Michael Bergdahl is a full-time motivational speaker, author and writer. 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!"

When Sam Walton died, Bergdahl left Wal-Mart and went to work as a member of an executive turnaround team at American Eagle Outfitters (AE). The AE leadership team turned the company around and took it public. The stock subsequently split 4 times while he was there! He then joined the turnaround team at Waste Management.

Bergdahl has appeared on CNN, CNBC, CNN FN, CBS National Radio and Bloomberg TV. He is considered an authority on Wal-Mart. The giant retailer's own Public Relations Department has referred Bergdahl to interviewers interested in gaining insights into the company. He is a columnist for VNU Publications, and his articles have appeared in Retail Merchandiser, Investor's Business Daily, Convenience Store News, Progressive Grocer, Convenience Store Decisions Magazine, the Grocery Manufacturer Association's FORUM Magazine, the National Community Pharmacists Association's America's Pharmacist Magazine, American Management Association's MWorld Magazine and the National Association of Convenience Stores Magazine.

He wrote a book about his experiences working for the world's largest retailer entitled: What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World. Published in the USA and internationally in 2004, this book is being translated into versions in Chinese, Thai, Korean, Russian, Japanese and Spanish. Michael wrote this book to help Wal-Mart's domestic and international competitors develop proactive success strategies.

He recently completed and published his second book entitled, The 10 Rules of Sam Walton. In this book, Michael devotes a chapter to each of Sam Walton's ten rules for entrepreneurial success. Offering anecdotes, quotes and examples, each chapter demonstrates how and why each rule was so effective and instrumental in Wal-Mart's success.

Michael Bergdahl is a motivational speaker who is one part business, one part inspiration, one part storyteller and one part entertainment. He has spoken at association and business conferences domestically and internationally to groups who are interested in improving their ability to compete successfully.

• What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World - Horror stories abound about Wal-Mart's entry into new markets and the subsequent destruction of competitors and downtown areas. 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.
  
  
• 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 this speech, Michael will discuss Sam Walton's self-professed ten rules for success which Mr. Walton embraced as he grew Wal-Mart from a single site to a 5,000-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. Using the acronym F.I.R.S.T. (Focus on the Customer, Inspirational Leadership, Results through People, Succession Planning/Bench-Building & Tactics for Driving the Business) combined with energy, storytelling, humor and personal working experience, Bergdahl will entertain and provide practical, actionable business ideas.
  
  
• Building Bench - Attract/Retain & Upgrade : 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? The selection and retention of quality employees is the foundation upon which every one of your other strategies is based. In this speech, Bergdahl will challenge your staffing paradigms. He will share with you "World Class" Staffing strategies and tactics from his own personal experiences. 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.
  
  
• Change/Challenge/Choice : The manufacturing world as you've known it has changed, and you and your team must also be willing to Change 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 to do what's necessary to reinvent your business, and the way people think, to remain successful. 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.