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CLIFF HARDLE
CLIFF
HARDLE
Adventurer, designer, analyst, strategist, artist, creator, MBA, thrill seeker, multi-lingual world traveler.
Life is about building connections and leaving the world a better place than we found it.
My goal is to create products, services, business and experiences centered around real human needs that connect people with each other and the world we live in.
Scroll down to see some of my work and learn more about me.
Certified human-centered design practitioner
LUMA Institute
PROJECTS
CUMMINS INC. / Sans Souci
Using Human-Centered Design to create a customer-centric business strategy.
With the task of highlighting the benefits of human-centered design for Cummins innovation initiative, I used HCD to gain the insights needed to restructure and reposition a non-profit retailer and get them the funding they need to succeed in building their community.
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Skills: Ethnographic research, interviewing, project management, service design
KNOW MINIMAL CARBON FIBER WALLET
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Building a wallet you can live with.
We set out to re-imagine the modern wallet. Using design principles we develped a carbon fiber minimalist wallet that is beautiful, durable, secure, and ready for adventure.
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Skills: Product development, design, market research, negotiation, user testing
LITTLE GIANT LADDERS
The search for quality improvement.
Little Giant had a problem with the assembly of one of their new ladders. For a student project I used quantitative and qualitative methods to come up with ways to improve their process.
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Skills: Statistical process analysis, cause and effect analysis, ethnographic research, process improvement
A BETTER COVER LETTER
Everyone hates cover letters.....
Frustrated by creating useless cover letters that blend into the abyss and that no one reads, I used an iterative process to come up with a comic book style cover letter to tell my story. The comic book cover letter tells my story and highlights skills and accomplishments in an engaging way. Click the button below to see the full comic.
CV
Professional Experience
Strategy Implementation Leader
September 2021 - Present
Quick Quack Car Wash is a hyper growth chain of tech-heavy, innovative, industry leading car washes. Quick Quack has grown from 16 stores in 2015 to 200 by the end of 2022.
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I founded the company's first inter deparmental product team aimed at using human-centered design and agile principles to implement license plate reading cashiering and gate system.
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Principal Operations Analyst
AAA NCNU
/ AAA SMART HOME
February 2020 - September 2021
I am leading projects to re-design operations and build reporting, working closely with senior management.
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250% growth in installation volume over six months by developing operational KPIs and reporting structure
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Currently leading a design sprint to redesign our Field Operations Scheduling department process
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30% improvement of field service utilization by creating live Tableau to drive accountability
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Lead team building and training exercises to drive strategic direction and brand of analytics team
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MBA Graduate
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
August 2017 - April 2019
With a focus in strategy and product management I'm looking to pivot to a career creating human-centered products and services. I uncover human insights and translate them into actionable strategies. I continued to build my analytics and strategy skills while developing acumen in human-centered and service design.
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Completed MBA level courses in experience design, service design, and creative innovation strategies.
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Placed 1st of 18 teams in BYU’s 2019 Social Innovation Case Competition by finding inexpensive ways for our sponsor to help Latin American entrepreneurs succeed.
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Consulted Little Giant Ladders to improve defect rate of manufacturing line by estimated 20%.
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Enhanced analytics capabilities of 40+ students by training MBA peers on Tableau software.
MBA Customer Insights Intern
CUMMINS INC.
June 2018 - August 2018
I led Cummins’ first Human-Centered Design (HCD) community impact project in consulting a non-profit retailer. Repositioned retailer to become an employee development organization, increasing their impact in the community. Created a case study showing the benefits of HCD to showcase Cummins’ HCD certification program.
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Conducted ethnographic research and stakeholder interviews, synthesized recommendations to develop a customer-centric operating model. Model is currently being implemented, allowing our client to gain $350k of funding to restructure from a thrift shop to an employee development organization.
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Planned and conducted three cross-functional ideation workshops with community partners to discover requirements, obtain buy-in, and develop various operational prototypes.
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Created ~25% more throughput by developing a streamlined and user-centered employee development program.
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Recognized for outstanding impact and offered full-time employment as a Product Manager of Electrical Components and Fuel Systems (declined opportunity due only to geographic limitations).
Senior Partner
COUGAR STRATEGY GROUP
December 2017 - December 2018
At this student run management consulting company I performed market entry studies for an oil and gas company entering the Middle East and a producer of fine chocolates looking to expand their business.
Co-Founder
KNOW MINIMAL LLC
(Side Hustle)
July 2016 - July 2019
Creators of innovative minimalist wallets and lifestyle products.
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Created and user tested iterative prototypes leading to final patented design of durable, carbon-fiber minimalist wallet which received $230K in funding raised through Kickstarter campaign.
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Sold 10,000+ units by negotiating licensing agreement and collaborating with vendors to develop market strategy.
Senior Analyst
VIVINT SMART HOME
July 2016 - August 2017
Created internal forecasts, management tools, incentive structures, dashboards and financial models for Vivint’s field services organization, improving the efficiency of our 1,000+ field service technicians and 1.3 million customers.
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Drove 40% increase in technician on-time arrival by creating dashboard for visibility into technician productivity.
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Identified and corrected $4M labor allocation discrepancy by improving data accuracy and restructuring reporting.
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Performed user testing and gathered cross-functional requirements to build an interactive performance report leading to ~$300,000 cost savings.
Strategic Planning Analyst
VIVINT SMART HOME
October 2014 - July 2016
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Generated $1M in labor savings and 10% improvement in sale-to-install rate by improving reporting and incentives.
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Saved an estimated $5M in labor spending by creating eight management tools through user research and cross-functional requirements gathering.
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Saved $250,000 by creating a demand and geography-based overtime management system.
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Impacted a 10% reduction of technician return visits by using statistical analysis to adjust expected on-site durations.
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Promoted to Senior Analyst.
Consultant / Business Analyst
THE BENNION GROUP
September 2013 - October 2014
At this international management consulting company I worked as a management consultant executing competitive intelligence and market studies projects for international clients.
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Led Latin American market study of receipt printers, contributing to ~$5M increase in client’s profitability.
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Facilitated $24M acquisition deal for Russian retailer by completing due diligence and financial and market analysis.
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Spearheaded outreach to foreign governments and potential partners to raise one year of funding for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant Alliance.
Trade Advisor Intern
WORLD TRADE CENTER UTAH
May 2013 - September 2014
I advised Utah businesses seeking to do business abroad by creating market entry analyses and recommendations, completing HTS classifications, and preparing market reports for foreign trade missions.
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Provided market entry research and recommendations to position three companies for $4M in combined potential revenue.
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Facilitated international trade by preparing 16 companies for foreign trade missions to Peru and Brazil.
Designer and Fabricator
IRON HORSE RACING
January 2011 - August 2013
While completing my undergraduate degree I worked on the design and build of $1.1M of custom award and race-winning vehicles. We built vehicles as varied as off-road racing trophy trucks to custom classic cars.
BA Int'l Relations:
Economics Emphasis
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
August 2009 - April 2013
With a focus on economics I learned complex statistical analysis and how to study economic factors.
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Completed on-campus internship with Cicero Group, a management consulting firm, advising Southwest Airlines.
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Spent two months in the UK on an operations internship
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Published an article on microfinance and women's welfare in the BYU Political Review,
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Worked my butt off to graduate debt free.
