2175 - Navigating Leadership Challenges in a Tech-Centric Era with Apex Consulting Partners' Mike Peterson

0:05Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, influencers, influencers, and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2 ,000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt-in required where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100 % inbound in your industry over the next six to eight months with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments.

0:51Also, don't forget, the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you.

1:05With us right now, it's Mike Peterson. Mike, you are the founder of Apex Consulting Partners. Your website is apexconsulting.partners. Mike, it's great to have you. Thank you so much, Josh. I'm super excited to be here. Yeah. Well, what does Apex Consulting Partners do? Oh, wait, wait, no, no, no, no. Don't answer that. We're going to answer that in just a second. I got to ask you first, Mike, what are you doing in your free time lately? Or what are you doing lately? Because that's more fun. It's a fun way to kick off the conversation. Yeah, way more fun, way more fun. Well, my girlfriend and I are avid mountain bikers.

1:42So we actually recently moved to Bentonville, Arkansas, which is just a Disneyland per mountain biking. And we go mountain biking all the time. This weekend recently conquered a very big milestone. There's this very big feature called Drop the Hammer that is the biggest kind of free fall drop. So you bike off this metal plank and it's a 12-foot drop. And I did that this weekend. So that was my big accomplishment for the year, really. I've been working on this, working up to this for years. How does one work up to that other than just – I mean, obviously training not to rattle your brain and shatter your caustics or something.

2:30Yeah, yeah, lots of risk, but there's a lot of different ways. The main thing is just spending time on the bike. I've been riding mountain bikes now for probably about 15 years. And in Bentonville, there's this amazing system of progression. So there's, you know, four inch drop up to one foot, foot and a half, two feet, three feet, five feet, seven feet, et cetera. And it just kind of goes up and up from there. Wow. It's like skiing, you know, kind of working your way up to the double black diamond or something. Exactly. Well, congratulations. Thank you. So are you literally just free falling 12 foot down?

3:10Yeah. Or you're like going straight down a wall? There is a little bit of a vertical descent or a horizontal distance on this drop. So it actually jumps over another trail. So it's about 12 feet straight down. and about 10 feet over. Yeah. And then hopefully just kind of land it like Evel Knievel. So you're not like, you know, slamming the ground too hard. Yeah. There's a very big, long, you know, steep kind of catch. So you're jumping off the drop directly into the trail and you just keep going down the mountain. That sounds like a great time. Well, Mike, I'd love to talk mountain biking with you the whole show, but let's talk about what you do with Apex Partners, Apex Consulting Partners.

3:52Yeah, so I started the company about two years ago. I have a fairly unusual background of doing both HR and IT. So I was the head of both departments at two different public pharmaceutical companies. And I started the company built around the idea that it takes both HR and IT to build high performing teams. So what we do is really focus around building high performing teams and help leaders become high performing leaders. Yeah. And I should point out too, you're the author of the book, Leading in the Age of Digital Disruption. Boy, is that relevant right now. There's a lot of digital disruption going on, Mike.

4:35When you wrote the book, did you know just how disruptive AI was going to be? And I mean, and I don't even think we've begun to see the disruption that's upon us. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It is really unbelievable how fast AI is evolving. And I use that term evolving very intentionally because it is starting to really improve itself, right, without the need of a lot more human input that was required four years ago when tools like ChatGPT first came out. So I've been working on this book, Leading in the Age of Digital Disruption, for about a year. It actually comes out next Tuesday, April 8th, and it's all about how to really lead through technology, right?

5:28Technology and specifically AI is very scary how fast it's evolving, but still, at least for the near future, the human element is the most important aspect of building a high-performing team, but we need to embrace the tools that we have access to. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm sure you have some thoughts before we kind of get more into your work with Apex. So, you know, statistics, I mean, I think we've seen as many as 60 % of today's current jobs will be directly impacted by AI. I completely believe that. and I think that there's going to be a lot of labor that is going to, I mean, we're already seeing this.

6:14I mean, even internally, that's just irrelevant. I mean, you know, lately, you know, as of when we're recording this, you know, the new Sora model in ChatGPT is, it's phenomenal. And I know if someone's listening to this a year or two from now, they're going to be laughing at what I'm saying right now. But those of us in the old timey days of early 2025 are stunned by the evolution that image creation has undergone over the past couple of years. You know, there's so many jokes still about, you know, seeing pictures, you know, with seven fingers and that sort of thing. And, you know, eyes coming out the side of the head.

6:54Yes, of course. It's part of evolution. We have evolved. And now, you know, the new Sora model is just, again, I know future people, you're laughing at me right now. But damn, it's pretty impressive for those of us in early 2025. It really is. It's just unbelievable. And how quickly it spits out these really amazing pieces of work is scary. Well, so Mike, tell me about people leadership in this day. Like, especially for considering, you know, maybe making some big realignments or shifts in, you know, in how we use labor. Yeah, it's a great, great question. And it's really why I wrote this book, Leading in the Age of Digital Disruption.

7:44There are a lot of aspects of leadership that have been around for hundreds of years. And what I say is really that leadership hasn't fundamentally shift, but we need to evolve how we use those leadership attributes. So my book is really built around the pillars of trust, communication, and accountability, all kind of surrounded by this air of what I call servant leadership. But servant leadership has been around since the 1970s, so it's not a new topic. But the way servant leadership manifests in the modern workplace is very different, right? It's making sure that the teams have access to the technology needed to really operate successfully in the world of today.

8:42Yeah. And where does Apex come in? And tell me who you work with. What does that look like? Yeah, so we partner with small to mid-sized growing companies. So our ideal client is someone who has a great business model, has a great idea. They have maybe 10 employees and they're looking to now grow and expand to bring this product, this technology, this service to more people in the world. And part of that growth is really making sure that they are set up as a leader to successfully lead their team. And the infrastructure that's set around their team is built to scale with the company. So things like talent acquisition, are they able to hire the right talent?

9:37Things on the IT side, IT infrastructure, do they have the technology they need to effectively scale the business? Yeah. So what are the biggest challenges that you're hearing currently from the clients that you're working with? Yeah, biggest challenges are some of the same challenges we've been hearing for years. And it's how to run the human aspect of the business. You know, people are inherently complex creatures. And oftentimes it comes back to these three pillars of trust, communication, and accountability. But people seem to be lost with how to implement this in this new globalized high-tech world that we live in.

10:29Um, and, uh, and it can be very intimidating. You know, I, I had a client come, uh, that I worked with recently who, uh, had a lot of triangulation in his organization. Uh, and triangulation means that people are hearing things from their leader, uh, but it's not coming from their leader's mouth. And so everyone who was in the office would, uh, would get the information firsthand from the leader, but the leader would tell everyone who was remote around the world. world, but we'll just talk about it next time you're in the office. And that really doesn't work well because you need your team to be aligned.

11:08It needs to be cohesive. You need to be working towards a shared vision. And nowadays, there's lots of tools that can disseminate this information asynchronously to the team kind of in real time so that everyone knows the same information. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Mike, let's say that trust is not where we'd like it to be as leaders. You know, maybe we've had to make some hard choices. You know, maybe there was some just some challenges that we went through and that, you know, maybe caused a negative drag culturally. What is leaders like? How can we regain that trust? Yeah, it's such a great question.

11:57And I think trust is really the foundation of everything that I talk about in my book. And trust has always been important. But now with this hybrid environment, trust is even more important. And many of the clients that I talk to today have a misconception of trust. When I talk about trust, they think about, you know, I should just trust my team to work independently and do their work on their own. And that's not really what I mean by trust. When I talk about trust, it's the mutual belief that we are operating in the best interest of the company, that we are going to do what is needed to be done to make this company successful.

12:42And a lot of that is exacerbated by lack of face-to-face interaction, communications delay, you know, a sense of disconnect. You don't have access to the water cooler, right? You don't have the access to just drop in and peek over someone's cubicle to say, how's it going? And so leaders really need to overcome this by leading through technology and being transparent, being consistent, being empathetic while using this technology to build a community within their organization. Yeah. And hopefully, Mike, take the team out for some mountain biking. Yes. Yeah. As always, in-person interaction is very valuable.

13:31So if you can take your team out for a mountain biking retreat once a year, that's great. You guys are welcome to come to Bentonville anytime and I can show you the trails. What if, so for example, like our company, we're mostly spread, you know, across North America. And so it's, it's tough, you know, unless someone's planning a trip to Disney world or something here in Orlando, we don't generally get together very often. And, you know, and those things take budget as well. So it's like, well, you know, do we pay for that or do we put the money elsewhere? Do we just give it to the employees and give them a raise or do we budget in?

14:12What have you been seeing working well for remote teams who may not have the budget to bring everybody together or at least they're questioning the ROI from that? Yeah. Yeah. I have lots of clients where buying 100 plane tickets just isn't feasible, right? That's very expensive. And there are a lot of things that we can do now with technology, whether it's having open office hours online for people to stop in and have a conversation with their leader, open coffee chats. I've worked with clients and call it like a fireside chat where people can just drop in and to an online meeting and ask questions of their executives.

15:00um there are of course virtual happy hours and then there are a lot of services that have popped up really after covid because of this exact same problem so there are things like virtual uh escape rooms that are incredibly fun uh that that uh can build a sense of uh camaraderie and teamwork within the organization or you can even do something something um uh very casual and and do an online cooking class maybe once a month where the team comes together and they have an ingredient list. They buy all the groceries on their own, come together virtually and cook together. I've done that as well. And it's actually surprisingly fun.

15:44Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I just messaged my COO during this conversation and I said, come on, we need to get a virtual happy hour fireside, some online game or something like that on Zoom. cooking class. I love it. Book chat, you know, even or like even even just like a book chat or something like that. All right. That's all really great. Mike, your book, I just snagged it on Amazon, by the way, it's called leading in the age of digital disruption, building resilient, high performing teams in a rapidly changing world. Who needs to read this book? And what would you hope the transformation that would take place would be?

16:24Yeah, I wrote this book, thinking about the book that I wish I had when I started as a leader. You know, this is the future me talking to younger me. And I think that a lot of books, a lot of leadership books fall flat in that leaders, after they read them, they're not exactly sure what to do and how to apply this. And so the first half of a story is really an experiential journey through a leadership story of a CEO, Ethan Caldwell, and his journey of being a CEO at a very tumultuous time in a company. And the second part is really a tangible toolkit that you can use to implement right away in your organization.

17:15So anywhere from a first-time leader to a CEO with 20 years of experience, I think can get some really big value because this is a way to learn some leadership lessons in a modern world. It doesn't really exist today, thinking about how to apply these leadership lessons through technology. And technology is everywhere. So really everyone who wants, is a leader or wants to be a leader can get a lot of value out of this book. Yeah. Awesome. That is on Amazon. You can also find it through apexconsulting.partners. And Mike, who should be reaching out or, you know, do you have resources or like, you know, to our friend that's listening right now, what are their next steps that you'd recommend?

18:01Just if they want more Mike Peterson in their life or the work that you and your team do. Yeah, absolutely. I'm fairly active on LinkedIn. People are more than welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn directly, or you can check out my website, apexconsulting.partners, and reach out through the website. And if you do buy the book, you do get access to some free tools and resources that can help you get started in your leadership journey. But our team is really excited to really help organizations and individual leaders really break through this wall to become a high-performing leader. Yeah. Awesome.

18:42All right. ApexConsulting.Partners. Mike Peterson, you're the founder. Thank you so much for joining. It's been a great conversation. Enjoy the trails. Thank you, Josh.

18:56Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2 ,000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from.

19:38I've got a free video that you can watch right now with no opt-in or email required where I'm going to share the exact steps necessary to be 100 % inbound in your industry over the next six to eight months with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high-ticket sales appointments. Make sure to hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning, that's right, seven days a week, you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed.

20:20I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes every single day. Thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Movement.