69 episodes
Breaking Schemas John Branch, Marcus Collins
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- Business
The only constant in life is change.
In some instances, this change is evolutionary, with incremental, almost undetectable, steps. But oftentimes, change is revolutionary, causing disruption of the status quo. On Breaking Schemas, you'll hear from folks who have caused that kind of disruption — change-makers, category-challengers, and idea-generators who have not only navigated change but, in many ways, have rewritten the rules of the game.
Join hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch, professors at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan as they chat with business leaders across a wide-spectrum of industries about the decisions they made along their career that catapulted them to the status of “disruptor."
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Yes as a Disruptor with Dhani Jones
If you ask entrepreneur and former NFL player Dhani Jones what he does for a living, he’ll say he reads the Matrix. His insatiable curiosity and experience in a vast array of worlds has made him a conduit of information.
Whether it’s through his investments, his TV shows, or his consulting work – Dhani likes to help people make sense of the world with his unique perspective. A perspective that is deeply rooted in his love for football.
Dhani joins Breaking Schemas hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch to chat about his path from the University of Michigan to entrepreneurship and strategic advising, how football has helped shape that journey, and why he believes the key to success is saying yes.
*Breaking Schemas is a production of the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative at Michigan Ross and is produced by University FM.*Most business leaders with good sense would say starting a for-profit company and a nonprofit company at the same time is not going to be a successful business venture. You need to make the money first and then invest in the nonprofit later. But that’s exactly what David Merritt, former University of Michigan point guard, did.
David was so invested in the mission of his company, Merit Goodness, he was determined to find a way to make his fashion brand work just enough to simultaneously fund his after-school college planning program for Detroit youth. Since starting the company 12 years ago, they’ve helped hundreds of students graduate high school and go on to college with the resources they need to succeed for the rest of their lives.
David tells Breaking Schemas co-hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch that the key ingredient to Merit Goodness is all about shifting perspective on what success means.
*Breaking Schemas is a production of the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative at Michigan Ross and is produced by University FM.* -
Perspective as a Disruptor with David Merritt
Most business leaders with good sense would say starting a for-profit company and a nonprofit company at the same time is not going to be a successful business venture. You need to make the money first and then invest in the nonprofit later. But that’s exactly what David Merritt, former University of Michigan point guard, did.
David was so invested in the mission of his company, Merit Goodness, he was determined to find a way to make his fashion brand work just enough to simultaneously fund his after-school college planning program for Detroit youth. Since starting the company 12 years ago, they’ve helped hundreds of students graduate high school and go on to college with the resources they need to succeed for the rest of their lives.
David tells Breaking Schemas co-hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch that the key ingredient to Merit Goodness is all about shifting perspective on what success means.
*Breaking Schemas is a production of the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative at Michigan Ross and is produced by University FM.* -
Bricolage as a Disruptor with Sowmya Krishnamurthy
What happens when you combine a business degree, a passion for hip hop, and an expert lens on pop culture? Disruptive magic.
Music journalist Sowmya Krishnamurthy is the author of Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion. After earning her business degree at Michigan Ross, she moved to New York but wasn’t looking for a typical finance job that many in her cohort were after. She was there for the music.
Sowmya joins Breaking Schemas hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch to chat about the years she spent paying her dues in mailrooms and interviewing stars like J. Cole and Travis Scott before they were huge, the importance of finding your authentic personal brand, and how to leverage a bricolage kind of disruption.
*Breaking Schemas is a production of the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative at Michigan Ross and is produced by University FM.* -
Relationships as a Disruptor with Larry Brinker
The relationships you build on your career journey can play a crucial role in your success. Whether it’s with mentors, peers in your industry, colleagues, clients, or all of the above – networking is key.
But what does cultivating and leveraging those relationships look like in action?
Larry Brinker, Jr. is the CEO of Brinker – a family-owned construction company in Detroit, Mich. that builds communities through projects like hospitals, corporate headquarters, sports facilities, stadiums, and arenas.
Breaking Schemas co-host Marcus Collins chats with Brinker about his decision to start at the bottom of his father’s company and work his way up to CEO, the mentors he had along the way, and how his industry of commercial construction is evolving in the digital age.
*Breaking Schemas is a production of the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative at Michigan Ross and is produced by University FM.* -
Courage as a Disruptor with Grace French
In 2018, dancer, marketer, and nonprofit founder Grace French did one of the most courageous things a person can do. She came forward and reported the abuse she had endured as a child at the hands of an infamous USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor.
But that was just the beginning of her work that’s been shaped by courage. Grace went on to found the nonprofit organization, Army of Survivors, with a mission to bring awareness, accountability, and transparency to sexual violence against athletes.
She chats with Breaking Schemas co-hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch about the impact Army of Survivors is having around the world, how she’s applied her marketing education and background to the nonprofit world, and why she believes courage is contagious.
*Breaking Schemas is a production of the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative at Michigan Ross and is produced by University FM.* -
Challenging the Dominant Logic With MrBeast’s Marc Hustvedt
How do you get to be the second most subscribed YouTube channel of all time with a viewer count larger than some countries? By being bad at it for a long time.
Marc Hustvedt is the President of MrBeast, a YouTube channel created by Jimmy Donaldson – who Hustvedt calls the “Kobe Bryant of YouTube.” But before the MrBeast team was racking up over 220 million subscribers, it was a lot of shooting free throws and hoping for the best.
Hustvedt took his Michigan Ross education to Hollywood when the YouTube craze was just starting to bubble up. He’s watched an industry take shape over the years and has disrupted and revolutionized how content is created.
He joins Breaking Schemas hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch to chat about the early years of YouTube and digital first content, MrBeast’s meteoric rise to superstardom, and why the secret to success may be failing a lot first.
*Breaking Schemas is a production of the Yaffe Digital Media Initiative at Michigan Ross and is produced by University FM.*