Met with Brandon today
Today, I had the pleasure of meeting David Brandon, albeit in a group setting. I went on an excursion trip put on by Domino's Pizza and UM's Career Center today and we met with a lot of people David has had a lot of influence over the last 11 years.
Here are just some observations I made about him and the place he runs, for those of you interested in our new AD.
- Man, he runs a really tight ship. Everyone we met with was very very enthusiastic, passionate, smart, well-spoken, and focused. Everyone had a very evident sense of ownership in the Domino's brand and understood their role.
- He sat down at talked with our group for about 45 minutes. He is, for lack of a better phrase, the man. I was able to ask him how he was able to build such a strong, focused team and how he was able to create a sense of ownership for everyone in the building. His response was that he "funds growth with talent" and that managing and cultivating the most talented environment is his main objective.
- He talked about leadership and "winners". He said that his favorite times to be in a leadership role is when the "shit is flying" and things are not going well. That is when you find out the qualities of the people around you. He made a specific reference to Rich Rodriguez in this role. I got the sense he is very, very confident in Rich.
- Some joker told him that he should "redshirt Devin" and his lighthearted, sarcastic response was, "Oh yeah, that's a new one. I haven't gotten any advice about the football team lately".
Overall it was a really good experience, and I have a lot of faith in him now that I've seen exactly how motivated his team and company is. He has surrounded himself with some excellent talent at Domino's and I'm excited for his tenure at Michigan.
Go Blue!
February 19th, 2010 at 2:23 PM ^
he hates Drew Sharp or the rest of those Free Press asswipes?
February 19th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^
Some things don't need to be said.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^
Forgot to drop that one on him!
February 19th, 2010 at 2:26 PM ^
Am glad to hear that you percieved Brandon as very^2 confident in Rodriguez, because Brandon's view on him really will be the huge issue in the future.
February 19th, 2010 at 4:02 PM ^
If there is any truth the the assertions that there are underlying "factions" in the athletics department and related boosters, Brandon may be just the man to unify the department in a way that Bill Martin was (possibly) unable. Martin is a brilliant business man and real estate developer, but I'm not aware of his "rallying the troops" characteristics (positively or negatively). I have no doubt as to Brandon's ability to get the program running smoothly, FWIW.
February 19th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^
As a side comment, I quite frankly, would expect a old-school faction of sorts, one always wanting to return to our former style of play, considering the great success it had vs the polar opposite style currently. It will be a battle, but the faction will shrink over time if Rod succeeds, but it will ALWAYS be there in some form. It is what is part of the essence of the Michigan man, and we need to accept it.
February 20th, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^
That may be, but RichRod's offense is closer to the really old-school (Bo) offenses than Carr's was.
February 20th, 2010 at 7:26 PM ^
That being part of a faction or loving pro-style offense is part of being a Michigan Man? Because either way that just seems wrong.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:26 PM ^
If I was an employee taking care of people that are going to speak with my CEO in 15 mins, I would appear motivated too...that doesn't mean anything.
Also your question sounds like a bunch of MBA bull-crap and his answer the perfect backhand slice to your forehand top-spin. You actually evaluated how "strong his team was" and somehow identified "their sense of ownership". That seems straight of the B-School catalog to me....
I am not saying he isn't "the man" (he obviously is, he is the CEO of a nationwide chain for god's sake), but I am just amazed at how you arrived at the conclusion based on this experience.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:28 PM ^
You are definitely an engineer.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:34 PM ^
the same affliction. Ah, the curse of needing to see logic in everything and everybody.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^
must be very disappointing
February 19th, 2010 at 2:39 PM ^
If only you could work without these illogical "people" things...
Don't worry, our robot masters are coming soon.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:52 PM ^
Begin Grammar Nazi/
I believe you mean, "Brian and I share the same affliction."
/End Grammar Nazi
February 19th, 2010 at 11:07 PM ^
I actually +'d you for half agreeing. It was straight out of B-school, but it was the thing to do in that situation to ass kiss.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^
so I was able to see a lot more than maybe you're thinking.
Take my observations at face value, but my confidence in him has been bolstered.
You might think words like "ownership" and "strong team" is MBA bull-crap, but I also think they're tangible things that you can evaluate.
Like I said, take it for what it is worth. I was just trying to lend my experience to the MGoBoard.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^
If you had done your research on the Dominos balance sheet and complimented him on the debt to equity ratio..I would have been impressed. Take this as advice from somebody who interviews people regularly, don't offer platitudes and compliments you cannot backup with research.They will most likely not leave a great impression.
Anyway just to be clear, not faulting you at all. Thanks for updating us on the event and good luck with the job search.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^
It would impress you to have done a simple addition and division of figures from a balance sheet? Maybe reality isn't that disappointing for you, then
February 19th, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
It doesn't take much to impress you.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:19 PM ^
Corporate/organizational culture is incredibly important and hard to build. It is also pretty easy to detect good/bad corporate culture.
Thats the most positive thing i take from this.
[edit: im a science major]
February 19th, 2010 at 2:27 PM ^
Great post. I have heard good things about Brandon, but always good to get a first hand account. He is going to be at an executive speaker event at U-M Dearborn tonight discussing the future of the state's economy. I won't be able to make it, but I would love to hear him speak. His leadership and business saavy bode well for Michigan athletics.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:49 PM ^
Can you give me a link/some information on this event in Dearborn? I'd like to go see the speech and see what he's about.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:20 PM ^
LOVE the avatar. Hadn't been on the MGoBoards much since Dorsey committed. I'm sure there's been an entire post about it, and that I'm way late in noticing it, but Man, that's totally awesome, and well deserved. Hope she was as good as she looks!
February 19th, 2010 at 3:24 PM ^
...the royalties keep on rollin' in from that.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^
At least Brandon has his "corporate excecutive" speak down pat.
February 19th, 2010 at 6:10 PM ^
Don't you worry about Planet Express, let me worry about blank.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^
There's an energy and excitement when things are hitting the fan, and you really see who gets things done. Problems aren't really "fun", but they make you feel alive and can really get you in the groove if you are wired to step up.
February 20th, 2010 at 6:31 AM ^
"You might not believe it but under fire Animal Mother is one of the finest human beings in the world. All he needs is someone to throw hand grenades at him for the rest of his life."
February 19th, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^
I was there, too. Brandon is extremely impressive in-person. I walked away feeling pretty confident in the future of Michigan athletics. He has a way with people, a great presence, and I'm excited that he will be representing our for the next several years.
P.S. I was not the joker that told him to redshirt Gardner. His response to that request was great, though
February 19th, 2010 at 3:19 PM ^
I was wondering if there were any other MGoBloggers there. I was the guy in the hat.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:26 PM ^
No shit, I sat right next to you. I'm the blond kid. You are the one who worked at Little Caesars when he was 15, right?
I feel like we should all start getting matching tattoos so we can identify each other in the real world
February 19th, 2010 at 3:31 PM ^
"I found something so much better, except....well, the first rule, is that I'm not supposed to talk about it."
"Bob, look at the scars on my face. I'm a member...."
February 19th, 2010 at 3:54 PM ^
What's his mgoblog name?
February 19th, 2010 at 5:38 PM ^
If it ever came out that an AD or a coach of a team was posting here, this site would explode. All traffic would be taken up by people going through every post to find everything they ever said. Madness would ensue and we'd all have to wait for days (days!) to bitch about 2011 recruits.
Not good.
February 20th, 2010 at 7:06 PM ^
true man, that i will give you that
February 20th, 2010 at 1:52 AM ^
Damn work, I wanted to be there today.
February 20th, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^
Thanks for the post on DB. It's refreshing to get the perspective of a fan and blogger - that way, in my opinion, the observations are much less filtered and without agenda.
February 20th, 2010 at 12:48 PM ^
So why did Domino's spend so much time with a cardboard crust and fake cheese?