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