My path has been anything but linear.
The United States Air Force. Professional golf. Seminary, where I studied theology and philosophy. Teaching. Then business, where for decades I helped leaders plan, strategize, sell and grow, from Fortune 500 companies to family farms.
Then 2008 happened. I spent four years helping clients survive bankruptcies, layoffs and desperate pivots. I was the one with answers. In early 2012 a client who had made it through asked me what came next, and when I hung up I realized I had nothing left to give him. In 2013 I walked away from my business.
I did what many searching Catholics do in a crisis. I went on a silent retreat and asked God for wisdom. Then someone handed me a little red book: the Rule of St. Benedict. Here was fifteen hundred years of wisdom that didn’t separate the spiritual from the strategic, or Sunday from Monday.
“Skill and character are not the same muscle. I had spent thirty years training the first one.”
It took five years of study, prayer and rebuilding before I became a Benedictine Oblate at Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, South Dakota, in 2018. Somewhere in that rebuilding, clients who heard about the Rule started asking, “Can you teach us this?” So I did. That work became More Thriving, Less Grumbling.
WHAT THE RULE TAUGHT ME
Integration, not balance
Five Monk Principles from the Rule. Two form the leader. Three form the organization.
Intention. Clarity of purpose that guides every decision.
Stability. Commitment that creates security and enables risk.
Community. Belonging that calls you higher and holds you when you fall.
Excellence. Innovation as worship, not performance for applause.
Profound Hospitality. Welcome that turns customers and team members into committed stakeholders.
Alongside the Rule, I draw on positive psychology and positive organizational research from Martin Seligman, Kim Cameron, Robert Quinn and Alexander Havard.
WHERE THE WORK GOES NOW
The same principles, four ways in
For leaders. Integrated Leadership Journey: strategy and spiritual guidance in one engagement. → Work With Mike
For teams and organizations. Integrated Organization: building organizations where people thrive and create impact. → Work With Mike
For churches. One Table, One Mission: leadership diagnoses and the whole community builds. → For Churches
For your event. Keynotes and two-hour sessions from the book. → Speaking
BACKGROUND
40 years, 75 industries
Clients. Fortune 500 companies including Nationwide Insurance, American Express and Transamerica; hundreds of small businesses, nonprofits, healthcare systems and faith-based institutions; the Army National Guard.
Teaching. Co-founder of the Certificate of Integrated Leadership at the Benedictine Leadership Institute, Mount Marty University.
Books. More Thriving, Less Grumbling (2026), Sell Like a Monk, The Sweet Spot and Ultimate Breakthrough Planning.
Media. Co-host of Resonance: A Podcast for Leaders. Featured on SuperTalk Radio, Real Presence Radio, WCCO Radio and KDAL Radio.
Education. St. Thomas University and St. John Vianney Seminary: theology, philosophy and education.
Formation. Benedictine Oblate of Sacred Heart Monastery, Yankton, South Dakota, since 2018.
“Mike has demonstrated through his many years in business and research that a leader’s sustainable success is a result of the integration of his/her desire and ability to integrate best business practices, understanding of human behavior, and the pursuit of virtue. One does not have to be around Mike for any length of time to observe that this is a way of life for him.” — Dr. Tom Lorang, Ed.D., Retired Superintendent, Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools
OUTSIDE THE WORK
Sioux Falls, five grandchildren and a full table
My wife Anne and I live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Our five grandchildren remind me daily what really matters. I love to cook and entertain, so hospitality isn’t just theory for me. And I’m still an avid golfer, which keeps teaching me patience and humility.
BEGIN
Not a sales call. A conversation worth having.
Forty-five minutes to look honestly at where you are and whether working together is the right next step. Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes it’s not yet. Both are good answers
ABOUT MIKE FERRELL, OBLOSB · THE MONK GUY
I never intended to become The Monk Guy.
I’m a strategy and leadership coach, a Benedictine Oblate and the author of More Thriving, Less Grumbling. For 40 years I’ve helped leaders across 75 industries plan, lead and grow. Today I help Christian leaders, their teams and their churches build work that flows from one center.
THE ROAD TO BENEDICT
