Mulder Holding Company
Delivering Better Solutions
"Before we started with StratOp, I didn’t think this would have been possible."
Snapshot
- CLIENT: Mulder Holding Company, parent company of Mulder Brothers Brokerage and Mulder Fleet Services
- CHALLENGE: Living out company values through generational change
- SOLUTION: The Barzel Group’s Strategic Planning Process (StratOp)
- RESULTS: Better-defined organizational structure that empowers leaders at all levels
The Leader's Challenge
50 years ago, Art Mulder started hauling cattle with a box truck to local sellers and buyers. Five years later, he bought his first semi and began shipping bailed hay.
In 1971, there was just “a farmer with a dream.” Today, Mulder Holding Company is a leading provider in refrigerated transportation logistics, brokerage services, and truck leasing. With their fleet of refrigerated trucks and trailers, along with their 100+ full- and part-time employees, Mulder Holding Company offers full-service logistics to their main customer base of food manufacturers.
“Three generations of hard work and shared values have shaped our business model,” said Greg Mulder, one of the owners (and grandson of Art). “We still try to live out our original Mission Statement with every job: To be faithful stewards of the business God has given us by serving with integrity and exceeding the expectations of our customers, carriers, vendors, and coworkers.”
But Mulder Holding Company was no longer a one-man show. With five Mulder family members from two generations leading at the ownership level, they were struggling to manage decision-making without a formalized strategic planning process.
The Turning Point
An outside perspective ended up providing the path forward for Mulder Holding Company.
“To help us expand, we brought in our first non-family executive,” Greg explained, “fully empowered to participate in high-level decisions with the owners. As an outsider, he saw our weaknesses when it came to long-term planning and casting vision—and pushed us to look at a more formal process.”
That’s when the company started working with Jay. “The idea of getting outside help on formalizing our strategic planning was a brand-new concept to us. Jay understood this,” said Greg. “The stories, examples, and references he provided during the interview process were very convincing. The fact that the Paterson Group (creators of StratOp) had been doing this for so long, and had a fine-tuned process, helped confirm our decision.”
Clearer Structure, Better Results
Dedicated strategic planning helped shorten the decision-making progress for Mulder Holding Company. It provided clarity in determining which important tasks to focus on.
“We used to get so overwhelmed with the seemingly endless areas in the business that demanded our attention. Using StratOp, we’ve been able to isolate and prioritize tasks within any given timeframe and work on those specifically.”—Greg Mulder
With a more well-defined organizational structure, the owners had the clarity to empower other leaders throughout the company, making the whole team more effective. As Greg put it, “I like to say it’s allowed me to work more on the business and less in the business.”
Empowering All Leaders
StratOp accelerated the delegation of key leadership roles at Mulder Holding Company to non-family members. Now, the company has incorporated several other managers in the organization into the strategic planning process. “We’re at the point now that most of our Action Initiatives are led by someone outside the family,” said Greg. “Before we started StratOp, I didn’t think this would have been possible.”
In the past four years of dedicated strategic planning, Mulder Holding Company has been able to “move mountains” with their regular quarterly planning sessions. “Learning to zero in on what’s most important seems easy,” said Greg, “but most business never learn how.”
The Next 50 Years
Today, Mulder Holding Company continues to use StratOp as their decision-making framework. They continue to see the value in stepping back to make decisions as a team, with both family members and non-family leaders contributing to the next 50 years of the company Art Mulder started.
“You will never regret the time and resources you put towards it. In the ‘fog of war,’ it is so hard to step outside of the day-to-day grind and see the big picture of your business. Taking the time to pull back, get a fresh perspective, and work on it strategically with a good StratOp facilitator will make all the difference in the world. You’ll wish you’d done it sooner.”—Greg Mulder
Takeaway Wisdom
“Get a coach who shares your vision and values. Jay Hidalgo is a high integrity guy who’s become a trusted guide — with a belief system that’s compatible to ours. At Mulder Holding, we’re dedicated to serving others and developing long-term relationships with our clients. That’s Jay’s philosophy, too. Make sure you’re on the same page as your advisor.”—Greg Mulder