CHRISTIAN BUSINESS AND LEADERSHIP COACHING-CHURCH PLANNING-SPEAKING
Stop Living The Divided Life
Lead from conviction instead of pressure, and build organizations where people thrive and create impact, through the Rule of St.
Benedict for Christian leaders.
THE PROBLEM
Something essential gets lost between Sunday and Monday
You have strategy, the people and the results. Yet somewhere between who you are and how you lead, the work has lost its reason. St. Benedict had a word for what comes next: grumbling. You hear it in your people. If you’re honest you hear it in yourself.
THE SOLUTION
What If Your Deepest Values Were Your Greatest Leadership Asset?
I'm Mike Ferrell, aka The Monk Guy. As a Benedictine Oblate, business strategist, and leadership coach with nearly 40 years of experience, I help faith-driven executives, entrepreneurs, and leadership teams close the gap between who they are at their core and how they actually lead.
In a world where everyone seems to be calling themselves a coach, experience matters. I've worked with hundreds of organizations, from scrappy startups to global enterprises, across more than 70 industries, in every phase of leadership, strategy, and organizational development. That breadth of experience means I don't bring theory to the table. I bring pattern recognition, hard-won wisdom, and a framework tested and refined across decades of real work with real leaders facing real consequences.
The framework itself is 1,500 years old.
St. Benedict built communities that survived plagues, wars, economic collapse, and civilizational chaos, not through rigid control or inspirational slogans, but through principled systems that shaped character, built culture, and sustained excellence across generations.
That same wisdom, combined with nearly four decades of frontline leadership experience, is what I bring to every engagement. The result is transformation that goes deeper than strategy, leaders changed from the inside out, and organizations built to flourish through anything.
The people you lead will never need to know where the wisdom comes from to feel the difference it makes.
WHO THIS IS FOR
You're in the Right Place If…
Your values run deep, but your leadership doesn't always reflect them
You're tired of compartmentalizing keeping who you are in one box and how you lead in another
Your organization is capable of more, but something essential is missing
You want your character, not just your competence, to define your leadership
You're ready for transformation that goes deeper than strategy
THE INVITATION: A Discernment Call
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.
Let's begin with a conversation.
“We really appreciated the opportunity to partner with Mike Ferrell as he took our top leadership group through his Monk Principles. He is very knowledgeable of business and leadership principles, but also in tune with Benedictine ways of thinking and working in the world. He was a big help in initiating fresh thoughts and steps for Madonna as we strive to reconnect our rehabilitation work with our Catholic Benedictine heritage.”
THE BOOK
More Thriving, Less Grumbling:
A Field Guide to Monastic Principles for Leading Wisely and Creating Impact
By Mike Ferrell, OblOSB — The Monk Guy
You built it. So why does the work feel hollow?
Mike Ferrell spent decades as the consultant with the answers, until he ran out of them and learned that skill and character are not the same muscle. What brought him back was the 1,500-year-old Rule of St. Benedict.
This field guide pairs Benedict’s wisdom with modern leadership research and gives you five Monk Principles, with practical tools for each: Intention, Stability, Community, Excellence, and Profound Hospitality. Lead with clearer judgment. Build something that outlasts you.
You already live by a rule. The only question is whether you chose it.
Hardcover available November 25, 2026.
Praise for the Book
“I know what it’s like to build something for years and still feel the ground shift under you, and I know what it’s like to think you’re the only one who feels that way. You’re not, and Mike proves it with fifteen centuries of receipts. He takes something as old as St. Benedict and something as modern as burnout and lays them side by side, and somehow they were always speaking to each other. He hands you real tools, not just theory, and he does it with the kind of honesty that makes you trust every page. This is a book for the leader who’s still standing, still building, and ready to do it from a deeper place.”
— Becca Powers, USA TODAY Best-Selling Author
“Mike Ferrell’s business coaching has brought a greater sense of fulfillment to the way we manage relationships with our future, current, and past clients, our team, and the work we do every day. The foundational wisdom of Mike’s coaching model continues to make a positive impact on our entire team. Most importantly, it reminds us that our clients are more than clients; they are relationships we genuinely value and want to nurture.”
— Paul Reynolds, Reynolds Construction Management
“Mike Ferrell is a true son of St. Benedict. Over years as a Benedictine oblate and through his work in business and leadership, he has seamlessly integrated Ora et Labora (work and prayer) into his consulting and books. He breathes new life into the Rule of Benedict, showing how this proven path to virtue can enliven every avenue of an entrepreneurial lifestyle.”
— Rev. Kristopher Cowles, Pastor, Holy Angels Pastorate
From the Foreword
“They aren’t simply ideas Mike talks about. They’re principles he lives by and leads with every day.”
“They aren’t situational, they’re foundational. And that’s exactly why they matter.”
“That’s precisely why they continue to resonate, not just within monasteries, but in boardrooms, businesses, communities, and everyday life.”
— Steve Azar, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, Culture and Music Ambassador for the State of Mississippi, entrepreneur, philanthropist
“Mike Ferrell knows we can’t search for, download, or buy wisdom.”
“It is not a self-help book, but an invitation to find the courage needed for honest self-reflection.”
“Like a guidebook about climbing Mount Everest, More Thriving, Less Grumbling will be tremendously helpful, and it might even save your life. But the climb itself is where the real value emerges.”
— Randy Harrington, Ph.D., Business Strategist and Futurist
WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER
How Can We Work Together?
Christian Leadership Coaching
Integrated Leadership Journey: Strategy and Spiritual Guidance in one engagement. 1:1 business leadership coaching for Christian entrepreneurs and executive.
Church and Parish Planning
One Table, One Mission: a strategic planning process for churches and parishes where leadership diagnoses and the whole community builds.
Organizational Development
Integrated Organization: Community, Excellence and Profound Hospitality for leadership teams, with culture and strategy built together
Keynote Speaking
Faith-based keynotes for business and church audiences that leave leaders with more for Monday morning than just meetings.
“I have had the opportunity to work with Mike on several occasions and his knowledge and expertise on leadership, entrepreneurship, and best organizational methods are some of the best I have seen. He has a tremendous amount of experience and practical wisdom that is extremely valuable to any organization. In addition, his unique content and approach to training our team and in the delivery of unique organizational models is a huge benefit to our team and organization that will yield a great deal of success for years to come.”
Meet Mike
Mike Ferrell (The Monk Guy) is a leadership coach, strategy consultant, an award winning author, speaker and trainer. Known for his insightful books and teachings, Mike blends strategy, positive psychology, spirituality and Benedictine principles in his work.
Mike has walked in your shoes. He has been involved in 15 start-ups. For 39 years Mike has worked as a leadership and business coach and consultant. He has worked with hundreds of small and medium businesses, Fortune 500 companies, non profits, churches and the U.S. Military. Mike has also faced the ups and downs of a divided life chasing profits and business success to the detriment of his faith, family and community. Several years ago he discovered the principles of The Rule of Benedict and since then has incorporated them into his work and his faith. These principles help guide entrepreneurs and leaders to achieve strategic growth while keeping them grounded on what’s important, faith, family and work.
Mike has training in the Benedictine principles and is a Benedictine Oblate. In addition he has studied philosophy and theology as a seminarian. He is also a certified business coach and trained in Positive Psychology, Positive Organizational Development, Virtuous Leadership and certified CliftonStrengths for over 20 years.
Resonance: The Podcast
A Podcast for Leaders, Unpacking the Power of Song, Silence and Strategy
Resonance is a podcast for leaders, creatives, and changemakers who know that the future belongs to those who can listen deeply, think differently, and lead from the heart.
Hosted by Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, music producer and storyteller Steve Azar, award winning author and Benedictine business strategist Mike Ferrell, and thought leader and transformation expert Randy Harrington, Resonance explores the powerful intersection of listening, creativity, transformation, and the power of song.
In each episode, we'll unpack ideas that blend ancient monastic wisdom, cutting-edge leadership thinking, and the transformative force of music. From soul-stirring stories to practical strategies, Steve, Mike, and Randy invite you into a sacred pause—a chance to reconnect with what matters most and amplify the song of your leadership.
This isn’t just a podcast. It’s a tuning fork for the spirit, a space to resonate more fully with your purpose, your people, and the possibilities ahead.
Also visit resonanceleader.com for more info on Mike, Steve and Randy’s work.
Available on most major podcast platforms
“My pal Mike Ferrell “The Monk Guy” has become a favorite for me and my listeners throughout Mississippi and nationwide. How he weaves together morals with business practices so seamlessly, it’s inspirational and moving to say the least and so very insightful. Looking forward to having him on the next time and the next and the next! He’s a special guy.”
Who I Have Served
“Mike worked with the Minnesota National Guard to build a strategic plan for our Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program and my copy of Ultimate Breakthrough Planning has been highlighted, dog-eared, starred, underlined, and notes dress up many of the margins. His book assisted me in developing dozens of marketing, PR and recruiting strategies for both government and private projects since I got my hands on a copy. It has a prominent and permanent place in every office I’ve lead. I’m so looking forward to his next book! ”
