Wendi Pannell: Building Execution Discipline with the Business Gym Model

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my guest today, Wendi Pannell, today founder of Pannell Consulting and creator of business. Jim. We’re going to touch on that in a few minutes. Wendi is a business strategist and fractional COO who helps growing companies turn ambitious visions into real execution. With more than two decades of experience leading operations and teams at companies like HP and GE, she works with founders and leadership teams to bring clarity to priorities, install strong execution rhythms, and reduce founder dependency so businesses can scale effectively. In addition to her consulting work, Wendi recently launched Business Gem, a structured 90 day accountability program designed to help women entrepreneurs strengthen their leadership, build momentum and grow their businesses through community and disciplined execution. Known for her practical and direct approach, Wendi helps leaders move from ideas to measurable progress. Wendi, welcome to the show.

Wendi Pannell: Thank you so much. I took notes on several of the description items.

Trisha Stetzel: I saw you doing that in the background. I’m like, okay, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Wendi Pannell: So it was good. There’s lots of dialog.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about you.

Wendi Pannell: Yes. So, um, I have three boys. I’ll start with that because I think that paints a picture of the chaos in my personal life that I also have to keep under control and also just let happen. Um, and yeah, live in a small town in southwest Virginia. So Blacksburg, Virginia, home of the Virginia Tech Hokies. A lot of people know about and, you know, I just, I really love what I do, both from a, you know, fractional COO with small to medium sized tech companies to my recent kind of role in creation of the business gym, which is truly a passion project that allows me to honestly just be more present in my hometown and engage with the community. Um, and that’s just brought me so much unexpected joy. So I’m really getting to like do passion projects and my day job that pays the bills, um, all the time. And yeah, I’m just loving it.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. That’s fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: So it brings something to mind. Wendi. And I think a lot of us women struggle with is the, uh, the old adage of work life balance, which is now really integration, I believe. How do you keep it all together?

Wendi Pannell: Definitely a lot of plates spinning, I think. Uh, when I first had not first had kids, like I was maybe ten years in, I realized it wasn’t about balance. It was about being present in the times that I needed to be present. Um, it was some days I was 100% a mom or 75% mom and 25% an employee probably at the time because I didn’t have my own business. But it’s also about setting expectations, right? With my husband, with my kids, with my employer. Now it’s with myself. I have lots of conversations with myself, but setting those expectations and knowing that sometimes somebody’s getting more of me than the other, and that’s perfectly okay.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh, did you guys hear that it is okay to be a mom on a day that you need to be a mom, and it’s okay to be a business owner on a day that you need to be a business owner. And what I heard you say, Wendi, and I think it’s great advice is you got to have guardrails or guidelines with your family, yourself and your business.

Wendi Pannell: Yeah, 100%. It’s setting the expectations that, um, you know, this is how I’m going to be showing up or not showing up like, hey, I’m sorry, I’m going to miss the practice or the game or the event or to my employers, the same. The other thing my husband and I kind of decided on early on is when one of us would take a new role for three months, we could be less at home because we knew we were getting integrated into this new role, this new job. And so that kind of communication expectations just just rolled into when one of us have a big project or a client delivery, we just know what’s going to be there or not be there.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so this reminds me that you’re a fractional COO, or that’s the role you typically take when you’re working with other companies. Can we talk about that? There’s a lot of fractional C acronyms out there these days. So when we when you say fractional COO, what does that mean?

Wendi Pannell: Well, when I first went out on my own, you know, I, when I worked for any company, I was all that always that person in the organization that you could just drop in and ask me to go fix something, go figure out what they’re doing, like make it better, make it more efficient, make money, shut it down. Maybe. Um, so when I decided to go out on my own, I didn’t know what I was. I was like, aren’t people just going to hire me because I get stuff done? Um, because I’ve never done like the sales and marketing. I didn’t understand when you’re out on your own, you have to tell people what you do. They don’t just know what they do. What I know, and quite frankly, a lot of my contacts were in big fortune 500 255 companies, and that’s not who I was wanting to help. So I actually joined a cohort of other like minded and kind of same space, same season. And I explained to them what I wanted to do, which was to go in and help companies be more efficient and get things done and execute. And one of them were like, well, you sound like a fractional COO. And I was like, oh yeah, that makes perfect sense. Now the fractional space is definitely more saturated than it was, which is good because more businesses understand what a fractional consultant can bring.

Wendi Pannell: And essentially it’s you are getting the full breadth and depth and season of a professional of a person at a fraction of the cost. For me, it’s about working with companies that are not ready for a full time CEO. Maybe they’re in that scaling stage, or maybe they have a COO, but they are growing so fast they need other focus or expertise or another set of hands. Um, so because I’ve been in the tech space for, I hate saying two decades or 25 years, it sounds so long, but for a long time, um, I have just seen a lot of different things. I have a lot of different experiences, so I’m able to jump into a company and get acclimated very quickly. I think that’s one of my superpowers. I can kind of look around and absorb what’s going on and listen. I don’t come in and say, we need to do this right away unless there’s a very clear and obvious problem. Um, but the things that I do implement right away are just basic standards that, quite frankly, any company, I don’t care where you’re at if you don’t have these three things, they’re the things that you need to do right away. So fractional is just really enabling growing companies to get super focused and make sure that they’re executing.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so let’s talk about that execution piece. Um, I’ve heard you say, and we connected on this, that a lot of companies think they have a strategy problem when they really have an execution problem. So what does that look like in real life or what have you seen play out?

Wendi Pannell: So it’s funny. That is what I wrote down because I had the business at the beginning. You’re like business strategist. I really need to reframe that differently. The strategy is honestly to do more execution because a lot of companies will spend a lot of time talking about or figuring out what that strategy is, but then they put it up on the shelf that I had over here, and they don’t talk about it again. So what I really am going to bring in to companies is making sure they know exactly what matters. What is that one, two or maybe three things that need to get done this quarter this month. I usually think in quarters that’s just the corporate side of me. Um, you know, what is that that needs to get done and let’s talk about it every week. Like with the people that matter with your execution team. Let’s talk about that one thing and give it a status, because we’ve been really clear about what good looks like, what success looks like. Um, one of my favorite analogies, I love prosecco, but I say champagne. I want businesses to know when they can pop that champagne. Like when do they need to start chilling the champagne? So they can pop that champagne. And you can’t do that unless you know specifically about where you’re going. So a lot of companies feel like they have goals and they probably do, but they probably have conversations too often about, well, are we there? Did we reach it? Is this. You know what? No it’s not. So helping them get super clear about what that goal is, um, is I think, a game changer. And then talking about it, taking that strategy and putting it in action, you know, building a roadmap so that everyone can kind of see where we’re going and, and they know, yes, we’re going to do that, but not yet because we need to get these few things in line first. So it’s really about my strategy is just about more execution and talking more about what you’re executing on.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. You guys are hearing it now, this practical and direct approach that Wendi has and something that I really, really love, something else that you focus a lot on is this founder dependency. And I, I think that we talk about it a lot and our founders are hearing it, but they’re not actually doing anything about being that dependent or the dependency being on the founder. So how do leaders start building systems and leadership inside of their company? So it doesn’t just become dependent or stay dependent on them?

Wendi Pannell: This one is tricky because it’s also very much a feelings thing and a trust thing, which is something that a lot of business owners or founders don’t want to talk about or don’t even recognize, like they probably see the dependency is, oh, the team needs me or I built this company. Of course, I’m supposed to know and do and be responsible for everything. Or, you know, I am so busy and, um, and it almost feels good because you are needed even as the company is growing, which I get it like that all does feel good. Like there’s a side of me as a mom that I’m like, oh, you don’t you don’t want to come home even though you’ve graduated. Like you don’t want to hang out. It hurts, I get it. Um, but not, but, and I think that a lot of founders get burnt out and frustrated and are kept up late at night because they’ve got a great team, but things aren’t moving. They haven’t seen progress. Progress. They can’t name the progress. If they have a board, they don’t have clear visibility into. These are the things we’re getting done. Here’s how we’re using your money. Um, so I think founders first need to recognize that they are the bottleneck, right? If everything has to run through them, the company is not moving as fast as it could. And you probably have maybe unhappy employees, right? You hired people to do a certain job.

Wendi Pannell: And I feel like when you remove yourself as a bottleneck and you get really clear about where you’re trying to go and how you’re going to measure success as a founder or a CEO, it’s now just like giving your entire team capes. They’re all going to become superheroes for you and for the business. And things are just going to get done faster. So it’s really about recognizing that you are the bottleneck because every answer, every decision has to go through you. And if you’re at a certain stage of growth, it’s also going to be about making sure that you have the right people in the right seats. What I see oftentimes, and is also a very much a feelings and a difficult conversation is the people that got you here are not the people that that could get you to the next stage. And recognizing and understanding that and taking actions to make sure you have the right people in place is kind of another factor of that, because it might be that you’re holding on to everything. As a founder or a CEO, because you don’t have somebody to trust that you can hand it off to. So they really have to find the people that they trust, which mean that they are capable, capable, and they understand your vision and they’re able to help you articulate your vision.

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. Thank you for leading with its emotional right. Being a founder and building a business is very emotional. And I think sometimes we just categorize that as being in control of everything. Yeah. And I love that you said put, let allow the people on your team to put on their capes. I like to consider it a gift to those who are on your team so that they too can, um, grow and get better. All right. I know we are already halfway through and there are some ladies and gentlemen that are listening today that already want to connect to you and learn more about what it is that you’re doing. Wendi. So where is the best place for them to connect with you?

Wendi Pannell: Yeah, I am very active on LinkedIn. I share my thoughts and what I really think about things. So definitely find me on LinkedIn. Wendi with an I panel, two ns, two L’s. Um, and then my website also just kind of puts it out there. Like I like to think and how I kind of, um, how I think about working with businesses. So those are two great places to connect with me just to understand more about who I am and what I like to do.

Trisha Stetzel: Fantastic. Thank you Wendi. And as always, you guys, I’ll put that in the show notes as well. So if you’re sitting in front of your computer, you can just point and click and get directly to Wendi with an I panel with two ns and two L’s. All right, Wendi, I want to shift just a little bit to, um, women in business and accountability. So tell me what you’re up to and let’s talk more about that.

Wendi Pannell: So this was definitely not something that was on my 2025 bingo card. Um, actually one of my objectives in 2025, I’ve always been very involved in women in technology. So it usually run through local tech councils. I was kind of at a season in my career where I wanted to be more intentional about how I was helping women, like how could I give back because I’m in a season of my life where I have the bandwidth and the energy to give back. And so I kind of wrote it off because I was just so busy with the fractional COO stuff that I had not found that thing. And I joined a local coworking space and they asked me to do a series like a talking series. And I did it on, I actually called it UGG goals, right? Because a lot of people, especially for smaller businesses, are like, goals are for corporate. That’s not for like my small business. So I did the session and it ended up being women business owners that joined. And afterwards they were all talking and they said, I really, you know, I know what I need to do. I know these are things that I need to do, but I just really need somebody to hold me accountable. And as this, like new entrepreneur, uh, I was like, oh, like, I think I can help with that because I had come up through GE where we did cohorts and, you know, had these concepts of bringing small like groups of people together.

Wendi Pannell: Um, and GE was like actually the different panels. So we had health, health care, um, banking airplanes, like trains, right? All of the different industries. And so I’m like, well, what about this? And so I, um, with another woman that had already been kind of coaching, we’re talking about creating a group of women. And I know as a woman entrepreneur myself and founder that in the beginning I had the hardest time investing in myself. Like I was like, I shouldn’t spend money because I’m not making money yet. And so I just kind of scoped it out to be, let’s do 90 days. So a quarter, right? Going back to my corporate, um, let’s do 90 days. And you were going to pick one, one big goal that’s going to move your company forward. And then we’re going to meet weekly as a group and we’re going to hold each other accountable. And you know, I would do some coaching about what I had seen in my own business. And, and also just quite honestly, bringing all my corporate lessons learned into these smaller businesses, which many of them had not been in corporate, like they’ve always been entrepreneurs or they hadn’t experienced some of the systems or things that you could put in place.

Wendi Pannell: And so they were like, yes, eventually it did take me some convincing to get some women to sign up. It goes back to that, oh, I don’t have the money. I shouldn’t convince, I should not invest in myself. So the first time I got four, um. And at the end they were like, you’re going to do this again, right? Like we’re going to keep going and we’re going to do this in Q1. And so I really didn’t plan on that, but I was like, okay. And then in the second cohort, I’ve got seven. Um. The other thing I would do, I want to add this in because I think it’s important because I’ve had coaches that did not go well that were not a good fit. I said if you do not get 100% return on your investment through new clients, through time saved, I will give you all of your money back. I wasn’t trying to earn money on this. I was really just trying to kind of support them and get them to invest in themselves. Because when you invest in yourself, you also change your mindset about the importance of yourself and the importance of your business.

Wendi Pannell: And so I was passionate about that. If no, if at some time they weren’t, now they did have to show up like to ten of the 12 sessions and they had to show that they were putting in the work and the effort. Um, so the next go round, I’ll probably get at least those same three women back again and hopefully some of the new ones. But it’s just brought me so much joy to be able to take what I’ve learned over the years from small and big businesses and give these women different perspective, but also a group that when they walk in, you know, to our small little conference room, they don’t have to explain the kind of day they’ve had. They’re all entrepreneurs. They’re all wearing multiple hats, taking care of parents, taking care of children, you know, being in relationships, also doing other things in the community. They just know today I might be an exhausted, and I’m just going to sit over here and absorb what all of you other women are putting in. But I’m taking things away. So just that joy of bringing amazing women together and helping them to grow their business in a very systematic way It’s just been amazing.

Trisha Stetzel: That right up my alley and the whole reason that we were introduced to each other in the first place, right. Uh, because of the work that we do. I, we, before we started recording, we were talking about in-person versus virtual. So tell me what you’ve seen in this first. Now going into your second cohort, the difference it makes having women come together in person.

Wendi Pannell: Yeah. I love, uh, these women too, because they’re like, Wendi, you should scale this. Like you should take it online and, and get women from all over. And honestly, I would love to, because I would love to have that bigger impact. Um, but I think part of the magic is being in person. And so we, because we are juggling multiple things, we do one week in person and one week, um, together in a conference room. So every other week we’re in person and I’ve just shared with them and I’ve asked them like, I think part of our magic is that we get together in person. And so we have that like additional bond. We can really see each other’s faces. And even with my, you know, my CEO clients, if I can meet them in person, um, which I don’t always get to do. I absolutely love to break bread together because it just makes the rest of the conversations easier and things just get done faster. I find, um, so I’d love to scale it and, and share this. So if, if I don’t scale, I would love to encourage other fractionals because I think I do have this energy. Um, I’m also a huge organizer, but the other thing I’ve been able to help a lot of them with is tech like, hey, you’re doing this, we could make this faster. Here’s some technologies you could consider. So if you do something like I do, you’re in a perfect space position and mindset and skills and ability to open like this in your hometown and, um, it’s fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. So, uh, if you’re listening today and you happen to be interested in creating or being a part of a women’s cohort, women in Business and accountability group, I think Wendi might like some feedback on in person or do you scale it and go online? I love the idea of over a 12 week period, you meet six times in person. It’s a difference maker. Trisha’s opinion, and I love that you’re doing that. So if you guys want to reach out, you know how to find Wendi on LinkedIn or on her website. I would be remiss if we didn’t talk about business. Jim, can we talk a little bit about that? Tell me about your 90 day program.

Wendi Pannell: Yeah. So the structure is that for 90 days in the beginning, just like I do with my fractional co clients, we define one very clear goal. And usually this is where this is where they learn about my feedback style. So I’m pushing them on. Well, what does that mean? What does that look like? When can we pop champagne? So they have a very specific goal line. So and this again, um, I can creating goals to like understanding how a sommelier tastes wine. It’s taken me years to understand what a good goal is. And so the and I use the objective and key results framework because I love how it mixes the why with the how and the what. Um, so I push them to define that because they have to start with clarity. And once they do the or have the goal, we store it somewhere where I’m showing them, hey, you’re bringing this back on a weekly basis. I teach them a cadence of how they check in with themselves or how they check in with me, because I also do one coaching call with them a month. Um, so clarity and then that cadence of talking about it once a week. Uh, and then the next part is, okay, when we’re getting together in that, in that time, that 75 minutes that we’re together, we are talking about what did you get done? What roadblocks did you have? And what are you doing this coming week? What’s going to move the needle? It’s if you’re in technology and the tech space, it’s a stand up, right? It’s a 15 minute stand up that a lot of tech tech teams do. So getting them in the system and the cadence of clarity and cadence and asking themselves questions is what helps to move that goal forward.

Wendi Pannell: And honestly, it’s the exact same thing that I use for bigger tech companies is, um, write down the one thing that matters, right? For them, I also will say, ask your team, don’t assume, ask them what’s sticky, what’s not moving. So even for these smaller solopreneur entrepreneur women. What? What’s slowing you down right now? And if you have a team and you start asking your team that. Because a lot of leaders assume they think what’s slowing them down because again, it’s usually not the strategy. It’s tactically what is slowing those folks down. Then they’re going to be able to make their strategy execution move faster. And then again, the difference, the simple difference that a 30 minute check in a week. I don’t care if you’re a solopreneur. I have check ins with myself. I’ve got a spot on my calendar panel consulting check in. And during that time, I’m looking through my goals, my objectives, and my key results. And I’m being honest with myself about what moved and what didn’t, and that helps me prepare for next week. What do I need to mitigate? What do I need to really help to move me forward? And as a solopreneur, it’s great because it’s keeping me accountable because it’s really hard when you’re a solopreneur sometimes to kind of hold yourself accountable. But the great thing about this is, you know, even though I work with a lot of tech companies, those three things don’t require a consultant. They don’t require new technology or tools. It is the art of like accountability and clarity that’s really going to help any company solopreneur to, you know, $20 million in IRR to move the needle.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that you work in 90 day sprints. I don’t know if you use that word. That’s just what came forward for me. And it really feels like as a solopreneur, just an entrepreneur with a small team that I don’t have to eat the elephant all at once, it feels way less overwhelming to do everything in 90 day sprints. And you, you’re doing this in your daily work with your clients, with the women that you’re bringing in and other business. Jim. 90 day Execution cycles, uh, to get us where we need to be. And I think that’s fantastic. So I have one more as we wrap up. I have one more question for you, Wendi. Um, if a business owner leader and especially the women who are listening today, if they feel stuck or overwhelmed, what’s one small thing they can do this week to bring more clarity and execution into her business?

Wendi Pannell: Write down, which could be brainstorming. What is the one thing that matters that they need to move this week? You could even start with this week. What is the one thing that you need to get done this week and make that your priority? Move mountains, move calendars, move things that aren’t important off of your calendar and block time to review it, to do it, to make the plan to get it done. You know, there’s also psychology around a list, right? And checking things off when you feel like you’re making momentum on a regular cadence, it gives you that boost to keep going. And when you are running a small company or you’re in growth mode, those little wins count a lot for you and for your team. So my suggestion that one thing would be to write it down. But here’s the other thing that I think, um, a lot of folks could use help with is, is that the right thing? And when you are working on your own and you don’t have a co-founder or a COO or just somebody who’s like, got your vision and your passion to push you on whether that is the right thing. You know, this is where having mentors, you know, having people that have gone this path before, having a cohort of other women or reaching out, you know, to a fractional CFO. Somebody wanted to send me their goal in, um, in a DM on LinkedIn. Listen, I nerd out about this stuff, so send it to me. I’m happy to say, yeah, this isn’t going to work for you, right? Even if it’s just how it’s worded, I can quickly say you’re not going to know when you hit this. You need to be more specific. So I think that could just be the one thing they do for the week, the quarter, the month, not the year. Please, not the year. Start small. What is one thing that you absolutely have to get done to move the needle in your business?

Trisha Stetzel: Mhm. Fantastic. So two questions for the audience to think about is what’s the one thing and is it the right thing? And you guys need to reach out and check in with Wendi. She is amazing. Thank you so much for being with me today. Tell folks one more time how to find you.

Wendi Pannell: Linkedin. Very active. So Wendi with an I and panel two ends, two L’s and then my website poorly named. So I’m not in marketing but Wendi parnell.com.

Trisha Stetzel: Hey that’s fantastic. Then we can find you so easy, I love it. Thank you. Wendi, it has been my pleasure to host you. Thanks for spending the time and joining me today.

Wendi Pannell: Absolutely. Thanks, Tricia.

Trisha Stetzel: All right guys, that’s all the time we have for today. If you found value in this conversation that Wendi and I had, please share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran or Houston reader leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate and review the show. Of course, it helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours and your business. Your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.