Trailblazer Leadership Podcast - Episode #1
Trailblazer Leadership Podcast - Episode #1
Recording of Our Debut Podcast Episode!
Recorded October 9th, 2024
1% Better Every Day: Lessons on Growing a Professional Services Firm | Rick Nordvold and Molly Hiller
Hosted by: Kurt Theriault, President & Kathy Hollenhorst, Peer Group Director at Allied Executives
Dive into the dynamic world of business leadership with the Allied Executives Trailblazer Series Podcast, where innovation meets experience. Each episode features esteemed Allied Executives community members as they share invaluable best practices, hard-earned lessons, and creative solutions to leadership and business challenges. This episode of Trailblazers includes:
- Rick Nordvold, Founder & CEO at Growth Operators
- Molly Hiller, President & Partner at Growth Operators
Blazing Trails: Insights from Growth Operators' Journey to Success
We're excited to share highlights from our inaugural Allied Executives Trailblazer podcast, featuring Rick Nordvold and Molly Hiller of Growth Operators. This dynamic duo offered a wealth of insights on building and scaling a professional services firm.
Founded in 2010 by Rick as a solo venture, Growth Operators has grown into a thriving 65-person finance, accounting, and HR consulting firm serving the middle market. Rick and Molly shared vital lessons from their 14-year journey:
- Bet the garden, not the farm: Rick started small but with a big vision, allowing the company to grow organically without taking on excessive risk.
- Embrace the power of 1% daily improvement: Consistent minor enhancements compound dramatically over time. As Rick noted, "If you improve 1% every day for a year, you're 37 times better at the end."
- Find the right leadership balance: Rick and Molly exemplify the visionary/integrator partnership. Rick generates big ideas and rallies the team, while Molly brings calm confidence and translates vision into execution.
- Standardize for scalability: For Growth Operators' expansion, moving from customized approaches to standardized processes was crucial.
- Create a "recurring revenue" model: Growth Operators have found a creative way to build ongoing client relationships in the consulting world by partnering with private equity firms.
- Introduce junior talent strategically: Bringing in younger team members allowed for more cost-effective service delivery and created mentoring opportunities for senior staff.
- Focus on your strengths: While experimenting with new service lines, Growth Operators ultimately found the most success by honing in on their core competencies.
- Give visionaries space: Molly emphasized the importance of allowing creative leaders room to ideate while filtering ideas for practical implementation.
- Invest in systems before drowning: Implementing a comprehensive ERP system ahead of explosive growth positioned the company for success.
- Never stop learning: Rick and Molly emphasized their commitment to continuous improvement and adaptation.
The conversation highlighted the power of complementary leadership styles and the importance of balancing big-picture thinking with focused execution. As Rick aptly put it, "It's not the idea that creates value, it's the execution."
Want More:
Subscribe to the Allied Executives Trailblazers Series: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/allied-executives-trailblazers-series/id1758364913
Learn more about Growth Operators: https://growthoperators.com/
Follow Rick Nordvold and Molly Hiller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricknordvold/ - and - https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-hiller-8808474b/
Event Recap
1% Better Every Day – Stories from Growing a Professional Services Firm
In this episode, Kurt and Kathy feature Rick Nordvold and Molly Hiller of Growth Operators – and - dive into the success, aha’s, travails, and lessons learned along the way of growing their professional services firm. We’ll also plug into and try to find out what makes Rick and Molly tick, keeps their fires burning, and how they stay “on top of their game” on a day-to-day basis.
Featured Allied Trailblazers:
Rick Nordvold - Growth Operators
Changing the game was Rick’s goal when he left an executive career to start Growth Operators in 2010. For years he’d seen how high-performing business-focused finance and human resources teams could help companies grow and thrive. Rick started Growth Operators in 2010 as a one-person consulting firm. As our Founding Partner and CEO, Rick now spends the majority of his time chairing Growth Operators’ leadership team, developing and overseeing the company’s long-range vision and near-term growth strategy, and nurturing long-term relationships with prospects and clients. Before founding Growth Operators, Rick spent nearly 20 years in various finance and operating leadership roles. He began his career in public accounting at Arthur Andersen and then joined Best Buy, where he led the Corporate Development and Corporate Finance teams. Rick then joined Golf Galaxy as CFO where he led the company’s initial public offering and, later, its merger with Dick’s Sporting Goods. Thereafter, Rick served as the CFO/COO of Griffin International Companies (now Cities Market Studios) before founding Growth Operators in 2010. Rick has served on the boards of several for-profit and not-for-profit companies and spends much of his spare time in the great outdoors and on the golf course.
Molly Hiller - Growth Operators
Molly knows the importance of excellent client service. Her early career in public accounting and the experience of founding and running her own business honed Molly’s aptitude for delivering great solutions and generating ongoing client satisfaction. Molly joined Growth Operators as a client facing consultant in 2012. Over the next several years, her work became the standard of excellence for Growth Operators’ unique client service model. Molly became our Director of Client Services in 2019. She focuses her efforts on recruiting and developing our Growth Pros and enhancing our ever-evolving suite of proprietary tools to continually raise the bar in our client service delivery. As President, Molly also serves on our leadership team to drive the overall strategic direction of our firm.
Prior to joining Growth Operators, Molly spent eight years in various roles at Arthur Andersen and Target Corporation. Molly spent the next several years as an entrepreneur, founding and running her own boutique services business
Outside of work, Molly raises four kids with her husband, Jesse. For hobbies, she enjoys following art & design, horticulture, and of course, boating on Lake Minnetonka.