Founder's Story - Founder’s Story with Larry Brinker Jr: A Story of Impact and Mentorship | S2: E37

Episode Date: June 19, 2024

This is brought to you by BiOptimizers, whom I LOVE their MAGNESIUM BREAKTHROUGH product has helped me sleep better, stay focused, and feel all-around healthier.Check out their products at http://bioptimizers.com/danrobbins use promo code FOUNDERS for 10% off any order.Larry Brinker Jr, an award-winning entrepreneur and impact investor, is a shining example of the power of hard work, dedication, and mentorship in the business world. His journey, rooted in his father’s legacy as a carpenter turned founder of a super-successful company, showcases the importance of earning one’s success and embracing growth opportunities. Larry’s path to leadership was not handed to him but earned through perseverance and a commitment to learning and development. His father’s decision to bring in a mentor to groom him for the role of President and CEO speaks volumes about the value of mentorship and succession planning in a family business.Our Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of Founders Story. Today we have an incredible guest. He is all about impact, which if you have ever watched this show, we are on a mission to impact 100 million people. So that's why today I had to bring in Larry Brinker Jr., who is an award-winning entrepreneur, impact investor, all about impact. He's a mentor. He's the chief executive officer, the CEO and president of Brinker, which is an incredible family legacy, which we're going to dive into. But Larry, welcome to the show. Thank you, Daniel. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm super excited to dive in. We had a great pre-show conversation, but before we do that, I'd love to understand the inspiration that your father had behind creating this business. Absolutely. My father, his journey is nothing

short of amazing. He started his career as a carpenter's apprentice, and he learned the trade of carpentry and went on to become a journeyman and foreman. And from there, had an opportunity to create his first company. And that was back in 1989. That's amazing. And can you tell me, what was it like the day when he told you, hey, I want you to take over the business? Or was it more like you said, hey, dad, I want to take over the business. What was that like? It was really interesting.

So I went to the University of Michigan, majored in civil and environmental engineering with a concentration in construction management. So in the back of my mind, I always knew I wanted to work for the family business. But the way I was raised, everything was earned, nothing was given. And so when I decided to join the business, I went through the interview process, just like everyone else started with an entry level $45,000 job and really worked my way through the company. I held various roles and responsibilities. And just like any kid would think, I thought I was ready for leadership day one. And so oftentimes I would say, hey, I'm ready to be the boss. And my father looked at it and said, yeah, well, just keep working and learning and getting that experience. And when that time comes, it comes.

And it was never really a real conversation as to, hey, I'm ready for you to take over the business. But what he did, which is an amazing decision and could be a case study at many B schools, business schools. But he actually brought in a gentleman who had recently sold his company in construction to an international company. And he brought him in for four years to be my mentor and to train me to become president and CEO. And so I went through a four year process where I worked specifically with this gentleman. And it was the best thing that ever happened being or going through a G1 to G2 transition because I never had to work day to day with my father. And it was almost after that fourth year, I was completely ready to run the company at that point. And it was almost like an

unveiling where I had a different level of respect coming from my father for the role that I was stepping into. Well, Larry, that's incredible. I mean, I've never heard anyone do that before, but that makes total sense. If you really want to set someone up for success, you bring in a basically professional mentor who's done it, who you know can help you learn, or the person that you want to then put into place. I mean, that's amazing. I think they should teach that at schools. So let's dive into the mentorship part because obviously mentorship for you is critical. And I know you've also had the idea that you need to then pass that on to others and you give other people a chance. Can you talk to me about that?

Sure. So my father, like I said, was a carpenter. And even how he got into carpentry was nothing short of amazing. He actually went in to apply for a job one day and the receptionist said they weren't hiring. It just so happened the owner of the company was walking down the stairs and overheard the conversation and brought him into his office for 10 minutes. And he says, hey, I hear you're here for a job. We're really not hiring, but I'm looking to find people of color to work for me. And construction is difficult, but if you can show up to work and work hard, I'll hire you as a truck driver. We will return to our show shortly. But first, let's talk about today's sponsor, Magnesium Breakthrough by BioOptimizers.

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so just from the standpoint of that, the opportunity that he received, I feel led me to where I am in my seat today, that ultimately I look at it as being a huge honor. I'm super grateful for it, but it also comes with great responsibility to pass that same mentorship, that same opportunity down to the next person, whether that's through providing people opportunities for gainful employment, if it's helping an entrepreneur build his business or her business, or within our own four walls of our company and helping employees with their career journeys of moving up in their careers. That's one of the things that I'm most proud of is if you ask any of our employees, they'll say that through my

leadership, I've been able to provide several opportunities for people to grow in their careers within our company as well. I think being a leader is all the things that you had just talked about. Many business owners, though, they're afraid. They're afraid that if they help someone that they might become their competitor. But I'm with you. I'm on the same mindset that you never know what's going to happen or how the relationships or where the person's going to be in the organization. I commend you. I'm inspired by how you are really so focused on leadership. Let's dive into legacy. So what does legacy look like for you? Legacy for me, whether you're starting or scaling your company's security program,

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Now back to the show. So the last few months I've been practicing how to learn Spanish because it is really a passion of mine. I've been using Rosetta Stone. Why? Because it immerses you in the language without having translation. So you can really learn to speak, listen, and think in that language. It starts naturally with words, then phrases, and soon you're forming sentences designed for long-term retention, which has always been my issue. They even have a built-in true accent speech recognition that acts like a personal trainer for your accent. It gives you instant feedback on your pronunciation. It has flexible learning on desktop and mobile. You can fit language learning right into your schedule anytime, anywhere. Here's the amazing value. Rosetta Stone offers a lifetime membership with access to all 25 languages, including Spanish, French, Korean, and so many more for 50% off. Don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started. Founder Story listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. Visit rosettastone.com and use the word today, T-O-D-A-Y.

That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off rosettastone.com. Use my code today for a great deal. It is the success in terms of your name being out there, notoriety or money or anything of that nature. But it's really carrying on the dream, carrying on the vision from the legacy founder, actually, in my case, being my father. I look at what he was able to accomplish. Many people would not have been able to kind of go through his journey and be successful. He had to overcome a ton of barriers and hurdles.

And through the course of his journey, he was able to give so many people hope and inspiration and careers and opportunities to take care of their family. And so for me, it's taking what he's built and me standing on his shoulders and being able to progress that forward in a way that hopefully I can do even more than what he did to not only really progress the company, but also make him proud and make our family proud. It's interesting when you think about Brinker, it's our last name and it's the name of our company, so we can't run from it. So with that, all we can do is continue to live on our values and who we are people talk about what my father has done in the past and in the same breath talk about what I've been able to do in a positive light and that's what it's truly about for me. I can only imagine if I was working in a family business just how great it is to work with your family but also how challenging it is when you want to make a

name for yourself or you want to show your impact in the organization. So when people look back, let's say 10, 20 years from now, and they look at Brinker and they think of Larry, what type of impact do you want to have? Yeah, it's interesting. I actually just had a talk about this recently. But essentially, it starts with you having the confidence to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And for me, what drove me was making sure that I did everything in my power to to counteract anyone that may have thought I was here strictly because of nepotism. So I worked harder than all of my counterparts. I was equally prepared, if not more prepared, just as smart. And with that, I wanted to make sure that I built my own genuine relationships. And so oftentimes what I did when I first joined the industry and even secondarily as I went into leadership was to make sure that I was building a network of like people in the industry who respected me for who I was and not just who my father is. And that was really the most important aspect of my journey thus far was to make sure that I was building those genuine relationships and networks where people respected me for my own actions and me as a person and my own character and values as well.

If somebody told you, Larry, we want you to speak in front of our business school next week. What lesson would you teach those students? I think the biggest lesson I would say is there's a few, but one that comes to mind is, like I said, be comfortable being uncomfortable and treat everyone as if they're the billionaire in the room, because you never know whose path you will cross and how they can impact your life. I talk about my father's opportunity. He would have never thought in a million years that a three-minute conversation would change the trajectory of our family's life, right? And with that, as you go through your personal life, you go through your professional career, oftentimes you will find yourself in various situations or scenarios that

good things happen when you least expect them. So if you treat people equally without passing judgment, you never know how someone can help you in your life. And from there, how you can help people as well. It's incredible that you say that since we're talking about fathers, because my father, the one lesson that I really remember is that that right there. And he always said the same thing, like treat everyone, treat the gender like, you know, treat everyone the same. It doesn't matter who they are. And you really, really never know in business. It's like business is a small world. I know it sounds funny, but in different countries that I had run into like many years before, people that became, you know, management, people that became my mentors who I could have said something bad about, you know, many, many decades before, but turns out they became like my best friend. You really have no idea who somebody will be in your life or who somebody will become. So I'm really

happy that you shared that. Lastly, I want to know, you have tons of awards, EY Entrepreneur of the Year. You have 40 under 40. You have so many different awards that you've gotten. And I can imagine if I was to tell you to only choose your favorite, it'd be hard. So I'm more interested in out of all these awards, what personally really was important to you? So I don't know if it was an award that you always wanted to get or one that maybe someone told you you could never get, you know, was something that was so personal to you that when you got it, it made you want to cry. I would say for me, I never go about business for the accolades or awards. I kind of keep my head down and have a purpose of accomplishing the mission at hand.

And from that hard work and focus, good things happen. But I can say the one that's probably most special to me is the Cranes 40 Under 40 Award, because the night of the award, I didn't know until that night, but my father won that award in like the early 90s and I was aware of that but until that night we didn't know that we were the first father-son duo to win that award and it's been some very powerful and influential people who have won Cranes 40 under 40 and to be that first father-son duo to do so was very special. I love those moments. That's why we do business, right? Those moments are really special.

So I appreciate you being here today. Larry, you shared some super insightful things. I think a lot of people learn, we should play this at business schools. I think there's a lot to learn and not back from you. But if people want to get in touch with you and they want to learn more, they want to book you for speaking at their organization, how can they do so? Yes, absolutely. So they can visit my website at Larry Brinker Jr. dot com or they can visit my LinkedIn site, which is Larry Brinker Jr. as well. Well, Larry, thanks again for joining us today on Founders Story. And thank you for all you do

to inspire thousands, if not maybe millions of other people in your lifetime as well. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Really appreciate it. Thank you for tuning in to Founders Story. Keep exploring, keep dreaming, and join us next time

for more inspiring entrepreneurial journeys.