Today we welcome the very inspiring and interesting Michael Merchant. Michael shares with us his experiences from working at IBM to starting his own consulting company and his lessons learned during the process including some very interesting projects and personal development. We also discuss his non profit work, people analytics, some tips on networking and engagement, his strategic approach to taking a career leap, finding great partnerships and the biggest lessons learned as an entrepreneur. 

Takeaways:

[1:22] We welcome our guest today, Michael Merchant. We met in Chicago at the Enterprise Innovation Conference, and he stood out to me when he was asking some very insightful questions to the panelists. 

[2:55] Michael started his career as a software engineer at IBM, then joined their consulting firm where he found himself interested and committed in people analytics. He was so inspired to work in this field full time that he left to find his own clients. 

[5:08] Michael has been very active in non profits since college, and even just started his own non profit. They just hired their first employee in January. 

[5:48] People analytics covers everything involved in understanding, measuring, tracking and analyzing how employees work in an organization. This provides information on how a business can empower employees and improve the bottom line. 

[7:51] Working at IBM was very beneficial for Michael. He participated in their leadership development programs, took advantage of his proximity to senior leaders and made the most of working amongst 400,000 employees who each have their own expertise. 

[13:12] For those in the early stages of their career, don’t be shy to ask a potential mentor for 15 minutes of their time. Most people will open up their door for you to engage with them. Make sure your questions are organized and thoughtful so you don’t waste their time. 

[20:14] Michael two interesting models of career development: The T Model and the Hourglass model. Knowing what form his career move to consulting would take helped shape his vision and entry point to exploring uncharted opportunities. 

[38:14] Michael earned enough from his coding projects that he was able to send himself to India, and work there where he also did non profit work. 

[46:14] Recognizing and appreciating the amount of pressure that is felt when you are the one solely responsible for meeting your financial needs is only something that can be understood when one goes through it personally. 

[57:26] There were some issues and fear for Michael to work and push through when he started his non profit work. He encourages people to start small and at home, making their community a better place is a small but impactful start.