the backstory

I was a weird toddler.

Most tikes my age enjoyed creating battlefields with GI Joes, conquering video games, or skipping across furniture to avoid “hot lava” on the floor. Me? Well, I collected airplanes the size of Matchbox cars. You know, the ones that specified the airline and aircraft type on each toy. I amassed fleets across all the airlines of the day, from yesteryear’s Braniff, TWA, Pan-Am, Continental and Eastern, to today’s Delta, American and United. I used Legos to construct airports and would orchestrate departures and arrivals based on my knowledge of where the airlines were based. Shockingly, this activity didn’t warrant me many repeat playdates.

As a lap child, I once pointed out the window and informed my dad I’d just seen a Boeing 747 and Lockheed L1011 pass by. He confirmed I was correct when the flight attendant questioned my age and lap child eligibility. My poor father had to explain, “No, my kid is just really, really weird.” God bless him. In my own defense, my parents always won at Outburst when the “Airlines” category card came up thanks to help from their kindergartner.

So did I become a pilot or an aviation engineer? Of course not, but my obsession with airplanes and airports wasn’t for nothing. After a series of twists and turns, my career launched in consulting. Sure, it was hard to explain what I did on a daily basis, but people understood that I flew out to client sites every single week. Why was my job hard to explain? Consultants often come in after a problem has surfaced or once a deal is in-flight. You’re tasked with putting the right people in the right positions to solve the problem quickly or get the deal to close. There’s no simple way to explain your daily activities. Those experiences shaped the chapter I wrote for Leadership DNA.

Spending that much time on planes and in airports, you witness some of the most peculiar behaviors. People often fret that scanners extract and capture data and personal information, but at airports, I think the scanners simply steal passengers’ common sensibilities.

For fourteen years, I’ve watched these behaviors. And when you spend that much time in the airport, you start to notice commonalities. Over the years, I started to catalog them. Suddenly, I came to a stark realization: the situations we encounter in air travel mirror those in our personal and professional journeys.

I tried to capture that in How to Avoid Strangers on Airplanes. The weird toddler who played airport with toy planes grew up to play the same game connecting the various flights and segments on his professional journey. My goal is simple: to help others and organizations navigate and chart a successful flight path.

go ahead

check his credentials

Brandon, a USA National Best-Selling Author, currently works as the Head of Corporate Development at a private equity-backed paving company with a focus on strategic execution of end-to-end M&A activities. He previously held a similar corporate development and strategy role at a building products company. Brandon’s experience encompasses $210+ billion in global M&A activity. Prior to internal strategy and corporate development roles, he spent ten years in professional services across three firms where he focused on tax before transitioning to M&A and strategy consulting. In nearly every role he’s held, Brandon traveled weekly to scout targets, structure and negotiate deals, plan for transaction close, and work on-site to integrate. Brandon’s travels earned him “Million Miler” status with one major airline, and currently holds top level status with two of the largest domestic carriers.

  • Brandon earned his MBA after his JD thanks to the Great Recession. He’s a licensed attorney currently on inactive status. At the Joseph F. Rice School of Law at the University of South Carolina, he served as an officer of Mock Trial Bar, President of the Palmetto Law Society and member of Phi Delta Phi legal honors fraternity. He received the John L. Palmer Fellowship while an MBA candidate at the University of Mississippi. Brandon graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2005 with Presidential and University honors.

    Brandon previously served as the President of the Ole Miss MBA Board of Directors, and now serves as Parliamentarian. The board’s work has propelled the MBA program to its highest rankings in decades and resulted in historically high job placement results. Brandon is a mentor for the Ole Miss Business School and "Life After Ball" program with SMU Athletics. He is actively involved with SMU and Ole Miss alumni leadership organizations and his church where he’s chaired various community service projects.

    In his free time, you guessed it, Brandon enjoys leisure travel. He’s a fitness nut, avid skier, golden retriever lover, and allows 18 to 22 year olds playing football for SMU and Ole Miss to commandeer his emotions on fall Saturdays.