Michael J. Penney

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Rage of the Age: Military Management Methods for Your Business

On August 11, 2020, Philip Sharp released an episode of Rage of the Age titled “Michael Penney, Military Management Methods for Your Business.” It runs about an hour, at 1:02:30.

What the episode covered

According to the episode description, the interview filled the whole show. Sharp skipped the essay segment that usually opens his episodes to make room for it.

The description introduces Michael as an eight-year Marine Corps veteran and the founder of 5 Paragraph, which it calls a military management method for the modern workforce. It also points to two pieces of his work:

  • His book, 5 Paragraph Business Plan: The Action Oriented Business Management Tool for Leaders
  • His TEDxRaleigh talk, “What’s Your IED”

The core of the episode was how the operations order the military uses to plan missions can be adapted for a civilian company. The description presents it as a practical model to help companies run more efficiently and get employee buy-in. Michael also talked about current issues and about the America he fought for.

Why it mattered then

In August 2020 a lot of business owners were rewriting their plans. The pitch for the 5 Paragraph method was that it is not a document that sits in a drawer. It is the same structure Marines use to brief a mission: the situation, the mission, how it will be carried out, what support is needed, and who is in charge and how everyone will communicate.

The “employee buy-in” point was a theme of his 2020 interviews. A plan everyone has been briefed on, in a format everyone understands, is easier for a team to own.

The episode came out five days after his August 6 appearance on Veteran Nation. The book named in the notes was first released in April 2017, and the TEDxRaleigh talk was delivered on March 19, 2016.

His service record: eight-plus years in Marine Corps infantry and three combat tours: two to Ramadi, Iraq, with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines (2005-06 and 2007), and one to Kajaki and Sangin, Afghanistan, with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in 2011, where he led a section of advisors. Between those tours he served at Quantico as a weapons instructor. He left the Corps as a Sergeant with an honorable discharge.

Where to find it

The episode listing is still online, but the listing site warns that the audio file may no longer play, and we have not found another working copy. If you have a copy, or know where the episode lives now, we would like to hear from you. If one turns up, we will add it here.

View the episode listing

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.

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Honor Across Arms: Business Development Professional (2019)

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.

Part 1 of 2, as posted to YouTube on December 8, 2019.

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.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

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.

Book Michael to Speak
Shop the MJP Store
Get the 5 Paragraph Business Plan
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TEDxRaleigh 2016: What’s Your IED? Adding Value Under Pressure

On March 19, 2016, Michael Penney took the stage at TEDxRaleigh with a talk titled “What’s your IED? How to add value in explosive situations.” The TEDx Talks channel published the recording on June 1, 2016. It runs about 12 minutes.

What the talk covered

The title takes the signature threat of the wars he fought in, the improvised explosive device, and turns it into a question for the audience. The official description sets up the idea:

There are moments of sheer devastation that have an explosively sobering effect on the human soul.

TEDxRaleigh talk description

The talk is about those moments: the hazards everyone meets on the way through life, and what happens to your values when you are in the middle of one. The description says these times of “hopeless despair” are when your values get tested. It says the talk is meant to help people deal with those moments and get through them. The second half of the title gives the answer he steers toward: look for how to add value, even when things are blowing up around you.

Who was on stage

The TEDx description introduced Michael as a Marine Corps combat veteran, former infantryman and combat arms instructor. It lists his deployments:

  • Ramadi, Iraq (2005–2006 and 2007)
  • Kajaki and Sangin, Afghanistan (2011)

As an instructor he trained Marines in combat marksmanship, precision weapon systems and foreign and threat weapons.

After leaving the Corps in 2012, the description says, he found “new ways to serve the country he loves” as an inventor, entrepreneur, author and public speaker. It called him the founder and co-host of Cigars and Sea Stories, “a podcast devoted to sharing sea stories with veterans who are adding VALUE to the world.” It also said he spent most of his time at Bunker Labs RDU, working with fellow veterans.

Why it mattered then

TEDx puts a speaker in front of a general audience, not a veterans crowd. This talk took a combat experience most of the room had never lived through and made it useful to them. Everybody has an IED moment. The talk was about what you do in it.

It also capped a busy few weeks. Before the event he did two video conversations with fellow presenter Doug Stewart and podcast interviews with SuccessVets and the Military Entrepreneur Show.

Looking back

“Add value” became a theme that kept coming back. In November 2016 the Veteran Resource Podcast titled its episode with him “Provide Value.” “TEDxRaleigh speaker” has been part of his introduction ever since, from the 5 Paragraph Business Plan to his speaking work today.

Watch on YouTube (TEDx Talks)

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.

Book Michael to Speak
Shop the MJP Store
Get the 5 Paragraph Business Plan
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Doug Stewart: A Conversation with an Entrepreneurial Marine

On March 1, 2016, Doug Stewart posted “A conversation with an Entrepreneurial Marine” to his YouTube channel. Stewart was one of Michael’s co-presenters for TEDxRaleigh 2016, set for March 19. A week earlier he had hosted a group Blab with Michael and another speaker. This time it was a one-on-one, and it runs about an hour and fourteen minutes.

What they covered

Stewart’s description lists the ground they covered:

We talked about TEDx, Public Speaking, Passion, bad teachers, learning disabilities and a lot of awesomeness about entrepreneurial veterans.

Doug Stewart, YouTube description

In plain terms, the topics were:

  • TEDx and public speaking: two speakers on the same lineup, a few weeks out from the event.
  • Passion: what drives the work.
  • Bad teachers and learning disabilities: school experiences and learning differences, and how they shape a person.
  • Entrepreneurial veterans: veterans starting and building businesses.

Stewart closed his description by pointing viewers to three places they could find Michael at the time:

  • Cigars and Sea Stories, the podcast he co-founded (cigarsandseastories.com)
  • BloodStripes.com, the Marine professional-development site he wrote for
  • Bunker Labs, the national nonprofit for veteran entrepreneurs

Why it mattered then

The long-form format gave Michael room that a 12-minute talk does not. A TEDx talk is cut down to one idea. A relaxed hour with another speaker leaves time for the background behind that idea: how he learned, what frustrated him in school, and why he cared about veterans in business.

At about 74 minutes, it is the longest recorded conversation from the weeks before his TEDx talk. For anyone who only knows the 12-minute talk, it gives a fuller picture of the man who gave it.

The Bunker Labs link matters too. In early 2016 Michael was already connected to the organization’s Raleigh-Durham effort. His TEDx talk description, published that June, invited people to link up with him at Bunker Labs RDU, “where he spends most of his time connecting and working with fellow veterans.”

Looking back

Less than three weeks after this conversation, Michael gave his TEDxRaleigh talk, “What’s your IED? How to add value in explosive situations.” By October 2016 the Veteran On the Move podcast reported that he had taken over as director of the Bunker in Raleigh-Durham. The topics from this conversation, speaking, learning and veteran business, stayed at the center of his work.

Watch on YouTube

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.

Book Michael to Speak
Shop the MJP Store
Get the 5 Paragraph Business Plan
Watch Live

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TEDxRaleigh 2016 Blab: Doug Stewart Hosts Michael Penney

On February 23, 2016, Doug Stewart posted a recording to YouTube titled “#TEDxRaleigh Blab with Jason Goldberg & Michael Penney.” Stewart was one of the presenters for TEDxRaleigh 2016. Here he sat down with two of his fellow speakers about a month before the event. The recording runs just over an hour.

What it was

Blab was a live group video-chat app that was popular for a short time in 2015 and 2016. Hosts could open a live conversation with a few guests on camera while an audience watched and commented. Stewart used it to introduce some of the people his audience would see on the TEDxRaleigh stage.

His description of the video is one line long:

TEDxRaleigh coming March 19th, 2016. I had an opportunity to chat with two of my fellow presenters.

Doug Stewart, YouTube description

The video is an open conversation among three people preparing to give TEDx talks at the same event. The full recording is here for anyone who wants to hear how Michael talked about his talk and his work in the weeks before he gave it.

Why it mattered then

TEDxRaleigh 2016 was Michael’s first TEDx stage. Speakers in that position spend the weeks before rehearsing and shaping their message. Talking it through in public with other speakers is part of how the talk comes together.

It also shows the way speakers in a TEDx class often helped each other. Stewart used his own channel to build interest in his co-presenters, not just himself.

TEDx events use the TED conference format, but each one is organized independently by a local community. In Raleigh that meant local speakers like Stewart, Goldberg and Penney, and much of the promotion before the event came from the speakers themselves.

At the time Michael was best known as the co-host of the Cigars and Sea Stories podcast and a contributor to BloodStripes.com. The TEDx invitation put a Marine infantry veteran in front of a much wider audience than either of those projects had reached.

Looking back

One week later, Stewart posted a second, longer one-on-one conversation with Michael, “A conversation with an Entrepreneurial Marine.” On March 19, 2016, Michael gave his TEDxRaleigh talk, “What’s your IED? How to add value in explosive situations.” The TEDx Talks channel published it that June. “TEDxRaleigh speaker” has been part of how he is introduced ever since.

Blab itself is long gone, but this recording survives on Stewart’s YouTube channel.

Watch on YouTube

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.

Book Michael to Speak
Shop the MJP Store
Get the 5 Paragraph Business Plan
Watch Live