David Novak 0:04 

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen. And while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Well, the NFL season starts tonight, and I'm so excited about having football back. But behind all the big plays and personalities and storylines, there are a lot of leadership lessons for us, too. Which is why I'm so excited about my guest today. Brandon Beane, the general manager of the Buffalo Bills. Now look, being a general manager in the NFL is a big job. Brandon is basically the head of all the operations, from trading players, to drafting players to contract negotiations, salary cap management, and of course, collaborating with the coaches on the roster. Let me tell you, that is a lot of things to be good at. And when you hear this conversation with Brandon, you'll see it doesn't just happen, he's very intentional about the way he builds his know how in all these areas, he's got the humility to spot what he doesn't know, and the confidence to go out and learn it. To grow as a leader and build the career you want. You've got to understand where the gaps are in your knowledge, and you've got to do whatever it takes to fill them. Listen to this conversation to see how it's done. Plus, here's some great insights and fun stories into what leadership looks like in the National Football League. So here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours. Brandon bean.

Brandon is great to have you on the show.

Brandon Beane 1:54 

No, I appreciate you having me on David. It was good to meet you a few weeks ago out of Valhalla, and it's pretty cool that I was able to go to this year's PGA Championship and then I already played where they're gonna be playing next year. So I'm excited to watch that and how the course comes together look great.

David Novak 2:10 

And you are in for the Kentucky Derby weekend. And I got to ask you, what do you think of the Kentucky Derby? And did you pick the winner?

Brandon Beane 2:19 

Well, I had some winners and some losers. I didn't do well in the derby itself. I should have followed Eric Woods lead. He had a nice evening. But it was fun. Just that whole weekend going Friday. You know, we played Friday morning about Holland then went there the afternoon for the oaks and those races and then all day there for the derby was just as a bucket list item that I've had for years and with our football schedules. Sometimes it comes on rookie minicamp sometimes it doesn't. So I've had some invites and haven't been able to fulfill them. So I told Eric last year like Eric, if you invite me this year, count me in and and sure enough, he called a few weeks before the draft and it was awesome. I'm already looking forward to the next chance to go.

David Novak 3:04 

Oh, that's great. Well, we're glad you came to Kentucky. Glad you enjoyed vile and glad you enjoyed the the Kentucky Derby. You know, interestingly, when you talk about sports and conflicting schedules, one of my guests one year was Arnold Palmer, because he had never been to the derby because he was always playing all these golf tournaments. And, you know, it was great having him and it's great having people like yourself come to come to Louisville and make the event what it is, you know, now, Brandon, as as GM, you've been named Executive of the year in the NFL two out of the last three seasons. What's this kind of recognition mean to you?

Brandon Beane 3:41 

Yeah, I mean, it's a team thing. It really is just like if Josh Allen won the MVP of the season or of the Super Bowl, he's not doing that by themselves. And I've got a great staff here and you know, along with partnering with Sean McDermott and him leading our coaches and our players so it's a it's really a group team, we type of award it's major teams had some success. And and so that's that's really how I look at it. And, you know, as nice as those are, um, you know, I'm looking forward to hopefully one day hoisting that Lombardi trophy. That's, that's what we're all grinding for here every day.

David Novak 4:18 

Now, I'm sure that's gonna happen, you know, and I can't wait to get into how you lead. But first, I want to take you back. What's a story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader you are today?

Brandon Beane 4:29 

I grew up working. I grew up in in the country. I got a job when I was 14 years old at a golf course not a country club. Some people that because I'm good at golf, I got some friends in the league they say oh, you raise that a country club. I'm like, No, this was not a country club by any means. But anyway, it was less than a mile from my house so I could ride my bike to and from work and and had my both my parents worked and so it was on me it wasn't like my mom was there to get me going. I kind of knew if I wanted to keep this job, I had to be there on time every day and do a good job. And to the head Pro, our head club Pro, his name was Dave Vandeventer. And just watching a guy who was steady every day, whether whether things were great at the course or whether there were some issues with membership, or you lost some greens, whatever it was, you never knew if Dave was having, you know, a really awesome day or a really bad day, he was just a steady leader. And he always had a smile on his face. And as I grew and mature in life, I realize I'm sure he was going through some rough days that I never even realized. And that kind of resonated with me.

David Novak 5:34 

Tell me about your first job in professional football. Yeah,

Brandon Beane 5:37 

David, I started as a six week intern, right out of college with the Carolina Panthers. I was a communications major, I really wanted to get in the football side. But I didn't have an end. I didn't know anyone. I didn't have that special connection that sometimes can help you land where you want to land. So I started I had tried to get an internship the year before with the Panthers also with the Charlotte Hornets, and didn't get either one. But I did do one with the Charlotte touchdown club. And I did it. It was an unpaid deal. I stayed with my sister who was working in Charlotte at the time and, and so I did that for the whole year. And the next year, I was getting ready to graduate UNC Wilmington. And the guy who ran the Charlotte touchdown club said, Hey, we're doing an event with Dom capers, who was the original head coach of the Panthers, he's going to be speaking and He said, You should come back here. Some of the people that you were trying to interview with are going to be here. And so I came back to the event helped him run it and was able to put a name with a face with a guy named Bruce Speight. And Charlie Dayton, longtime PR guys there and got myself in the door, got an interview, and then got that six week internship. And so it was, it was public relations, it was for training camp 1998. And it was my first opportunity to see the inside of an NFL team and how it operated. And as much as I enjoyed it, I saw that I really wanted to work, you know, on the football side and football operations and, and so I kind of made it known at the end of that if something never came about, let me know. And I got lucky two weeks, I was probably home a week or two after camp and someone who was in the season intern role for it was kind of a hybrid football ops slash player development job. He left and they called me and, and so I worked the whole 98 season, again as an intern, but it allowed me to be a part of the team for you know, a good four or five months from there.

David Novak 7:33 

So you you stay at Carolina, you're there for 18 years, you you rise up to the level of Assistant General Manager, what do you do to earn more responsibility and, and climb the ladder because everybody wants to do that not everybody starts out at the top,

Brandon Beane 7:49 

you do have to, you know kind of be where your feet are. But you can also be watching and learning and talking to others. And you know, in our field, when my job was done, I would go out and help fold towels for our equipment manager and just learn how he did his business. And he actually had me start traveling with the team to help him and I would help it practice. So it wasn't that my long term goal was to be an equipment manager. But as I rose and became a director of football operations, I was put in charge of the equipment department. And it helped me understand the the challenges and the struggles that someone would go with that position. So as I kind of moved up, I just kept trying to learn every area talking to people, you know, you still have to attend to the main job that you're being hired for. But using your extra time, not while you're on the clock, so to speak, weekend's nights, vacation time, learning from others in your building, also making contacts with counterparts around the league to you know, to ask them, maybe your team doesn't do things the same way, another one, so maybe you like it the way they do it a little bit more, or maybe adjust it to, you know, to back to how you were doing it. You just you're always looking for ideas again, while you're focused on the job you're doing in hand.

David Novak 9:02 

And then you get the coveted job of being the general manager of the Buffalo Bills. Can you give us a little inside story of how you got the job and how you prepared for that interview? So that you won the job?

Brandon Beane 9:15 

Yeah, it's it's years in the making, and you're taking your experiences, I'll tell you I, in 2012, my boss, longtime mentor, Marty, Ernie, who, who's he's one of the main reasons I'm sitting in the seat talking to you. He kind of raised me in the business as the GM of the Panthers. He got let go. We started the season one and five. And at the time, I was 36 years old and and our owner at the time Mr. Jerry Richardson called me into his office and explain to me why he was making the change and to be honest with you when he called me in there. I had never stepped foot in his office and I had been there for 14 years and I honestly thought he was coming in there to tell me I was being let go as well when he told me more rd was being let go. But he flipped it and said, Hey, I'm gonna put you in charge for the rest of the season. And so I was the interim GM the rest of that year with Ron Rivera as the head coach. And it really opened my eyes to some things that until you get in the seat, you know, you might not understand. And so after that, David, I really, for the next few offseasons, we get some downtime in our business from late June to early July. I really just started that next offseason of putting some ideas down on paper of how I would build my team from what type of people I would want what type of leaders, what are the important positions, you know, from a skillset standpoint that I want? What type of head coach what I want? What are the important things such as facilities, player care, nutrition, just all these things, I was just kind of brainstorming, put them together for probably a combination of two summers, and then talk to a couple of former GMs and ask them some of the things what's it like what's your first 30 days, like a build a calendar of what's the first 90 days on the job, you know, kind of look like and you know, long and short of it, you start really paying attention as you go through the yearly cycle of things that come up and you make a note, put in your phone and kind of add it to your file and you just you're continually building a book is instead of a one page resume, you're building bullet points from A to Z, how you would build and run an organization. And so my first interview, actually, I did not get the job that same. I got this job in May of 2017. I interviewed with the San Francisco 40 Niners in late January of 2017. And I did not get that job. But I learned so much from that interview, it was just a great experience. And so when I got this interview, I was much more relaxed, much more under control was able to a thought do a better job of, of kind of explaining to the Bakula family, where I saw the deficiencies of their organization that time, my experiences that I had in Carolina, that I'd learned from some good, some not so good. And how I thought we could start the process of working with Sean McDermott to build a winner here.

David Novak 12:19 

What's something about the transition to a new franchise and into your first GM role that kind of caught you by surprise, something that you didn't expect?

Brandon Beane 12:29 

You know, you never know, when you're walking in a new building, you know, wasn't like we were walking in fire and a bunch of people they had reported they had removed some of our scouting staff. But beyond that all the support staff was here. And so I tell you, I kind of thought with, you know, this team had a stigma of losing 17 years in a row not making the playoffs before we got here. And so I thought maybe there would be a lot more negativity with people of just all man, this is just another GM coming in or, you know, another head coach and Sean McDermott coming in, you know, they don't know what they're doing, either, you know, we'll just bide our time. And there'll be another winner in two or three years. And we had a lot of people that they were starving to be a part of a winning culture. And, you know, just wanting to be involved. They wanted to be heard, they wanted to be respected. And so I was kind of Honestly, when I walked in here, I really didn't know what to expect, David, but I really expected there to be more negativity than there was from, you know, from people who had been an organization a long time that have frankly, have not had a lot of success.

David Novak 13:38 

You don't both you and Shawn started in the same year. Together. You both worked with Carolina, which so you at least knew each other. But you know that GM head coach relationship is really critical, you know, how did you to get aligned on the vision and the strategy that you you wanted to take to really build the Buffalo Bills into the organization? It is now today?

Brandon Beane 14:00 

Yeah, David, I think, you know, us working together in Carolina for six seasons. You know, obviously, he was not the head coach, and I was not the GM. But you know, he was the, quote, unquote, the head coach of the defense. And, you know, me being the assistant, GM was in charge of a lot of things that we did from a personnel standpoint. So we would have conversations at various times during the year. And I would say, a lot of our things, we saw players through the same lens of what we're looking for, and, you know, Shawn's a high character guy. And, you know, I think that he felt the same about me. And so, there was a lot of natural things of the way we viewed players and building a team and culture. Unspoken things really, David, we didn't we didn't get that deep, but just if you have enough conversations with someone you realize that man, do we see things polar opposite, or do we kind of gravitate towards some of the same things and I felt, you know, was shown here and that was part of the thing when, when I interviewed for the job, Uh, you know, if I didn't believe in Sean, as a man as a leader and how he would run the culture, from a head coach seat, you know, I would have never even taken the interview, and a GM or a future GM, you have to be paying attention to coaches out there that are really good coordinators, whether offense or defense. And so you're always running your list, these are my be my top five, six guys, I'd like to interview and so it would have been interesting to interview Sean, but obviously he was already here. And so when when I took the job, we sat down and again, it is a marriage, you're talking about two people that sometimes he's gonna see it one way I'm gonna see another and and it's, it's having that shared vision, but also being willing and adaptable to at least hear someone out. And sometimes you have to agree to disagree, you know, I'm not gonna sit here and say we've been here six seasons that when we walk out of a room, that we see it exactly the same. But the reason that we've been able to work together and and and get to the right solutions is we both are trying to do it in the best interests of the Buffalo Bills. And if you can go back and say, honestly, this is not selfish. This is what I think is best for whatever business you're in, you can lay your head down at night and say, whether it was right or wrong. In the end, I did it in the best interests of the team. And I know Shawn has that trust in me and I have that trust in him even when we do disagree on certain things.

Koula Callahan 16:31 

Have you ever wondered what David is thinking as he interviews our guests each week? Or have you been interested in hearing David's take on some of the questions that he asks his guest? Well, I do and I know a lot of you do, too. My name is Kula Callahan and together with David I host the three more questions podcasts that airs every Monday. These episodes are just about 15 minutes. And in them, I asked David three questions that dive deeper into the themes of his episode with his guests. David shares incredible insights and stories from his career leading yum brands. And all of His answers are super practical and inspiring. Like this great insight David shared as we delve deeper into his conversation with Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford Motor Company,

David Novak 17:16 

you lose when you develop things because you think they are important, and you think it's the way to go. And you don't really understand what the customer is really thinking and what they're really looking for. I've seen so many companies get in trouble because they're internally focused, instead of externally focused, you have to be externally focused. And that means you got to listen and respond to the voice of your customer. This is fundamental, and it is the difference between winning and losing.

Koula Callahan 17:48 

Get the three more questions, podcasts and your feed each Monday and dive even deeper into the episodes you know and love. Just subscribe to how leaders lead wherever you get your podcasts.

David Novak 18:06 

You know, you mentioned earlier the 30 day plan, the 90 day plan you come in, in, you started shaking things up in a hurry, you shocked the system because you traded away three of your top players for draft choices to get get players that you called in quotes, you know, the right kind of DNA? What is that DNA that you look for?

Brandon Beane 18:28 

Yeah, I mean, it's just it's selflessness. It's team first people that are in it for one common goal, and nothing else. You know, one of the things we talked about is the disease of me, you know, not not finding people that are all about themselves. They're, they're in it for the common goal, they want to work hard, they obviously have to have a certain talent level, whether they're a coach, a player, a scout, a trainer, whatever it is, they have to reach a certain skill level. But beyond that, they got the positive attitude. Listen, everyone has some type of ego, but they're able to control their ego, you know, you want them to be confident. But confidence does not turning into arrogance, things that can distract from the team. Those are the type of people that we look for. And again, it's not just in our players, we're looking for that in anyone who is affecting the team and especially the product on the field.

David Novak 19:21 

So you come to this organization had a losing history, and you trade away three of what people think are the key players. I'm sure you had a lot of guys, they could you're throwing in the towel, at least for the short term for the long terms, you know, in times like this, you know, how have you found it the best way to communicate to your team? What you're really trying to do?

Brandon Beane 19:42 

Yeah, I think it's honest communication. And our friend Eric would you know could could tell you that first year there was definitely you know, when you trade a Sammy Watkins or a Ronald Darby, there's questions or are we trying to win and we were definitely trying to win but in both of those trades, we we weren't Get back. Other players, we could have just traded, you know, just straight for assets. Yes, we did get some draft capital, because we thought it was very important to set ourselves up to be able to go find the franchise quarterback that eventually became Josh Allen. But we weren't throwing in the towel, we wanted to that first year, Shawn and I wanted to set the tone. And listen, we had no idea if we'd win two games or 10 games. But we were going to fight our butts off every week. And we wanted to make sure the players knew, yes, there are moves that you're gonna see us make. That may look like we're not but we are every time we're going to try and look for avenues to add young players at different players. But of course, players that do fit the culture that we want to be here. And as long as you're honest with them, and you're not be s&m, I think they'll they'll stay the course and they'll buy into what you're preaching.

David Novak 20:51 

Now you talk about culture, and what is culture to you, Emma, how do you describe the Buffalo Bills? Culture?

Brandon Beane 20:58 

is positive energy is people that work hard. Okay, it's its team. First. It's being selfless and looking out for others. You know, when something goes, well, you're not they're not raising their hand going, Look at what I did. Or when things go bad. You know, you're not having people pointing fingers at others. It's all those things. Accountability. If you throw an interception, you know, you know, one of the things about Josh Allen, he's the first guy to take all the blame, Josh could have three touchdowns, and an interception and he's gonna be the first guy to say, we should have been four touchdowns and no interceptions. I screwed it up. And we could have won the game by 20. And, and that's what you want from your leaders?

David Novak 21:39 

How do you communicate that to all the people? I mean, you can rattle it off in your your head? I mean, do you have clear expectations that have been documented or laid out so that everybody says, Hey, if you're a Buffalo Bills, this is what we expect out of you?

Brandon Beane 21:53 

Yeah. I mean, you do it with your with your leaders, and you do it on a regular basis yourself, you know, you can't ask people to do what you're not willing to do. But, you know, we have directors and various parliament, whether it's our head equipment manager, our head of scouting, our head of analytics, what are our offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, you name the position. Sometimes, I can't, on a daily basis, get in front of every single employee on the football side or in I'm sure Shawn would say the same thing. But it's, it's getting the message out to your key leaders in the various departments, making sure you're clear, you're direct, you're honest, and you're keeping them in the loop. And I think if you do that, and you set the standard, and we talk about him, you don't veer from the standard, under any circumstance, you set your standard you go, it's not always black and white. Every, you know, there's certain situations that, you know, various things come up. But I think if you set that standard of what you expect on a daily basis, and you must first abide by that yourself, David, I think others will follow along.

David Novak 23:01 

You know, we mentioned Eric would just for everybody out there, Eric used to be an all pro center for the Buffalo Bills, and he was still on the team when you came in. Right, Brandon?

Brandon Beane 23:09 

Yeah. So Eric was the first guy that I gave it a contract extension to, I knew that we were gonna be in the process of finding a franchise quarterback. And so having a guy who could take that pressure off of a leader up front, they could kind of ID the mics and call the protections, all the stuff to take that pressure off of what was going to be a rookie quarterback. I thought man, Eric's you know, I got to know him for a few months and extend them and you know, he played that year played every snap. And then unfortunately, in that season, the dogs tell him, you know, his career's over was one of the wildest things i you never expected a guy to play every snap and then be told his career's over.

David Novak 23:49 

Yeah, he's had a neck injury that took them out. He's a great guy, and I'm sure he had the DNA that you look for in your players.

Brandon Beane 23:57 

Oh, man, Eric was was everything and then some, I mean, just heartbroken for him. And selfishly, for us to but to not have him with Josh Allen, they would have been such a great parent.

David Novak 24:09 

Now, you not only have to win over the players, but also the fans and the media. And what's it like to have every decision you make written about scrutinized? And how do you handle that?

Brandon Beane 24:22 

You know, it comes with the job, you have to understand that most decisions 50% are gonna like and 50% are gonna hate it. And if that's the case, you probably did all right. If it's 9010 you, you probably should start worrying, but it's just, it's the love of this game. People are passionate, obviously, this fan base is as passionate as any fan base out there. And so you just it comes with the territory. You can't listen to it. You know, there's an old saying, if you're listening to the media, you'll soon be joining you'll be sitting with them and you know, you're you care about them. You love their passion, but you understand to that, there's decisions you make that they're not. They're not in position to have all the information that you have. And so they're just, they're given what they see. But ultimately, hopefully they trust that, in the end, I'm making the best decision for the bills.

David Novak 25:13 

So you make these big moves, you get rid of three of your top players, and you actually succeed in the short term, and you make the playoffs in 2017, ending an 18 year drought, what was it like to see that momentum start to take off?

Brandon Beane 25:28 

Oh, David, it was awesome. I mean, we've, we've had a few good playoff runs here. But the great thing about that one was no one expected it was a bunch of guys that were, you know, kind of put together for this. This year, it was some old guys from the old regime paired with some of the new blood we brought in to set this new culture and, and it was, again, we traded those guys in the away in the fall and the early, late summer, early fall. And a lot of people thought we were tanking. And, of course, I fought back at that, that we're not taking, we could be getting more assets than we are. But it was just it was euphoric. Because you saw quickly, it doesn't take long to be in Buffalo to realize how passionate this fan base the city is, um, this is a blue collar. They love this team, you know, they're gonna ride or die with his team, no matter what the record is. And there was literally I mean, people crying, you know, and bars and the streets and to, you know, see that 17 year drought in was one of the coolest things I'll never forget.

David Novak 26:30 

You then make a quantum leap. And you talked about, you know, getting some draft power so that you could get that franchise quarterback, but you get the quantum leap, you draft Josh Allen. Now, it looks like a no brainer now. But that was a really big decision. Take us through it.

Brandon Beane 26:47 

Yeah, I mean, it was a multi, you know, part process to get to where we did, you know, for a couple reasons, start back to us acquiring draft capital, you know, shortly after I got here with some of the moves you mentioned earlier, and then that whole fall going and see and all these potential, you know, it was considered a pretty good quarterback class. You know, by the time I took the job, I'd even talked to the Regulus about some of the names Josh included that we were going to need to be scouting. And so you go through that fall process. And then ultimately, you get to start meeting them and interviewing them and start pinning down who you really like and who you want to target. And now it's a matter of man, we made the playoffs that year. So we had two picks, we were at 21 and 22. We're not gonna be able to get a Josh Allen at 21 or 22. So what do we need to do and, and so we traded our left tackle at the time Cordy Glen with Cincinnati, and that got us to 12 and then kept trying to get up and up before the draft started, especially once we had honed in on Josh and where we would need to get to to try and get him and fortunately, he didn't get picked. And once the seventh we had tried earlier, but we finally found a trade partner in Tampa to move from 12 to seven to go secure. You know, Josh,

David Novak 28:05 

was a good move to bad for Tampa, although they did have our good friend Tom Brady go there. You know, in this year's draft, you take tight in Dalton Kincaid in the first round now, is he the missing link as when you think about what it's going to take to get to the Super Bowl? Or how do you look at that?

Brandon Beane 28:24 

Yeah, I mean, don't and we looked at as a guy had a really good year this year at Utah pass catching, you know, we always talk about people get put in buckets, whether they're a tight end receiver running back, whatever, which which is, which is right. But we looked at Dalton as a weapon for our offense and a guy who really could work the middle of the field, you know, kind of a hybrid receiver tight end, you know, all of us do some things that a big slot would do for you. And just a really hard worker, great hands and just a guy that we thought, hopefully in time as he learns the game can be a mismatch weapon for us. And, you know, obviously, our number one threat, you know, is Stefon Diggs, and so how can we, you know, add more weapons so that when teams try and double him and taking him or bracket him and take him away, we've got other weapons that people have to honor. You know,

David Novak 29:18 

if you boil it down, you're in the business of talent management, that may be an oversimplification, but, you know, what's your process you go through to analyze the needs of your team to say, Okay, we've got to move this guy or that kind of keep this guy or that guy.

Brandon Beane 29:32 

Obviously, part of it is managing your salary cap and planning and forecasting where your dollars are going to be and being responsible with those dollars because it's not an endless supply. You know, we do have a hard cap and we have to work within that but it's also at the end of the season. David, just have an honest, open feedback with your coaches and your personnel staff. To you know, the first thing you have to do is know your own roster. Like you're gonna make mistakes in this Business you really are, you're not gonna you're dealing with people, sometimes you're gonna get a player that maybe he doesn't fit in Buffalo or he's going through some situations, he's had good career, but maybe he's going through some off the field stuff at the wrong time when when you acquire him, I've seen all sorts of things over the years, things that you can't predict life happens, and you try and eliminate as much of that as you can. But where you can't go wrong is you can't miss evaluate your own roster. Don't beat your guys up too bad because you're down on them, they didn't play the way you thought they were going to play. And don't pump them up too much either, you know, give a good steady, honest, you know, approach. And that's where knowing the league, knowing what's out there, and sometimes some biases can come in. And so just doing your best to try and eliminate those to make the best decisions you can on the guys you gotta keep. And the guys you got to replace.

David Novak 30:51 

You know, I don't believe there's any relationship. In fact, I know there isn't. But I'm curious if the Moneyball Billy Beane approach has impacted the way you make decisions in football, he, of course, he was the baseball guru,

Brandon Beane 31:06 

right? No, I mean, we share last name and a lot of respect for what he's done. And and seeing that movie and stuff, haven't read the book. But no, he's he's done a heck of a job. That Listen, I am about, you know, we incorporate analytics in a lot of our decisions that we do, whether it's salary cap analysis, stuff that we do from a game planning standpoint, and then just even player evaluation, adding that element, I always look at it, it's another, you know, it's another tool. But it's not the only way, you're still going to use your eye to evaluate the players. But there's a lot of things out there that analytics can help you help eliminate and help make your decision more clear. When you know, when you make a you know, a certain move, you know, you really

David Novak 31:51 

run a very complex business, you got to understand the salary caps, the contracts, there's so much to know, as a GM, how did you level up? I mean, you were like a journalism major Communications major. And I know you worked your way up at the Panthers. But how do you level up your business acumen to feel confident in that that part of the role the salary cap the contracts?

Brandon Beane 32:15 

Yeah, I mean, again, I had a guy and Marty Ernie, who's in Washington now is executive VP running their football ops. And basically, you know, there was a GM but who really allowed me to learn he was he was an open leader, I would say he would, he would have open conversations, maybe it was offline, maybe it was in the office, whatever it was, but, and then just taking the time asking questions, what do I need to learn? You know, I've worked alongside a guy, Rob Rogers, who's also in Washington now is really good at the salary cap, and just asking Rob questions, how he writes contracts, studying other teams, how they, how they do contracts, and, and then just learning that, you know, the collective bargaining agreement, you know, our CBA is thick, it's, it's not some you're gonna sit down over a couple of weekends and knock out it's a reading that in in various portions based on the calendar of the year, you know, if we're, if we're talking about free agency, understanding the free agency rules, the draft. And so again, learning these things on the side, while still making sure at the time when I was the director of football operations, that I'm, I'm running the team and leading it the way I'm supposed to lead it, and then adding these other things, you know, it's kinda like going to night school, it's, it's not taken away from my job during the day. But when I have some free time on planes, traveling or in the summer, then kind of adding these, you know, these nuances to, you know, to the job. How would you sum

David Novak 33:42 

up the keys to managing the salary cap? I know, that's a complicated question. But if you could boil it down to, you know, just one, two or three things, what would it be?

Brandon Beane 33:53 

Yeah, I mean, it's not just a one year thing. I mean, you can make it you can make anything work in a year, but you've got to be able to forecast where the cap is going. Because we're not told, you know, two years, three years, four years where it's at. So using your resources to kind of predict where you think is going to be, you know, one of the biggest wrenches I've faced here is when COVID hit, and the first time since it came in and whatever 1991 Or two, when I was instituted in the NFL, is the only time that it went backwards. And so that was one of the biggest obstacles we've had to face all teams had to face from a planning standpoint, because you're, you're planning 789 percent, maybe 10 On a good year, if they've got a new TV deal going. And all of a sudden, it goes from, I don't remember the number went from 190, something back down to 182. And it was I think it went from 198 all the way back to 182. When it should have gone from 198 to probably 210 to 215, somewhere in that range. So forecasting is probably your biggest thing and then how you start Have to your contracts, making sure you're structuring them. So that you can predict at the end of the year where you're going to be because you're adding incentives, you're working with various agents, you don't get to do all contracts exactly the way you want. Because you're dealing with this agent who wants certain things, you're dealing with another agent who's wanting certain things, but making sure it all fits within your structure, the best you can, sometimes there's some deals that you really want the player and you got to kind of give on your structure a little bit to be able to secure that player.

David Novak 35:29 

You know, Brandon, I've learned that you were seen as one of the most fun guys to to really watch during the draft, because you're so active trading up and trading down. You mentioned you did that to get Josh Allen you know, I imagine your phone is constantly ringing off and on the hook that day, how do you build rapport with other teams and GMs in order to make these deals happen? Because they, they got to know that you know, you're alive wire? Yeah,

Brandon Beane 35:58 

they probably know, I'm my own worst enemy that just get being on the phone and you get a deal out? Probably not, I enjoy it, I'm always looking at, you know, to we build the draft board the way we do David and and trying to find where we think the value is and, and if the value can fall for different teams to different spots. And so, just constantly trying to work that board but to me, you know, you get deals done, you know, with trust and relationships that you have. And and so, you know, yes, I'm competing with the other 31 teams, but not to do business below border or do things that are crooked or anything like that trying to be trustworthy and someone that they know if if we're doing a deal that I'm shooting them straight and and that I'm hoping, you know, on the reverse, and they're shooting me straight back.

David Novak 36:47 

Which one of your favorite Draft Day stories?

Brandon Beane 36:50 

Oh, man, probably probably getting Josh Allen because, you know, one of the funny things on that one was, you know, you can imagine you're staking your career and a lot of ways to the franchise quarterback that you draft. Sometimes you might get to draft a second if you missed the first one. But you're not going to give us so many swings at the plate on this. And so, my good buddy who is my assistant, GM, he's now the Giants Joe Shane, he and I were kind of we'd split up the teams because we landed with Tampa at seven but we were working the phones for some of the other teams prior to that pick and and you could hear a pin drop in the room. I wish we had a recording we didn't but chose a sweater anyway, he's just one of those guys. He sweats. If he was doing the zoom right now you get done in his pits be sweating out. And so he got done and he ruined the suit. We got done with this whole trade Josh Allen and looked up and I didn't realize it like he took his suit coat off and the inside of it was just dripping in his back of his shirt looked like he had been in a swimming pool. It was just it was kind of a relieving moment that we just got Josh Shambo, we couldn't stop laughing at him ruin in that suit. So that's probably one of my favorite stories.

David Novak 38:10 

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Brandon bean in just a moment. As you've heard his talk about Brandon got to work with all pro Bill center Eric wood before a devastating neck injury forced Eric to walk away from the game he loved. Now for a lot of people that would have been an absolutely crushing blow. And it sure was for Eric. But Eric had a different mindset to get him through it.

Eric Wood 38:35 

Each and every day you could put yourself into a transition to make your what's next in life your best yet it doesn't have to be this big, catastrophic life change. It doesn't have to be a career ending injury like it was myself. It could simply be you saying I want my tomorrow to be better than my today. Essentially it becomes owning your story and figuring out okay, what am I good at wherever those my passion lies, and then it's stacking wins. I just feel like if anything in life, it's never this big homerun Grand Slam moment. It's a continual process of getting 1% better every single day. And then I believe in life. It's all about what you can do for others and serving them.

David Novak 39:14 

If you want to see what it takes to develop that kind of positive mindset, then go back and listen to my entire conversation with Eric episode 114 here on how leaders lead

I understand that Black Friday in the NFL is the Friday after the last preseason game where you make the final player cuts. How tough is that day for

Brandon Beane 39:40 

you? That's you know generally one of the worst days of the year for me because you know right now our rosters at 90 We're getting you know we've got a lot of guys that have been here before but we got new faces and you see all the work that these these players are putting in all spring all offseason and they're putting it in you got 90 Guys And you got to cut it down to 53. So you're talking about, you know, crushing 37 Guys, and again, I know there's some guys on there that know, they're probably not going to make it or they're just shooting for practice squad. But there's a lot of guys that are right on the border and and I'm sure there's some sleepless nights they have down to the end and and when especially when you see guys that you feel Man, this guy had a really good argument, you know, it's, there's always guys every year that, you know, you get down to those last few spots that maybe there's a little dissension, you know, in the meetings of, you know, this coach wants this player, this Scout wants this player. But ultimately, I've got to make, you know, the best decision again for the Buffalo Bills and, and you can only keep 53. So that's hard. You know, the again, I'll go back to the way I try and navigate it. And Shawn and I, you know, meet with these guys together on that day just to let them ask us any questions, they can yell at us whatever they need to do, but we just try and shoot him straight and be honest of what they did well, what it came down to. And listen, this business works where many times we cut somebody or release them one day and 10 days, two weeks later, we're calling him back because someone else failed or, or there's an injury, and we need them back on the team. So honesty, and open communication is probably the best way to navigate it for us.

David Novak 41:24 

You know, Brandon, you're known for having great relationships with the players. You know, Vaughn Miller even wears a t shirt with your face on it, as I understand it, you know, how do you do such a great job of building these relationships? Without being a friend? Or how do you keep the emotional distance it takes to make the inevitable tough calls that only you can make?

Brandon Beane 41:48 

Yeah, I don't do myself. Very good. Because, you know, I think there's some gems out there that, you know, state probably a little bit further back than I do from from getting to know some of these guys as well. It's just my personality, I love to get to know these guys, their backstories how they got here, their family. And so it does make the decision tougher, and it makes it harder. And, and listen, there's been times there's, there's tears shed both sides when you when you gotta give, you know, the bad news. But, you know, I just the only way I know, it's the way that that I think it should be done. And maybe it's the way it was raised by my family. It's just important for me to get to know who's out there, putting it on the line, you know, for the Buffalo Bills, and and I'll live with making it a little bit tougher on myself, you know, when you do have to give them that dreaded news.

David Novak 42:37 

You know, you get to the AFC Championship Game and 2021. And you come so close to going to the Super Bowl, and you playing what I think many would say is the best game in football history against the Kansas City Chiefs. How did you handle the pain of a loss like that?

Brandon Beane 42:56 

Yeah. Losses like that, you know, they never go away, you know, you kind of compartmentalize them. Again, kind of like I was saying earlier, David, you have to, you have to be honest with yourself. And yet, we did a lot of good things. You know, people will always point to one play here, one play there, but it's generally more plays in that. And you have to be honest with everyone that's involved, including yourself, and try and you know, where can you you know, learn from it. And if you don't learn from it, you wasted it. And so I never want to, you know, see the bills, you know, yes, you lost the game doing like this, or there's always gonna be things you're learning from, and hopefully things that you learn from now, you take advantage of later, again, 20 years from now, you know, I'll still remember losing a game like that. I've been in two Super Bowls that we've lost, and you try and forget on the best you can. But you know, those are limited opportunities in this league is so hard to get to an AFC Championship or to a Super Bowl. So those things always last a little bit longer.

David Novak 44:04 

Now, here we go again, you're going into a new season here. 2023 How much pressure Do you feel going into this year? And how do you manage that?

Brandon Beane 44:14 

Yeah, I mean, listen, nobody's going to put more pressure on me than myself. I expect a lot of out of myself, my staff. And so I don't worry about the outside noise David is really driven internally as a competitive person. And again, the buggers have given us everything we we need and could want for to do the best job and so now it's up for myself and coach McDermott to to handle that. But we don't worry about the outside we just we focus on ourselves and and how we can get better. And again, some of the lessons I just talked about from some of those end of Season losses. What did we learn from them, and how can we overcome them going forward?

David Novak 44:54 

You know, this has been a lot of fun Brandon and I want to have some more with what I call my lightning round. Questions? Are you ready for this? Far away? What's one word others would use to best describe you competitive? What would you say is the one word that best describes you? Relentless? If you could be one person for a day besides yourself, who would it be?

Brandon Beane 45:17 

I think it'd be pretty cool to have been Tiger Woods see? That mean? That guy is the most talented player I've ever seen in golf. And I know there were some talented players before him. And it's probably arguable that maybe he's not the greatest player. But I think I've been pretty cool to be able to play golf at his level at some point.

David Novak 45:37 

I agree with Alan, what's your biggest pet peeve?

Brandon Beane 45:40 

Probably being late drives me nuts. When things don't start on time.

David Novak 45:45 

What's the bill's record going to be this season?

Brandon Beane 45:48 

I don't do predictions, David, hopefully enough to hit us in the playoffs. If we can just get in this AFC is going to be it's a gauntlet as you as you well know. So my goal is for us to get in the playoffs and be playing our best football. If we can do that I'll I don't care what the record is.

David Novak 46:08 

What's something about the bills mafia that makes them stand out from other NFL fan bases?

Brandon Beane 46:13 

Man, they, their recruiters, I mean, they, they are when a name pops up, they are after him there. They want they want every good player to be here. Sometimes they forget we got a salary cap or they don't care that we have a salary cap to fit a man but I love it. They are passionate about this team and and listen, if they're one of those, they'll tell you when they think you screwed up. But if someone else picks on you, it's it's it's like if if you're arguing with your brother, and you can fight with your brother, but if somebody else picks on him you're gonna go defend them. And so I think that separates them from most fan bases.

David Novak 46:53 

What's something about buffalo you'd only know if you live there.

Brandon Beane 46:57 

You know, the the weather here as much as it's, it can be some some crazy snowstorms and things like that. From June until mid October. I don't know if there's any better weather in the country than here. It's it's gorgeous here. I did not know that. Before I got here.

David Novak 47:17 

Now if I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear?

Brandon Beane 47:21 

Probably the highway. Like some good country music. So I got a few state bus. I flipped around to Pearl Jam radio and and yacht rock a little bit. But more times than not and probably on the highway.

David Novak 47:35 

What's something about you a few people would know? Well, I

Brandon Beane 47:38 

ran a marathon one time. That's probably unless you were back in my earlier days in the Panthers, you probably wouldn't know that, especially looking at my weight right now.

David Novak 47:51 

Alright, that's the end of the lightning round. And I just a couple more questions. I'll let you go back to get the bills to the Super Bowl here. It was a crazy situation we all witnessed last year with Mr. Hamlin, you know, can you give us a little inside story? What's it like to have him back, you know, playing football again,

Brandon Beane 48:07 

Oh, it's nothing short of a miracle. I mean, you know, you're witnessing this guy, basically lose his life on the field being revived. And you know, you're in that hospital with his family, and you're, you know, you're, you're praying for the best and honestly, you know, we're, we were all just praying that, you know, he would live and you'll deal with whatever, whatever it is, if he can just live and, and then you find out that he's gonna live and he didn't suffer any brain damage, and he's gonna be able to walk again and all that. So now you're just, you're still just going well, cool, he can live a normal life, like he's gonna be able to have a family, you know, his parents are gonna be able to enjoy him, his younger brother, all that you're still not thinking about playing football again. And so, as the spring went on, you know, he was, you know, very determined to continue and went to, you know, multiple specialists around the country and to be here, you know, from that happening at the beginning of January to where we are now, at the beginning of June is nothing short of a miracle.

David Novak 49:14 

You know, that had to be such a traumatic experience as a leader of a team. What did you do to lead your team out of the depth?

Brandon Beane 49:23 

Yeah, I mean, it's funny, Shawn, and I kind of split it up. This happened in Cincinnati, as we all know, and so, Shawn and I and Terry Pegula, along with a few others went to the hospital, just to support the family and and see where things were and crossing our fingers that they were going to be able to keep them alive. And but after a couple hours, you know, we had to make the decision to fly the team home, and we decided that was the best move. And so, Shawn and I huddled up and you know, both of us wanted to be with the team in Buffalo and buffalo was wanting to be with Lamar and his family in Cincinnati. And so, you know, we just thought it was best he's in front of the team every day leading them that he goes with the team and I would stay there at the hospital, with his family and you know, kind of just be there to support them and make sure they have what they need. And so that's, to me, that's, that's how we chose to lead this thing is one of us to be there for the family to show how much tomorrow means to us. And another, you know, this definitely affected the rest of our team, our staff, and, you know, getting, can't we, you know, we brought in counselors, immediately waiting on our team, you know, once I got back to Buffalo, and, you know, we had really open conversations with our players, like, when is too soon to start back, because you don't want to force someone out there. If they're not ready to go. This is a tough sport to begin with. And so we listened, we dialogue we got, you know, we talked to therapists, ourselves and psychologists of what people are going through, you know, people grieve and go through processes very differently. And so, you know, there's no, there's no handbook for this, Dave, there's really not, but ultimately, that was how we chose to, you know, to manage this situation and lead our troops

David Novak 51:12 

as we move into this new season. Is there anything we should be on the lookout, this year for the Buffalo Bills? Is there going to be a unique twist to what you do? Or is it more of the same, which is pretty damn good? I'd say,

Brandon Beane 51:25 

Yeah, I mean, listen, you're always trying to tweak things and and have some nuances and you change your personnel here or there. You know, one of the new things for us this year is Shawn McDermott is going to go call he's going to call our defense this year. He's still the head coach, but Leslie Frazier decided to step back this year as our defensive coordinator. And so Sean's, you know, he's energetic, he's excited. And so, you know, everyone has their own nuance to how they're going to call a game when you're a play caller. And so I think our players, and I think our fans should be excited about just, you know, the newness, you know, a different energy, you know, coming from Shawn, and then just, you know, Ken Dorsey is our second year on, you know, as the offensive coordinator and, and I know, there's things that listen, we did a lot of good things on offense. Last year, I think we finished, statistically, maybe second ranked in the main categories, but there was a lot of things that I know can learn, and hopefully we can improve on, you know, this year. So hoping to see both sides of the ball, make some tweaks to, you know, help us take another step

David Novak 52:30 

to more questions, you have what I imagined to be a 24/7 job. I mean, you're obviously passionate about it, especially during the season, you gotta be working your ass off, you know, how do you balance that with family life? Which I know is really important to you?

Brandon Beane 52:44 

Yeah, it is, it is, you know, I think, listen, you want to be successful. You know, one of the things my wife and I was, you know, we just you want to make sure you you set your kids up and you give them a better life than then you had and and so that's as long as you keep that in mind. I think you'll make the right decisions. And so yeah, it's my youngest. I've got an older one in Alabama. He's just finished his second year. But, you know, growing up, even though it was crazy hours, I always asked my superiors when I was in Carolina, could I coach certain teams, can I work my schedules, when possible, sometimes you're out of town, you just can't do it. But once we moved up here, they were getting into high school. And so the coaching days were over for me to be able to do that, like I was able to do with youth sports, but just being in as many games as you can, and supporting them through good and bad, you know, whether they didn't want a starting job, whether they missed a, you know, missed a play on the game, whatever, being there to support them, you know, really, you know, the best you can, it's a tough business, and sometimes you can't be there. But, you know, one of the things we stress here is be there for your kids piano recitals, games whenever possible, because our business requires so much time and just finding, finding that balance is important. Because if you don't have that balance, you're really not going to do a good job, you know, you know, in my position.

David Novak 54:06 

Last question, what's one piece of advice you'd give to someone who wants to be a better leader?

Brandon Beane 54:11 

I think listen, I'm at my best when I'm listening and listening to others. I think sometimes, as leaders, you're you're going through and you're feeling man, I gotta make this decision I got to make that I got to make that you're juggling, you know, a lot of balls in the air at the same time. And sometimes you may not have time to listen to everyone the way they want. But finding the right time to sit down and make sure you give everyone a voice and give them that opportunity. So

David Novak 54:37 

Brandon, I want to thank you so much for taking the time out to really share your your thoughts. You know, I understand your three index and golf, which is kind of where I'm at right now. And I understand is you mentioned that you're you're you're very competitive or people think that you're very competitive, and I look forward to playing you one day and seeing what happens out there on out there and the green grass. I love it. I love it.

Brandon Beane 55:04 

I love a good match. On a good fun, it's, it's always fun to get on the course and compete. And now it's great to meet you a few weeks ago and enjoyed being on here with Ian and I look forward to us, you know getting out on the link, so when it works out for our schedules

David Novak 55:30 

Well, it's easy to see why Brandon has earned that award as the NFL is top executive two of the last three years. And you know, when I tried to recognize him for it, he instantly gave credit to his team. That's just the kind of guy Brandon is. He knows it takes a whole team to build a winning culture. And he knows the example starts with him. I love how he's always looking for ways to be a little sharper, to get a little better to find that competitive edge. And I can understand why with the job as complex as his he's got to know a lot about a lot. And when he spots a gap in his knowledge, he is very intentional about filling it. He's pursued mentors and experts, he asked questions, he isn't afraid to jump into the day to day to learn. And he's always paying attention and making notes about new ideas. When you're intentional about knowing where you need to level up your expertise, and you have a plan to go out and find it. You'll tap into a whole new level of growth. This week, have the courage to sit down and ask where there's a gap and your know how. Let me tell you, we've all got him. Ask yourself, what would be possible if you learn that new skill and close that gap? Then brainstorm a few specific strategies to help you go out and get that knowledge. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders fill the gaps in their knowledge. Coming up next on how leaders lead is Scott Redler, the co founder of Freddy's steak burgers and fries, and chairman of the National Restaurant Association, which supports over a million restaurants nationwide.

Scott Redler 57:15 

There's a reward you get with helping others and seeing other people grow and watching other people succeed. And if you don't worry about yourself and worry about other people and their success and their family success and everything else. I think you win in life. It's not always about the money the money happens.

David Novak 57:31 

So be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be