Kevin Modany

Kevin Modany is the Managing Director at Bluerock Partners, an Indiana-based business consultancy. As a widely experienced strategy consultant, Kevin Modany has amassed a myriad of experiences within the realm of Strategic Planning, Leadership, Due Diligence, Performance Management, and Executive Management.

Kevin Modany joined Bluerock Partners in 2016 and as the company’s Managing Director, Modany provides executive management and strategy consulting to companies in various industries with a focus on business services. Modany’s areas of expertise include due diligence and mergers & acquisitions, strategic planning, tech implementation, process enhancement, performance management, and cash flow/financial performance optimization.

What is your typical day, and how do you make it productive?

In the mornings, before most people are up and working, I spend a bit of time catching up on emails and correspondences. I find that this helps me to prepare for the day. Then, I usually have a series of meetings throughout the day, and I try to end the meetings around 4:00 so that I can then do a wrap-up.

I try to keep my day productive by keeping a steady list of things that I’m working on and updating that list once a week. That keeps me focused and the way I manage business. We have goals and objectives and KPIs and I keep all of the work streams aligned to the individual KPIs and goals. So, it’s all garnered around that.

I also always try to slip in a workout. It’s so important, so I usually block off time in my calendar for exercise.

How do you bring ideas to life?

If I come up with an idea, I’ll typically verbalize it or write it into an email and summarize it and share it with people. I try to get people to understand why it makes sense, usually by pulling in data to support it. After that, I would probably have a meeting on it. People will sit down and talk about it and then we’ll assign people to execute on the various initiatives associated with it and set timelines and manage the newly burgeoning project.

Usually, the main part of bringing an idea to life is getting buy-in from the people that need to execute on it.

What’s one trend that excites you?

The possibilities of artificial intelligence and using machine learning to be more efficient and do good things is an area that excites me.

What is one habit that helps you be productive?

I typically create a list, organized by hierarchy, of initiatives and things I’m actively working on. I edit and change that list as things get accomplished or change. I find that this helps me to be more productive because it allows me to visually see all of the moving parts and break them down into smaller goals and tangible to-do items.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Anything worth having takes a lot of effort.

What is the one thing you repeatedly do and recommend everyone else do?

I would recommend that everyone should try running, or regular exercise for the multitude of benefits. Running, resistance training, and stretching are typically in my workout repertoire.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

When I’m unfocused or overwhelmed, I go for a run. It’s meditative and helpful for focusing, in addition to being great exercise.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business or advance in your career?

I believe that my ability to simultaneously have micro and macro perspectives has helped to advance my career. I certainly try to paint a picture of the vision and our goals and objectives at a macro level. Then, you have to have the capacity to actually turn those macro thoughts into executable initiatives that align directly with those goals that align with the strategic plan. So many times, I see companies struggle with that.

I think I’ve been able to see the whole picture, from micro to macro strategically and, and operationally.

What is one failure in your career, how did you overcome it, and what lessons did you take away from it?

From each failure, I learned that there are only certain things you can control. So, you have to focus only on the things within your control.

What is one business idea you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I would explain how to manage a business with the performance management methodology that I use. I have shown other businesses how to do that to try to help them.

What is one piece of software that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

PDF Expert makes me super productive. I can get documents on my phone and look at them and read them and sign them on the go. I see other people, other executives, and CEOs and it’s just so cumbersome for them to not be able to execute agreements without being at their desks. I always encourage them to get this app.

What is the best $100 you recently spent?

Recently, I was in Clearwater Beach and tipped the individual who was servicing us at the beach, and it was money well spent to make someone else happy and to set the tone for an exceptional experience.

Do you have a favorite book or podcast from which you’ve received much value?

I appreciate an older book, titled “From Good to Great”. The writer did research on public companies and selected the most successful public companies over a period of 25 years. Then, researched them and interviewed all of the former executives and came up with eight common characteristics of those highly successful companies. It’s old, but it’s still very applicable. I got a ton of value out of that and concepts and ways in which to manage and be a better leader.

Switching to podcasts, I like Jay Shetty. He used to be a monk, and he gives mental health, self-help kind of advice and insights.

My favorite podcast is:
My First Million by Sam Parr and Shaan Puri. This podcast shares a lot of startup-related stories told by the founders themselves – highly recommend it!

What’s a movie or series you recently enjoyed and why?

Recently, I’ve been watching the entire Yellowstone series, and the spinoffs, including 1923. I heard great things about the series, so I started watching, and it certainly lives up to the buzz. I think I enjoy the rawness of it. The rudimentary nature and the rawness of that whole lifestyle is very interesting.

Key learnings:

-Combing through and addressing emails and correspondences in the morning is a great way to set yourself up for the work day ahead. -Being able to open and sign documents on the go is a great way to streamline processes. -Exercise and running are effective ways to refocus.