On December 8, 2019, the Honor Across Arms podcast from Society Bytes Radio released episode 31, “Business Development Professional – Michael Penney.” The show describes itself simply: “Hear the stories of our vets past, present, future.” The episode runs about 27 minutes.
What the episode covered
The episode notes give the fullest version of his bio from that period. They open with his service:
Michael J. Penney is a combat veteran of Iraq & Afghanistan. He served in the United States Marine Corps infantry with 3rd Battalion 7th Marines deploying twice to Ramadi, Iraq, in 2005-2006 and 2007.
Honor Across Arms episode notes
From there the notes follow his path out of uniform:
- Quantico: he reenlisted during his second Iraq tour and moved to Quantico as a weapons instructor.
- Afghanistan: in 2011 he deployed a third time, with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, leading a section of advisors through Kajaki and Sangin.
- TEDxRaleigh: his March 2016 talk, “What’s Your IED: How to Add Value During Life’s Explosive Situations.”
- The 5 Paragraph Business Plan: released in April 2017, taking the military operations order format and applying it to business.
The notes describe his work at the time this way:
He currently works as an advisor to business leaders around the globe, calling upon his military experience to assess, train, advise, and assist businesses in the implementation of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan.
Honor Across Arms episode notes
They close on a personal note: a proud father of four, married, living near Raleigh, North Carolina.
Why it mattered then
The phrase in those notes, “assess, train, advise, and assist,” is the language of a military advisor team, the same job he had done in Afghanistan. By late 2019 he was using it to describe his work with businesses. The episode title reflects that shift: he was introduced as a business development professional, not only as a veteran.
The talk named in those notes was delivered on March 19, 2016, and posted by the TEDx Talks channel that June. The book followed on April 14, 2017. By the time of this episode, both had been part of his introduction for more than two years.
Where to find it
The original Spreaker page for the episode no longer loads. The episode is still on Apple Podcasts, and part 1 is on YouTube above.
This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.
Work with Michael
Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.