While typical advertising creative types thrive on clever and cunning advertisements, they run in horror when asked if it worked.  Not Kent, “ideas that work,” are his passion. The ideas come easily, making them work takes discipline, and for his 35 years he and his creative teams have proven time and again their discipline works.

Coming directly out of college, Kent partnered with a dear friend and started an advertising agency in a small Utah town. Proving his ability to generate response, drive traffic, make the phone ring,  and change perceptions with his creative, targeted messages, attracted clients such as Disney, VISA International, Discover Card, JCPenney, USPS, Comcast and many other local, regional and national companies.

Recognized on the international direct marketing stage as one of the leading creative trendsetters, Kent’s “ideas that work” have won as many international Echo Awards as any single agency in the world. (Echo awards are given by the International Direct Marketing Association for creative advertising with proven success) Due to his success in creatively influencing consumers through his direct marketing, Kent has been a favored speaker at conferences and meetings in Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America and across the US. This experience has helped Kent develop the ability to create and present powerful and exciting content in such a way as to engage his audiences and drive the content deep into their understanding, thus ensuring its utilization by those who attend his programs.

This passion for creative and effective communications has naturally flowed into his approach to leadership in not only his business life, but in community service and at home. Not only has he run a successful advertising agency for 35 years, he has been leading large and small groups since he was a Boy Scout. He was chosen to lead the High School VICA clubs throughout the state of Utah while he was only a junior in high school. In his ecclesiastic responsibilities he has been able to preside over congregations both large and small.

Along with his wife of 37 years, they have employed the creative discipline “ideas that work” in raising their 5 children who are each successfully pursuing their chosen vocations and raising families of their own.

While still developing marketing and advertising “ideas that work” for wonderful local and national clients, Kent has increasingly been invited to apply his creative “ideas that work” to leadership development, helping veteran and emerging leaders to employ a proven discipline to their own leadership development. With that charge, and blending a life filled with leadership experience and a passion for creativity, Kent has now taken the General Theory of Leadership, along with its proven doctrines and principles of leadership and made leadership development fun, enjoyable, understandable, predictable and achievable.

Kent Merrell brings something unique to the leadership development industry – actual leadership experience – leadership experience that began as a young boy.

Kent has been a student of leadership since he was a child. He watched his father who had very little formal authority, wealth or social status, wield great influence with people from every social class. As an entrepreneur Kent’s father was able to influence people and organizations to accomplish great things. Kent witnessed how his honorable character had such powerful influence in molding and changing people’s lives. Kent’s father was also a student of leadership, studying volumes of leadership books and carefully watching other great leaders. Even now, 40 years later, Kent will meet people who knew his father and will comment how his father changed their lives.

Kent’s father died when Kent was only 16 years old leaving a great personal legacy and a library of leadership books behind. In an effort to satisfy the curiosity of how a person can wield such influence, Kent took advantage of every opportunity to study and practice leadership.

From his earliest days as a young boy scout, Kent proved his effectiveness as a leader. He served as a youth leader and has continued not only as an adult serving as a leader of various groups of young men but Kent has been called upon to train the hundreds of adult leaders how to lead young men.

Formal leadership training began as a high school student when Kent was chosen by fellow student leaders to serve as the President of the Utah State VICA (Vocational Industrial Clubs of America) serving all the high school chapter leaders of the entire state and having wonderful opportunities to attend leadership conferences and workshops across the country.

It wasn’t until years later when Dr. V. Dallas Merrell selected him to transform his “Leading Global Principles” into a more globally accessible format that Kent became aware of the actual doctrines and principles that govern the laws of leadership. It was this knowledge that finally provided his understanding of how influence can be gained and used to maximize the effectiveness of leadership opportunities. When these doctrines and principles are understood and implemented, consistent and predictable results can be achieved.

Kent has spoken to marketing and communications groups in Eastern and Western Europe, across the US and in Latin America on topics of creative leadership. This experience has helped Kent develop the ability to create and present powerful and exciting content in such a way as to engage his audiences and drive it deep into their understanding thus ensuring its utilization by those who attend his programs.

In his marketing and advertising role he sits with clients and works with their top leaders as they lead their corporate communication efforts giving him the great opportunity of contributing, observing and being mentored by great men and women, molding corporate communications strategies.

Along with his role in corporate communications, he currently serves in the presidency of an ecclesiastic organization responsible for nearly 4,000 members.