Start, Stop, and Continue 👋

Each month, The Yo Pro features experienced leaders as Guest Writers to share wisdom and equip the next generation.

As we close out July 2025, enjoy story and insights from Mike Harvey, Vice President of Growth & Partnerships at Harvest Group. You're in for a treat!

As a college senior with little direction and apparently only an ego, after a day of interviews, I sat in the office across from a Partner at a Big 6 accounting firm. He asked me how I felt about the firm, trying to determine if I was in or not. I confidently said, “I enjoyed the discussions, but I want to talk to one additional firm before I make the decision.” I responded like I was some cherished pot of gold. I never heard back. Door was slammed shut. Ego always loses, as it should.

Then, a couple of months later, by the grace of God, I interviewed with Walmart. After the interviews, the hiring manager told me that he was walking to the shredder with a stack of resumes, when one fell out. He took this as a sign that they should talk to that person again. That was me, and I received my first offer.

So, whenever I am asked about “my story,” I can only respond, by the grace of God I am anything today. A bit about my background.

I am a graduate of Mississippi State University, a school barely hanging on as part of the SEC right now. As I mentioned, my first job was with Walmart, based out of the Cullman, AL, Distribution Center. I traveled the US doing inventory audits. Johnny Cash has a song titled, “I’ve been everywhere.” That was the audit team back in the day. 99% travel. Everywhere there is a Walmart in the US, our team was there. It was an amazing job, a great blessing in my life that, as I said, fell in my lap. I learned the world’s largest retailer from the ground up.

After that, I worked in Distribution Center audit, based at the Walmart Home Office, before moving to International Logistics where I spent most of my life in South America and Asia helping start new Walmart Distribution Centers.

From Walmart, I worked for Schering-Plough, later purchased by Merck, a pharmaceutical company with brands like Claritin, Coppertone, and Dr. Scholls. I was part of the team that launched Claritin Rx to OTC.

From Merck, I felt God pulling me out of the corporate world. Long story short, but I worked with an orphanage in the Amazon in Colombia for a couple of years. My family and I lived in Memphis, and I was back and forth to Southern Colombia. Our goal was to start small business around the orphanage making it self-sustainable.

Along the way, I was introduced to the team at Harvest Group, an integrated commerce agency based in Rogers, AR. After talking to Ross and team for about 6 months, I convinced them to give me a shot, and we moved to NWA. I have been blessed to have the opportunity to serve at Harvest for the past 13 years, holding several different roles as we have grown. Currently, I work on our Growth Team, in the market talking to potential clients and partners of Harvest.

In my 20’s, I could have never believed that what I typed above would be my path. This is true for most I assume. For me, I had a picture of what my career would and should look like, and it involved money, a great title, and award winning accomplishments. The measure of my life was against others.

I unpack my life in a book that I wrote for my kids where I talk about different seasons of my life. In the twenties season, the measure of my life would have been material and financially driven, no doubt.

What this caused was a feeling of always being behind. One never has what they believe they deserve. One never has enough. And, this mindset causes a perpetual leak in the fulfillment bucket.

When I was 26, a mentor in my life encouraged me to begin reading the Bible every day while journaling. I told my fiancé, now my wife, that I was going to get up at 5am the next morning and do just that. As I read, alone with my thoughts, my eyes were opened, and my direction in life changed. The emphasis of my life was no longer to be about me but about other people. I want to be careful here, not to point a spotlight on anything I did. Any change for the better in me was and is brought about by God, not my works. The other thing that must be said is the role of grace. No one, especially me, is ever a finished product. Grace is required for the daily misses.

Zig Ziglar has a quote that says, “you can have everything in life that you want if you help enough other people get what they want.” If you are around me much, you have probably heard me say that.

From early on, this is the mindset to develop and carry your whole career. Practically, be a steward of whatever job you are given. Serve others. Put others in the spotlight. Work to get your boss promoted. Take the focus off of you. Ultimate fulfillment will be found as you serve others.

Comparing your career, your journey to other people. God has a unique plan for your life. The tendency is to put pressure and timelines on everything. When you get the promotion, when you get to a certain salary, even when you are married and have kids. All of this puts immense pressure on a person. This mindset may end up making one change companies perpetually chasing something that will never bring fulfillment. To my younger self - understand that life is a marathon, great things only come from hard work, and nothing happens immediately.

As a follower of Jesus, I have one discipline that directs me - reading God’s Word daily. For me, I would be lost without this discipline. I would be a ship without a sail. I can’t underestimate the impact this has on my life. Everyone needs an anchor in their life, as there will be storms, and this is mine.

I would encourage everyone to write a very simple life vision statement and make sure the direction is focused on others. Make your life about others. A life vision about impacting other people will leave a legacy.

As always, let us know how we can help you navigate your world as you navigate the world.

In Your Corner.

See you next Tuesday!