Chief Utilities Officer, Mdu Resources
Search every verified Garret Senger interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Garret Senger, Chief Utilities Officer at Mdu Resources, appeared on the podcast "Get Up With Garret" in September 2022, where he discussed his role and the culture at Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply. He described the company as "a culture company that just happens to be in retail," operating on values of golden rule, excellence, and trust. Senger noted that during the pandemic, the company rapidly adopted Microsoft Teams across all locations within two weeks, and he said the culture was tested and "came through with flying colors" as team members focused on taking care of employees and customers. He also emphasized the importance of diversity, stating that having female salespeople at gun counters and diversity in leadership is necessary to avoid an exclusive "fraternity." Senger spoke about the company's expansion into Texas, Montana, and Colorado, and highlighted the importance of trust in relationships, saying "you have no relationship if you don't have trust." He reflected on a mistake early in his career of not understanding different personality types in communication, and recommended learning to communicate with different personalities to reduce workplace conflict. Senger also described the company's charitable initiatives, including giving team members paid days off and matching up to $250 per year for donations to charities of their choice.
“We completely changed the way we communicated internally and we went to Microsoft Teams and before that we were kind of dawdling trying to figure out what we were going to do. We got it rolled out in two weeks in all locations because we had to so it was like okay gang we don't have a choice. We have to do this and lo...”
“Unless you're contributing positively to culture you can't just sit there and bask in it; you have to be a contributor to it. Everything we do at Murdoch's first off is are we hiring the right people, are we holding each other accountable to golden rule, excellence and trust.”
“We are a culture company that just happens to be in retail. We operate this company through golden rule, excellence and trust—that is our foundational value we call GET.”
“When you have gun counters in your locations that's an intimidating thing for most females, so frankly you better have some females salespeople on the gun counter or you better have your guys that are working the counter not be arrogant and be approachable. You have to have diversity in your leadership team or it's jus...”
“The culture got tested and we came through with flying colors because again there was no ego, people were ready to attack this thing and do what we needed to do to take care of our team members, take care of our customers, adapt based on what we were hearing from the health departments on a national and local level but...”
“We encourage our team members to serve on charity boards or help with their events. We give our team members days off each year to go support the charities of their choice, and we also give each team member $250 per year that the company will match so they can double it to $500 to give to charities of their choice.”
“Trust is at the heart of any relationship. You have no relationship if you don't have trust; it doesn't exist. His customers trust him when they walk into the store to buy a certain pet food or a certain quality of garment or fence—they know it's going to last.”
“One of the biggest mistakes I made early in my career was not understanding the importance of knowing the different personality types I was working with and how to communicate with them. If you're struggling with your team and communication, figure out a program to learn how to communicate with different personality ty...”
“The company was founded by John Murdoch who wanted to make a farm and ranch store where the whole family liked to shop, even the kids and the dog. He wanted to appeal to females because typically farm and ranch stores had a very male feeling vibe, but females spend most of the money, so why not make these stores really...”
“We are expanding into Texas, opening stores in Montana and Colorado as well. When everybody's on the same page and there's no ego, it's just a group of people that want to kick butt and have fun—you can accomplish amazing things.”
Get Up With Garret Ep. 22: Rick Ungersma from Murdochs.
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