OM DENNE EPISODE
EPISODE OVERVIEW
Kevin Patrick has spent over 30 years in operations, manufacturing and enterprise technology. He has led more than 120 SAP Business One deployments, launched a brand new Acumatica practice that generated $2 million in revenue within 17 months, and earned Softengine the Acumatica Rookie of the Year award at the 2025 Summit. Today, through his company Trinity One Consulting, he works as a fractional CEO, EOS integrator and certified Dream Manager, blending operational rigour with a deeply human approach to workplace performance.
This conversation explores the pattern Kevin noticed across hundreds of ERP projects: the system is almost never what breaks. It is the people asked to use it who were never consulted, never brought in and never cared for. From that insight, Kevin found the Dream Manager methodology, developed by Matthew Kelly and delivered through Floyd Consulting, a programme that helps employees define and pursue personal goals across 12 life categories, with the aim of reigniting engagement, reducing turnover and driving business results from the inside out.
Pete and Kevin also go deep on AI adoption, the EOS framework, the cost of employee disengagement and what it really takes to build a podcast audience worth having.
KEY LEARNINGS
1. The four red flags that signal an ERP implementation is heading sideways
Kevin identifies the warning signs he looks for from day one: only managers in the room with no frontline workers, bad or incomplete data, no testing plan and no genuine employee buy-in. Any one of these is a problem. More than one and the project is in trouble before it starts.
2. Frontline workers are stakeholders, not afterthoughts
When management runs an implementation and then arrives on the floor six months later to say "here's your new system," they communicate something powerful without saying a word: your opinion does not matter. Kevin builds subject matter experts from the floor into every project from the outset.
3. Employee disengagement is measurable and expensive
The cost of replacing a consultant or manager typically runs to 20,000 to 30,000 euros in recruitment fees alone, before you factor in ramp-up time, lost tribal knowledge and the customers who follow the departing consultant to their next employer. The Dream Manager programme addresses the root cause, not the symptom.
4. The Dream Manager works across 12 life categories
Developed by Matthew Kelly, the programme structures monthly one-to-one meetings across areas including physical wellbeing, financial health, legacy and relationships. Participants often report coming to work in noticeably better spirits within three to six months, with downstream improvements in customer satisfaction, output and retention.
5. AI is a force multiplier for the operational consultant
Kevin was sceptical of AI until about 18 months ago. Now his entire practice runs on it. He has built a custom Dream Manager tracking application, an EOS management tool and automated his outbound sales pipeline, all without being a technical developer. His view: the fear of AI taking jobs is holding back the people it could help most.
6. Authenticity wins audiences faster than polish
Kevin's two biggest podcast episodes by a wide margin are his addiction recovery story and a raw episode he calls The Reckoning, in which he admitted to his audience that he was still in the middle of the journey, not beyond it. Audiences can hear when someone is performing. They stay when someone is telling the truth.
