Grizz In Biz Podcast

Hi everyone, thank you so much for joining us for our first episode of Grizz in Biz. My name is Courtney Perttula, I am a junior here at Oakland University studying accounting and today I am so excited because I have the pleasure of interviewing Joey Namou. Woo woo! First episode. Yeah, I'm pumped. So Joey is a 2015 marketing grad from the School of Business and he is now the co-founder of...What co-founder of Woodward Sports Network. There's too many titles. Seriously. My wife reminds me all the time that I'm doing too much. Seriously. So he's co-founder of Woodward Sports Network. He is chief growth officer at RHB Laboratories and founder of Print House Detroit, amongst many other things, I swear. You do everything. It's insane. That's something that being here just taught me. Yeah, 100%. You got to do a lot of things too. You know, just make sure that you're doing everything that your heart desires. A thousand percent. And you also might recognize Joey from being on the Mojo in the Morning Show on Channel 955 a few years back. It's crazy when you talk about these years too. When you mentioned 2015, I'm like, that is insane. We're coming up on 10 years almost. I remember working in radio, always telling like Mojo and all of them that were older than me, obviously like, man, you guys have been doing this for 20 years. You guys were so old and now I'm that person. getting that way and I'm like, sheesh. Seriously, it's insane, time flies. So how are you doing today? Awesome, and especially now knowing that I'm the first guest on this podcast is really, really honoring, I'm excited about that. Thank you so much for coming, we're really lucky to have you. So I kind of just wanna start off at the beginning and hear how your career journey went, how you came from Oakland to where you are now. So could you take us back to your time at OU and kind of walk us through those beginning steps in your career journey? You're making me remember all the way back then.Yeah, so I graduated from Brother Rice High School in the Bloomfield Hills area in 2011. And that's when I decided I wanted to come to Oakland University because I had an uncle that actually came here. And I was at that weird pivotal moment in my life to where I didn't really have friends coming here. A lot of my friends are going to Wayne State, University of Detroit Mercy, and a lot of them were going out of town. And that was something that my parents did not want me to do first. But second, I just realized, you know, I looked up to my uncle and I wanted to kind of have a similar career path and I wanted to just explore the option of seeing what this university and campus was all about. And I did the overnight orientation. I remember I tried that out and I made some friends and I was like, this is a place that I could see being my home and my future. And I came and I did it and it was just amazing. Just seeing the campus and how beautiful it was because no offense to any other campus, but you know, you go to a Wayne State, it's kind of stressful, you know, you're in a big city in the heart of Detroit and there's this building, the this building, but then you come to Oakland University, one, free parking, that hasn't changed yet, has it? No, it has not. Okay, wow, that's amazing. So that was a big selling point for me, but two, you know, you just see everything being at one site and that was awesome and you have the nice.OC with Oakland Center where everybody could hang out in a nice communal spot in the middle of it all in the heart of the center of campus and it just had really good vibes. So I really loved that. So that's kind of what played a part in me choosing Oakland University. I feel it. Yeah, I'm totally the same way once I came here once I did a campus tour I'm like, this is it. This is where I'm going to end up for sure. Oh, that's awesome. Did you have others in mind or this was the first and only that you did? So yeah, it's kind of a crazy experience. So I applied for a bunch of different schools because I was going through an audition process I planned on double majoring in acting and accounting, then kind of switched it over to just accounting once I started here. But out of all the, I was going to schools that were in New York, like all over the country, and Oakland stuck. I loved it, it was amazing. Especially now when I was coming through, I was like, this campus is beautiful. Like it was when I was here. Oh my gosh, yeah, I love it. It was when I was here, now I look and I'm like, this campus is just, it's becoming so much more than when I was here. And I love to see that because that's a huge opportunity. Even with you having this opportunity to be the host of this podcast, like I look back at my career, I didn't have any of these resources really. We had WXOU when I was a student still, but the opportunity to do a podcast, everybody could do it. Yeah, it's really exciting. So did you start off in marketing at OU or what was kind of your path, like what made you want to go towards that area? Yeah, so this is where it gets weird, right? So I have another uncle that, is a CPA. So my start, I mean, you said you're an accountant. That's what I was going to be. I was gonna be a CPA my freshman year. And then I had an internship not too far from here and I just really did not like the experience and I realized that, I was happy I tried it, but I just realized that I needed something more or something different in life. And that's when I was driving to my freshman semester. I was driving to, give me a second here, I'm thinking way back almost. you know, 10 plus years now, but I was driving to my first midterm and I remember listening to the radio and hearing Mojo on the air and I remember him, because I used to listen all the time, I used to call all the time to get tickets. I do the same thing. He never once got through, never. And then I ended up getting through that day because he was firing an intern live on the air. We talk about it all the time. That's so funny. Don't even really remember what it was. Oh my God. But I shared this story once on the air on the radio as well.And I remember he was firing the intern, he was pissed, he kicked him out of the studio, and it just wasn't working out for him on the show. And he opened up the phone lines to let someone call in and get that opportunity to be the replacement. The best part, I ended up getting through, I get answered within like 30 seconds, and when you call to win tickets, the phone lines are full, so you gotta call back, call back. Think I maybe called back three, four times and I got through. And all of a sudden I'm talking and the girl on the phone was freaking out because she was the intern producer. So she wasn't even the actual producer. So she wasn't the one getting fired. Was she the one getting fired or no? No, she was just the one answering the phones. She's like, not me next. So she's like, I really don't, we gotta talk to him in the commercial break and figure this out. I was like, no, no, no, just let me come by. And she was like, okay, how soon can you get here? And I'm like, ooh, I'll be there in 30 minutes. I said like 27 minutes too. I didn't even know the time. I just I didn't really know the address and all that. So, friends would give me the address, I'd get there in less than 30 minutes. As I'm, probably shouldn't talk about this, but I was emailing while driving my professor, saying, hey, I need a makeup exam, this opportunity popped up, I need to take it. And I think I use like an Eminem line, like you only get one opportunity. And I said something like that, I was thinking about Eminem in my head. And I send it and I go, interview went well, got the opportunity, they invited me to come back the next day. And then as I leave and. and they liked me in the studio. As I leave, I check my phone. I got an email from the professor saying, there will be no makeup exam. That was it. That's so tough. That was it. There will be no makeup exam. I remember that. That's all it said. Wow. Not even a signature in the email. Just there will be no makeup exam. I'm like, ooh. Wow. You gotta believe in yourself. Yeah, and look where it brought you. And that was the start. Yeah, that's amazing. And that's just so important to know. That's not always, like you had this plan, you knew you were going to do this and then you're going to get an internship. Like you had this plan, but you saw an opportunity, you just have to take that sometimes. That's what it was, it was more the opportunity. Like in terms of plan, my plan at that point was to be a CPA. And you know, I'm not obviously saying skip school, this, that, cause I still finished, right? I changed my degree to marketing because that was more in line with my new career path. But it's just more so when you have an opportunity, you gotta just take it. And that's when I became the yes man because there was so many opportunities in my career where you know, most people were Not being offered them or who knows they were busy and they say oh no Can't do that in the radio business in the media world when you get an opportunity You got to take it and then see where it leads you. Yeah for sure. So what would you say you learned most while working in radio? Like did anything from OU and your marketing degree because I know I feel like a lot of people who work in marketing go to work for corporate companies, they don't really get to be an on-air personality on the radio. Yes, for sure. So what did you take away from that experience? The biggest takeaway I would say is your network. I feel like in that radio business, in the media world, it's all about who you know. And I didn't know anyone when I entered. And that's really the way that people get opportunities is by knowing somebody. But that taught me at that moment. You know, kind of back to when I started at OU and I was coming to the campus by myself, I didn't really have anybody, that put me in an uncomfortable situation, which was great. And I realized now, looking back, being in those uncomfortable situations is great for yourself, because it forces you to go out and network and meet people. And then from that start, that was the pivotal moment to where I realized like, you just gotta go out and put yourself in these uncomfortable situations.Network, see who you meet. And I was doing 10 events a week. So I was meeting hundreds, if not thousands of people every single week. And that was a huge part to my growth on social media and networking. And that's really the biggest takeaway is you just gotta do that. Especially being on a campus with, I don't know the number, but how many thousands of students are here. That's a huge opportunity to just be able to network. Cause this was my freshman year. So at that point I was just an intern. And then the way that I grew was from my upper management and bosses seeing my social media following grow. And just from all these different events, I was the yes man, I told you. It was not an event I shut down. I was doing every and anything just to build my brand because at the end of the day, I didn't know anybody. I didn't have anybody there that was gonna help elevate me. I was doing it all on my own. And you needed that. That's amazing to hear because I feel like not everyone knows that. Not everyone knows you can just dive into those situations. Yeah, and that was like, that's why I opened up with my story about you know, at first I was like, I don't want people to know that I skipped an exam and this and that because. Right, like not the best advice but. It's really not, you know, and especially like, like being a mentor towards so many young kids, I didn't want them to, you know, just hear that part and then all of a sudden it's, oh, I'm done with school. Yeah, right. It's a fine line, like that's a one in a million opportunity. Yeah, 100%. The show's been what, 15 years since then, 14 years since then, that moment, nobody else has had that opportunity. you know, to where someone gets fired live on the air, you just gotta call up and take that chance. Yeah, I feel like you recognized how rare that was too. So you're like, it's not the best choice, but I think for right now it is the best choice. So that's amazing. So what, after working on the radio, is that when you came on to be the co-founder of Woodward Sports Network? Yeah, so my radio run was from 2012 to 2020. So that was kind of, everybody was, in a weird funk during that COVID, when COVID hit. So COVID hit Friday, March 13th, I remember, because it was Friday the 13th, I remember thinking that. And that was when it was in 2020. So we started Woodward Sports in October of 2020. And I just reached that point in my career where I was on the morning show for maybe six years at that point and forever grateful for all the opportunities and how I built a good brand and image for myself locally with that show And it made me realize that I needed more in my life and different opportunities that I wanted in the radio world weren't coming to me and kept trying and trying and I wasn't getting them to get my own show and different opportunities that I realized, you know what? My close friend, Stick, who I worked in radio with, he came up with the concept of Woodward Sports and he called me about it. And at first I was like, eh, I'm on the biggest morning show in Detroit. This was my dream when I started the business. I think I kinda wanna stay and see, you know, there's still unfinished business here for me. And after a couple of days, you know, he was like, well, I'm doing it. You in or not? And at that moment I was kind of ring the bell back to when it all began. You don't want to miss up on any of these opportunities to start your own media network in Detroit. Switching to sports was a big transition, but after a couple of days, I just made the decision. I was like, you know what, let's try this. That's amazing. And again, like you said, just say yes to these opportunities. It's hard to pass that up. You're gonna have some where you say yes and it doesn't work out, right? I've had a bunch of those throughout my career, but you know, it's one of those that even if you say yes and it doesn't work out, there's always gonna be something you learn from the opportunity. Yeah, 100%. So with being, was that the first organization that you kind of went to after talking on the Mojo in the Morning show? Yeah, yeah. That's amazing. So before that, I mean, I worked at Subway. That was my first job, sandwich artist, honestly. I still go to Subway. I'm not a sandwich maker, I'm a sandwich artist. Absolutely, it's still in my LinkedIn bio, it's still in my resume, everything, I still have that. Because that was a huge part for me too. It's like that opportunity to being able to talk to people, it's something that's forgotten now in all these fast food, fast casual, whatever you call it, service industries, can't take away the fact of still being able to talk to another person, right? That's something that's very important. Customer service is huge to me because customer service applies to everything in life, in my opinion. Oh, yeah, 100% I agree with that. You become an accountant or you go to become a CPA, you gotta apply that customer service to all your customers. Yeah, definitely. It applies to everything. That's amazing. Yeah, Subway, Subway. I don't know how I just started talking about Subway, but yeah, I went from Subway to my radio career, to Woodward Sports. Right, so with it starting, because you guys started Woodward Sports from scratch, correct? Yeah. So how do you even begin to start a project like that? Like I can't even imagine, because it's grown so much over these past, how many, four years it's been now? Yeah. Four years. Coming up on four. Yeah. How do you even start putting that idea to work? I mean, so my business partner at the time, Stick, obviously he's been in the media world for just say 15 plus years at that time. I was coming up on 10 years of experience at that time. And we just knew so much about the business throughout our experiences in life and in the business.That was the moment where we realized radio was just going in a different direction at that time. You know, like right now we're on a podcast. This is the new, this is the future. Everybody's doing a podcast. You're getting all your on-demand content in the palm of your hands on a phone. You know, you have YouTube. YouTube Live was starting to become a thing at that point. So that's where we realized radio was kind of a dying breed at that point. And we wanted to be ahead of the future. So that's when we wanted to start. Something kind of similar to Barstool Sports was an inspiration at that time, but they didn't really do the live programming. So what we took was, you could say a Barstool Sports, mixing that with the whole radio and TV programming model of having live shows throughout the day and giving content. Because Detroit sports coverage, there's really not much here locally. I mean, yes, there's the radio outlet with 97.1, but even that, in my opinion, it's a dying breed. You have the same voices and we bring a different platform to where what we offer, you're getting different young opinions and giving opportunities to, you know, just say this podcast blows up and all of a sudden getting tons of viewers on this podcast and it's gonna happen. Yeah. That's gonna be that opportunity to where someone else is looking at you and then brings you a part of their program that they're working on. So that's what we do. We just look for new young talent. There's hundreds and thousands of different Detroit sports coverage podcasts. And that's who we're looking at to give them those opportunities that we all once received at some point of our career. That's awesome. That's really cool just to involve people that you don't know, you have to take a chance on them. Absolutely. And so I think that's really cool that you're able to bring those and kind of foster their growth. Yeah. And then I was also wondering, so we were talking about how many hats you wear. I swear, seriously, you dabble in everything. When I was looking, I looked at your LinkedIn, I was like, oh my gosh, what does this guy do on a day-to-day basis? So Could you kind of talk to us about what your day-to-day looks like being involved in all of these different organizations? This is where I gotta give a shout out to Google Calendar because that keeps me in line. Yeah, a thousand percent. I had one of those today for this. There's just, there's so many different things and organization is huge. You know, that's the biggest thing is, yeah, you could look at me from a 10,000 foot view and say, man, how are you handling all this stuff? But when you're super organized and you have a lot of good people around you and you know, keeping your organizations organized, that's the biggest in my opinion, is if you could have everybody on the same speed as you, because yeah, there's a lot that I'm doing, but it's nothing that I can't handle. So, you know, in terms of my days, it's tough to say like, oh, every day I'm doing this and this and this, it just really depends on what's planned with them all. But I mean, like I said, Woodward Sports, we're almost four years into the operation. So that's at a point to where that's running kind of like a nice old machine to where it's kind of running itself. That's great. You know, my focus on that business is the overall brand of Woodward Sports. I still have so many great connections and relationships in the city. So using those relationships, driving new business development is always a huge thing and focus and just making sure everybody's happy that we work with. So that is a daily basis thing. How much percentage I give to it, I can't put a number on it, but then I mix that with my other responsibility of being the Founder of Print House Detroit, which is my clothing business, where we do screen print, embroidery, and promotional products for other businesses. And that's another one that's pretty much all business development. So when you look at just mixing everything, I mean, in terms of new business development, that's a, you give it as much as you want or as little as you want. And that's the challenge. You know, when you're doing that, it's all about, you get out of it what you put into it. So you brought up Print House Detroit. I would love to hear more about that because I feel like, I don't know, I could be wrong here, but Woodward Sports, Live Sports Broadcasting, and Clothes, those don't really scream hand in hand to me. I feel like they're pretty different. Like I can see the transition from radio to live sports broadcasting, but what made you come up with this idea for this business? Going back to Barstool Sports, right? That's huge, I don't know a percentage, but I would guess it's just, say, a quarter of their revenue. So clothing kind of does go hand in hand. I mean, we do a lot of merch on the Woodward Sports side of it as well, but this kind of ages back to, I'd say about eight years ago. One of my friends has been in the business for 20 plus years. And he's actually my older, my oldest brother's close friend. He's been in the business for a really long time. So I became a referral partner for him. And I was helping him get new business and new different clients throughout the years that about four years ago, he and I kind of when I started Woodward Sports formed a business together that was this Print House Detroit and you know just became something that it was it became a passion of mine because That's awesome. I just love seeing like the branding side of companies It was one that even when you mentioned my my other job with RHB Laboratories You know I enter that business and I get that job to say about two years ago They didn't have any clothing for their entire staff really and you know, you're going out there. You got to look professional. So that's one of my favorite things is really meeting with different business owners and helping them create that vision because they don't really know much. It's kind of like a marketing thing. When businesses start up, they don't really have a footprint for what they want their marketing to look like. So that was kind of that end for me where it's like I really enjoy it and seeing the branding side of it. I'm just, call myself a branding expert. Over the years, that's one thing that I've loved. I still wanted to keep my grasp on that marketing side of it because I'm transitioning a little bit away from overall marketing because I wasn't a digital marketing agency world for a little bit and all that. Now this is kind of my little touch on it. Yeah. And I feel like I didn't even make the connection that when you're creating clothing, like when you're creating clothing for each of these businesses, you really have to emphasize their brand. It's not just put a logo on the shirt, call it a day. You have to think of what they represent and stuff. And that's where your marketing degree comes in, I'm sure. So did any experience or any type of, like does anything stick with you from your time at OU into this transitioning to this job now of how marketing can really bring together different brands like that? I mean, that's a huge point, right? Like any embroidery or stream printing specialist company out there. can just slap a logo on anything. You get the machine, you do it, boom. But that's where I like to see and differentiate myself from these different companies is we put more emphasis on the marketing side of it and helping you bring your idea, which oftentimes companies don't know, to life. And that's where it's more than just putting a logo. Putting some creativity of just trying some different things and seeing the different trends. And that's something that I'm actually working with Oakland University too, kind of. bring some more life to the, I think it's called the Grizz Store. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, so, you know, that's all it is. I love it. Everybody could throw a logo on anything. It's about knowing the trends and knowing what people wear. Like right now we're in this weird fashion trend of oversized clothing. Yeah. A lot of people love wearing this oversized clothing. Yeah. Oakland University doesn't really have that. That's true, I never even thought about that because I'm always wearing oversized t-shirts. I'm always just throwing one on if I have to go to the gym or take a walk or anything. Yeah.I didn't even think I barely have any Oakland t-shirts because of that. Yeah, that's exciting. That's cool. It's weird. It's keeping up with all these trends. It changes every couple of years, but you got to be on top of it. Yeah, that's awesome. That's really, really cool. What tools do you use to kind of stay on top of the trends and enhance this marketing skill? The freest tool of them all, I just made up a word, is social media. Yeah, you just see the trends and you just get to see what everybody is wearing and you know, you kind of just see it from being out and about, right? When I do events, just say with different college campuses, if I'm emceeing different events, or recently doing the Rochester Hills Fireworks Show. That's an event I emcee every single year with Mayor Bryan Barnett for Rochester Hills. You go and you just see what everybody's wearing and I'm always looking. Like that's one thing, even when I meet different business owners, my eye goes straight to that logo. How does it look? Is there something I could improve? Kind of like Like my wife is an optometrist and all she looks at is glasses. When she sees people, she's judging you off your glasses, how they look, the condition of them. That's how I am with clothing. It's weird. It's a very weird addiction that I have, but I really do love that. That's really great. That's awesome. So with your other job, I feel like I keep saying with your other job, with your other job. It's the last of them, I promise. For Chief Growth Officer at RHB Laboratories. Is that the same type of work because if I'm gonna be honest, I don't really know. Okay, yeah, so I don't know really what that entails. So I would love to hear more about what you do in that area of work. And that's what I like. I like when it's all surprises. Yeah, right. So I get to talk about it. It's all conversation starters. But RHB Laboratories, this was something that I wanted to get into because a lot of my family's in the medical world. And I was talking to my brother and he was giving me good advice because you think back to COVID, right? when COVID hit, there were certain things that weren't that essential work. And medical, that's gonna be something that's always essential work out there. So when I started it, I was talking to the owner of the company because I've known him for years prior and I wanted something that was more just say pandemic proof because clothing business, if something were to happen, that's gonna be something that's tough. Word, word sports, that's marketing, that's gonna be tough. So I wanted something that was gonna you know, set myself up for long-term success because nothing can happen in the medical world, right? It's gonna be a necessity. It's gonna be something that's needed forever. And what we do is we specialize in urine drug screens and oral swabs. So literally, I love talking about this because people look at me as, you know, Joey Radio. People don't even know my last name. Joey Radio, my social media. So now, switch it all up, doing some medical work now. And I've been doing it for about two years.And it's all customer service, which I love. Taking care of different people, all the relationships that you work with all the different providers. So what we do is different medical practices, whether it's internal medicine, family medicine, pain addiction specialists, we work with a wide variety of different medical practices. And what we do is when these providers are prescribing their patients on controlled substances, they use our resources and our tests to give them further information on how to better treat the patient to make sure when you're giving them these different medications that they're taking them, right? Not selling them, making sure that there's no drug-to-drug interactions if they're taking other medications. So it's a huge challenge for me, which I like. I love challenging myself, putting myself in these awkward situations and uncomfortable situations. And when I started this two years ago, it was something that I just started on the new business development side. And then I started working closely with the CEO of the company and it just became a good relationship. And then he started seeing me providing something different kind of back to my clothing business. You know, you got to make yourself different. You know, I offer kind of that marketing, which I learned from Oakland University and being here with the School of Business. You apply these different practices towards industries that in the medical world, marketing really isn't a big thing. So me having all these experiences in life. I offer something different to RHB laboratories that now is differentiating that brand versus all the different medical toxicology labs out there. Yeah, 100%. A lot of that and just seeing the overall growth and success of the entire business. That's awesome. So what would your best advice be to find what makes you different? Because I feel like that's really hard for some people. They want to stand out from everyone else. They want to show people that.They have what it takes, but I feel like it's really hard finding different ways to differentiate yourself from other people. So do you have any advice for how to go about doing that? Yeah, there's always advice. I look at it as when I got in radio, I didn't know that's what I wanted to do. The opportunity presented itself, try it out. So I always recommend to anybody asking about a career, different advice. You know, you can't come up to me and say, oh, what should I do? I don't know. What do you like? Is there certain different things, you know, for me, I like sports. So that's where the whole word sports came about. So it's just trying it out and seeing because, you know, you might just say like makeup. And all of a sudden, I know someone that was a physician assistant. They became a PA. And then all of a sudden, they switched it all up and got into the medical spa stuff. Oh, yeah. The esthetician. Esthetician. Yeah. Now, spell it. I'm good, I'll pass. But you know, like, that's what I love, you know, you put all that schooling, all that money, a lot of student debt, and they're becoming a PA. And then all of a sudden they switched in and started this whole Med Spa business. That seemed to be a whole new trend in itself right now. I blame the Kardashians for that. But you know, you start that and then all of a sudden, she's looking back at her career and saying, I'm a lot happier doing this. So overall, it's just, you gotta try it out. A lot of it is market research and if you...want to try out MedSpas, look, see different competitors, see it locally, see it on a national level. And that's the cool part about having this free resource of social media is you could learn so much for absolutely no cost. Yeah, for sure. And I feel like too, I think you have to just dive into it. Some people are really hesitant about making these changes, making these big changes, but if it's something you're passionate about, just put 100% effort into it and...It'll all work out in the end. It's never going to just completely go downhill. Absolutely. And I look back to being a full-time student at Oakland University and still handling just about full-time work throughout the radio career doing it because that was my freshman year when it all happened. So it was freshman, sophomore, junior, senior year. And were you working full-time? Is their office in downtown Detroit? Did you have to... It's actually moving to downtown Detroit, but it was in Farmington Hills. Oh, gotcha. Which was close to my house, which is nice at the time. Yeah, that works out. So did you, were you working 40 hours a week at the radio station while taking classes? Can't even talk about the number. Oh my gosh, that's intense. Big numbers of hours, but you know, you gotta put into it what you want out. 100%. And that's, it's not a business where you look at it as a regular full-time. You know, there was no times where I could look at it and say, oh, it was a nine to five shift. Or if people would say, hey, let's hang out, six o'clock, never.I never made commitments because I knew I wanted to put all my focus towards my work and building this opportunity because you just gotta create your brand and that's it. Someone else is out there trying to get my position. At every single point, there was always somebody out there to try to take my position over and it's a lot more competitive in that versus different professions, I would think, but that was where never even looked at the amount of hours I was putting into it. It was all about the goal and doing whatever it took to make that goal happen.Yeah, what I'm kind of gathering from this is that you've been busy since your freshman year at OU. Absolutely. So what is your driving force to continue working this hard? Because I'm sure you get tired. I'm sure it gets hard. But what is your why behind all of this hard work that you're putting into your career? See, for me, when I started all that, I was single and there really was no family aspect. Yeah, I wanted to make myself proud. I wanted to make my family proud, but that was kind of just instilled in me at a young age from my parents having a good work ethic. So now, I mean, I'm a father, I got two kids and a wife. And now as a family, you have something more to work towards and what you're working for. So obviously the why now becomes my family. Yeah, for sure. That makes 100% sense. And then where would you say was a time in your life where you really had to just put your head down and work and how did you get through that? Because just hearing about everything that you have to do, you have to balance your family life, obviously, balance your three different careers that you have right now and then back during your time at OU, you had to balance working and internship and classes. How would you say, like, when did you know that all you had to do was put your head down and get the work done? Anything that you do in life, there's gonna be distractions. Yeah. when it came to those distractions and you know, as a college student, all my friends were going out and partying and doing things that I never really cared to do so when I go back and think I was never that person that wanted to go out and I always wanted to just work so stay in focus and having these big goals and dreams is really what kind of kept me in line because I wasn't gonna be the one getting distracted with. everything else that all my other friends were doing. And I lost a lot of friends throughout the way because you realize your true self. You realize that's not who I wanna be. So I never was going out and drinking and still really don't do it. And I realized that all of that kept me in line to just stay focused because, you know, at the end of the day, anyone that gets into that, they outgrow it, right? You're gonna do it, it's fun for a little bit. And then all of a sudden you realize, ah, I wish I didn't do all that. And I learned that through having three older brothers and learning from their mistakes. And that's what I'm forever grateful for, was they made the mistakes for me to be more in line and focused on my career path. So that's where I was years ahead of everybody else I felt like. For sure. And so there's just one final question that I kind of wanted to wrap up with. Already final? Yeah, I know, time flies when you're having fun. Absolutely. What is your best piece of advice to current OU students? that you wish you would have known when you were going to school here. From a school side of it or just overall? Overall, I'd say. Yeah, I would say just don't be scared, try it. Because at the end of the day, you never really know what it is that you wanna do in life. And that's where I look at me starting into this medical business venture, is I just wanted to challenge myself and do something else. Because I don't wanna look back 20 years and say, oh, I wish I tried it or.Oh, I'm not happy doing this. That's why I'm doing three things because over time, I'm gonna be able to see what it is that I'm happiest doing and I'm gonna just put more energy towards that. So if you're just doing one thing, it makes me sad sometimes when you talk to people and they've only done one thing. You think back of working at a Ford plant. All people did. I'm sure we all have uncles or grandparents even.Her great grandparents, that's all they ever did, was just worked on the line for 40 years, 50 years. They provided for their family, they retired and moved on. But were they happy? Yeah. You'll never be able to understand that. And I talk a lot too, right? Like I communicate and like I'll ask my parents, like my dad, he does mortgages and I'll ask him, I'll say, are you happy? And he says, that's all I know. And when you have these different conversations, it makes you realize that you don't want to be that.And I mean, he does real well for himself. He's a successful businessman. But I want my happiness to come first because the success will come. You just gotta make sure you're happy first. Because if you're happy waking up every day and you're doing what you love, then everything else is gonna be a breeze. You're gonna have fun doing it. Yeah, a thousand percent. Thank you. I'm sure everyone will appreciate that. And while you're here on campus, is there anyone you wanna shout out? I owe you that you're a member from back in the day. That's a, that's a big question right there. I mean, definitely, I used to call him Dean Matt because he was the Dean of Students at the time, but Glenn McIntosh is his name. He's got big fancy titles now, VPs and all that. But he was a huge part of, you know, me just loving the campus and venturing off into doing different things because he was a, at that overnight orientation, they paired me with a roommate that went to high school near me. That's kind of how they did it. And Glenn McIntosh was his uncle. And I connected with him at a very early part of me being an OU student. And he kind of pointed me in different directions as far as, man, you should try out being a part of Oakland University Student Congress. And then when I was there, then I got the radio opportunity and then they pointed me into doing WXOU. So I give a lot of credit towards my success and overall happiness on campus. Yeah. To him because like I said, I didn't come here with a bunch of different classmates that I was already prior friends with, had to make all those different relationships. So meeting a Dean of Students at the time was a really cool opportunity for me and I definitely wanted to thank him. That's awesome and it's so important to find a mentor, especially in this impressionable age. I feel like you just always need some guidance, it always helps to have someone looking out for you. And that's the cool part about this campus is there's so many different resources. You know like, I was a part of the school of business here, but I also did student congress. And I also did a little bit of work with the student program board and all the concerts that would be put on. So it's like, there's just so many opportunities. You don't even need to leave the campus. You can do them all right here. Right? In our podcast studio. Yeah, I know. You're lucky Courtney, you got this opportunity. Take advantage of it. I'm so grateful. I'm proud of you for doing it though. It's awesome. Thank you. I really appreciate it. And you did a fantastic job. Thank you. I know you were nervous. This was the first one and you did way better. You don't want to hear my first radio tape. You do not want to hear it. Thank you. That means a lot to me. Is there anyone else that you want to shout out? Can't forget. I mean, especially me being here back at OU. Got to shout out the OU goat, Neil Ruhl. He is the voice of Golden Grizzlies, a lot of sports here. He's also our 11 to 1 p.m. host on Woodward Sports. This has been so incredible learning about your career path. Is there a best way for our listeners to connect with you after this is done, after they hear about it? Joey Radio on social media. Nice. Instagram's probably my, what's the new hot platform now? Are you TikTok? I watch it, but I don't like make them. That's garbage in my opinion, such a waste of time. But you should be on TikTok, I'm sure, doing different content nowadays. I do Instagram, still the hot one. There you go.Cool, so I'm not that outdated yet. Yeah. Yet, keyword. That's so funny. Thank you so much, Joey. We really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to come over here, share your career journey, and just share your advice in the world of business. Absolutely. Oakland University definitely has my heart and always supported me, so I'll be back to support them whenever I can. And thank you so much to our viewers for joining us on the first episode of Grizz and Biz. Be sure to connect with us on social media @OUBSchool on Instagram and then join us or connect with us on LinkedIn, X and Facebook. Thank you so much, everyone, for watching. Bye.

Hello everybody and welcome back to another installment of the Grizz and Biz podcast. I am your host, Evan Shalow, and a little bit about me is I am currently a junior studying marketing here at the School of Business at Oakland University, and I have the pleasure of introducing our guest for today, Bob Broderdorf, who is now the CEO of Jeep at Stellantis. So Bob, thank you so much for being here today. How are you doing? I'm doing fantastic, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you guys very much. So it should be a fun day.

Awesome. So let's just go ahead and get right into it. I see here that you are a 2002 marketing and information systems grad from the School of Business Administration. So with that being said, tell us a little bit about your background professionally, personally, and maybe what led to your current role. Yeah. So here while I went to OU, I was actually started my sort of internship was actually picking parts on the line at Centerline Michigan at a parts distribution center.

So that was my first entry into what was the original Chrysler at the time. And then that really led to a whole host of things. At the time, the dot coms were exploding. And what became interesting, so there was a lot of MIS grads back then, people that were going after it, and then the dot, then really the bubble burst. And all of us were pretty much out of work and there was no really where to go. And at the same time, 9-11 hit.

So then most of the companies actually in the area weren't hiring. So weirdly, I went from picking parts on the line to actually started working at OnStar as a phone operator, even though I had just graduated from college. So that was weirdly my first entry into the auto industry. And from there, Chrysler actually called back to work the phones and deal with people who were outside of warranty and see if we could assist them with any problems that had with their cars. That was my start into the auto industry here in Detroit. And from there, lots of opportunities.

began to unfold. And then for me there strangely, once you're in a call center and you're like, I need to graduate, I need to get out of this thing as fast as humanly possible. They had an opportunity in the field and it was a sales division where I actually got relocated across the country and my sales career took off from there and strangely that kind of propelled me throughout the years to get sort of this opportunity. That is super interesting. But one of the questions that I have for you is what exactly made you attend Oakland University?

My father, so I was a Chrysler brat, my father had relocated a million times. And we had just moved my senior year of high school to Shelby Township. And I went to Eisenhower, and at this point, I was not interested in going away from home. I did not want to move again. And we started looking for colleges that I could drive to, and we came and visited OU, and just fell in love with the campus, and the style, and just sort of the atmosphere, and that it was kind of just very hands-on. So for me, I think it was a perfect fit for my lifestyle.

I wanted to still be in your family and an opportunity to drive in. And then really from there, I just took, there was a lot of opportunities that unfolded and got involved in the social community. So for me, OU was actually fundamental to my growth at that point. And I've just fallen in love with the school ever since. Wanna know something interesting? I'm the exact same way as you. I actually went to Eisenhower myself and I felt the exact same way I wanted somewhere that I could drive to, stay close to my family and make friends along the way as well. So I was in the exact same boat as you. So that's super interesting.

Yeah, no that was it was important at the time and yeah, no, I don't regret it I loved my time here. Absolutely were you involved in like any organizations or clubs or yeah, we actually so I was in a fraternity I actually for a short stint went to go play for Kampe for basketball And then that was right when they went to D1 and everybody got a lot taller and could jump a lot higher and that ended That pretty quickly. Oh, yeah So that was a very short stint in the bubble before it was actually the arena was actually created right at that time And then we actually started the hockey club crazy enough, which then became the team at the time. So, OU at that time was kind of like really, really growing, starting to become more robust. And yeah, I think I was a part of a lot of that. So, I had a lot of fun while I was here. Awesome. Glad to hear that. So, I know you are a marketing and information systems grad. What made you choose that major?

Well, so marketing and selling was something I was always interested in. And then at the time, which it's just so comical, one of the first things that they were teaching in the class, in the MIS class, was literally how to use Microsoft Office. So that's like how old I am. And I asked 1000. Yeah, yeah, that was the thing, right? So you would learn that, and then the idea of being able to sell online and leverage these things was appealing to me. That sort of that ecosystem, which is now obviously exploded today, but back then that wasn't necessarily the case. So that was my interest at the time.

Awesome. Actually for myself, the reason why I chose marketing is because actually I liked selling things as well and thinking about why people bought things. So I kinda had the same mindset as you. So that's one of the reasons why I chose marketing actually. And I loved how, I actually was initially a psychology major because I was interested in how people thought. But then I realized I did not wanna go to med school. So I decided to go the business route, but still thinking about like how people thought but business related. You and I have so much in common, man. I tell you what, because psychology is another fascination of mine. I love the way just people think and work through things. And then you kind of attribute that to sales. That's just a clear connection there that I think's interesting. Love to hear that.

So, besides school work at your time here at Oakland, what did you do to keep busy? Oh, God, either between playing sports, involved in the overall, just the community and the school and any of the social clubs in school. I was more than busy. And at the time, I actually then started becoming a basketball coach at the CYO level for St. Lawrence up the road. So I coached there for a good chunk of it. So that was kind of where I still got my basketball itch. I love coaching middle school kids.

That's a good time. That's one of my passions. Do you still do anything related to basketball throughout your free time? No, strangely enough, right, when you have kids, you think they're going to follow your same passion. So, weirdly enough, my son is now quite entrenched in soccer. So, strangely enough, the one sport I did not play, he loves. And weirdly, during COVID, I decided to learn the game of soccer and became basically a Ted Lasso. I started coaching soccer while I was working at my current job through COVID. And I started coaching as an assistant to travel soccer team.

Yeah, it was actually it was busy. No, I'm definitely busy. My schedule is definitely tight, but no it was look It's a lot of fun I love learning the game but working with the kids and watching them grow and now he's gone to a level that I certainly can't Can't help him at right now. So yeah. Yeah, your time has has passed a little bit, but oh, yeah I was way past me now. So really yeah, he's only 12. So it didn't take much to get past his dad awesome, so

If you were to look back at your college aid self, would you give any advice to yourself, or what would you say to him? During my college career, so there's really two things. I think not being afraid to dive into things you may be interested in, like really having an inquisitive, creative mind, just to go see. It's a perfect opportunity and time to do that. Second is the networking piece. You don't realize how many people that you come in contact with, they're all motivated. 

They're in the school of business trying to get out as well and they're going to make connections. So just having that relationship piece can set up careers and opportunities and finding maybe a friend that got into a company because that's a huge part of getting your start. Because once you're in the door, then it's up to you. But getting in the door really it really is helpful from a connection perspective. 

So I think I would have purposely gone out built better connections, built better relationships. Most of them, they just happened by accident. It wasn't something I necessarily intended to do, but looking back at that, still some of my best friends in life are from OU, and in the business world, where a lot of us went to the same classes, it's amazing the connections that you can generate. Absolutely, and that actually reminds me, is that why you're still here, like around the area at Stellantis, because you just love the community, or what made you stay at Stellantis? 

Well, so, at the time, so I've actually, back here, god was it 12 years ago now? So when I first was in that sales district I told you about, I got sent, my first sales district, and what's funny, the company will tell you I picked three areas in the country that you wanna go. So I picked New York where I had met my wife. I picked Chicago and Arizona where I had family. So I got sent to Charleston, South Carolina. So there you go. I moved to the South and I went from Charleston to Greenville, South Carolina, to Tampa, Florida, to Orlando, Florida, and then back home

10 year period. Wow. So at the time it's you're moving up in the career, you're getting a bigger sales area, you've got sort of more opportunity and you just kind of sell yourself out for like, hey, I'm going to move anywhere you ask me to do anything it takes just to get a bigger area and that was part of what propelled me. So no, so I wasn't back here and then obviously an opportunity to come home came about with the Dodge brand and that was something we kind of jumped at. So I had little kids, got a chance to come home. Yeah, it was fun. So, but no, we enjoy being here and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. That's awesome.

So another question I have for you is, so far throughout your career, I know you have a lot going on and you're very busy, but what would you say is one of the hardest challenges that you've dealt with so far? Look, from a hard challenges perspective, I would say, look, if you look at my career in the last 12 years, most of the brands that I've been inherited in almost every situation was in a very challenging state. So I kind of became the Mr. Fix-It, if you will, where a brand was struggling, sort of a shock to the system, get things reinvigorated. The one that I would say most people sort of remember is the Dodge brand. And many people forget that, you know, not too long ago, the number one and two selling cars was a caravan and a dart. And now today when you talk about the Dodge brand, you talk about Chargers and Challengers and Hellcats and Demons and crazy muscle cars that, you know, enthusiasts really get excited about. And that was something that I had an instrumental part in that to go from a brand that had no point of view all the way to a brand that people are rabid about was a huge moment, honestly, for me personally, as well as the fan base, and a real challenge to overcome. Absolutely. Wow.

I knew, actually I do know a lot of people that are very interested in those types of cars. So it's growing very, very rapidly. I see a lot of car meets and I see a lot of Dodge Chargers. So very interesting. But just another question that I have for you. So what's something that you experienced post-graduation that you necessarily weren't expecting and how did you overcome that? You know, I think...

It's the when you get out.

You've had this discipline in your head down the whole time. And you're learning, and you're going to every classroom, and you're following the instruction in the syllabus, and you go through the whole thing. When you get out, all of a sudden, you realize you're completely on your own to make your own way. And the challenge and having the, I'll call it that positive mental attitude and that confidence that you can do it, you can make a difference, at first it's a lonely road. And especially for me, moving across the country to Charleston, where I knew absolutely no one,

like your first real big job that actually like matters that you can sink your teeth into. When you first get out there and you're like, where do I wanna live? What do I wanna do? How do I wanna approach this? I've never lived in this house before. It's an interesting test of strength. So I think if just the opportunity again to build connections, build yourself a pipeline of places where you can go and people that you can rely on, is incredibly important when you first get started. Especially to get the confidence. Absolutely. So when you were in South Carolina, how did you deviate from, let's say, knowing that you really wanted to build your brand and working towards your career, but also, I'm sure you didn't see much family. How did you deviate in between those two things to make yourself still feel happy, to just jump in. 

So for me, I became sort of fascinated, honestly, with car dealerships and how they operated. And I was very lucky that I had a group, the Rick Hendrick Group, it's kind of the famous NASCAR racing team, Rick Hendrick and his auto dealers down there in the south. And they took me under their wing. And they made me feel a part of the store. And even though I didn't actually work there, I worked there. I worked at the desk, I took up. So I was really trying to figure out how this business worked and surrounded myself with people that were into it.

When you quickly start to learn, you're like, okay, I can make an impact, I have ideas, can we actually sell more, do more? And quickly, you got an opportunity to go for it. So I think that helped fill me up in the very beginning and try to just immerse yourself in the community was a huge opportunity for me. Exactly, and just knowing and connecting with people, even in South Carolina, you know, so. No, that was more of a challenge, I'm not gonna lie to you. It was a challenge for you. Being a northerner coming to the south, they're the nicest people in the world, but it takes a little bit to get yourself especially coming from New York and Detroit, down into Charleston, South Carolina, it's just a little bit different of an ecosystem. Yeah, well I mean I can see that you've been across the country at this point, so you've seen a lot of cultures, I'm sure. Yeah, at least in the US, and then obviously more traveling outside now, so. Okay, wow. So.

Another question that I have for you, throughout your college career, was there a defining moment for you where you knew you wanted to pursue in the automotive industry?

You know, honestly, I wouldn't say college. There's two things that I remember. Weirdly, it's just down the street, Great Oak Country Club. Okay, I've heard of that. Yeah, that was one, right? So it's a nice country club. And I worked there for quite a while in college as well. It was sort of like my second job. So when you worked there, and you're surrounded by influential people and people that have had a great deal of success in life, because I mean, at that place, that's what you're going to find. And you quickly get motivated to, I want more.

I don't want to just be this. So I think for me, I remember those moments. Like I remember how it felt. And I would do anything that it takes to try to get that opportunity and that shot. It's the same thing when you wake up, you get there at five o'clock in the morning and you're picking parts on the line. It's another one of those kind of humbling moments of, okay, I need to put my head down. I need to get my college degree. I need to create opportunities because I think I can offer more. Absolutely. Those I remember. Those still drive me. I probably still have a chip on my shoulder. That just drives me of just wanting to do more

Yeah, what would you say was your point in your life actually that you realize? Okay, I think I've had this under control or I think I've made it to where I want to be or have you not got there yet Oh, I Hear I guess here for him for my new role as a CEO. I mean, I'm insanely humbled at the opportunity I mean, I understand the gravity and to get an opportunity like this at this age or at this point in my career

I would say if you look back, there was, particularly like in my early 30s on that Dodge brand, when you actually create something that the world gets excited about and people are writing about and you're like, oh my God, look at how many people are fascinated by what we just did. There's a level of like, no, I can do this. I can actually make a difference. I can create something that the world will actually pay attention to. And this is advice that I would tell, I tell anybody. So I usually get asked to come do like the intern presentations, right? Come talk to them. If I could go back, I genuinely believe this, like in your life and where you're gonna go. So between 20 and 30, you want, when you get out, when you get out of school, you wanna surround yourself with opportunities. You just wanna get in. You wanna learn everything you humanly possibly can and chase the jobs that are gonna teach you more. Make yourself uncomfortable, dive in, experience different parts of the business.

Then by the time you're 30, you need to align yourself to a company and opportunities where, okay, you've learned some things, you attach yourself to the right people, and don't just chase the money. I would tell everybody, don't just chase the money. Chase the person that will take you under their wing, that understands your talent, and they want to see you grow. They want to take you with them. Because 30 to 40 is where you're gonna make your impact. That is in your life stage, kinda in that window. That's where you need to attack. And then when you get paid 40 to 50, that's when it will all come together. But if you look at sort of, I'll call it, attitude of a person. When you're 20, you're so fired up. You're so fired up, but you don't know anything. By the time you're 40.

You're not fired up as much as you were when you were 20, but you certainly know a lot more. You've got the knowledge. So that window between 30 and 40 is when you got the nice balance of, I've learned some things, I've got real credibility, I can make an impact, and I'm still fired up. Absolutely. So, and then by the time you're 40, you should be teaching and growing and helping other people and leading if you're kind of looking at a trajectory of a career. So that's kind of my advice to everybody is purposefully pursue the people that'll make a difference in your life. Don't always just chase the money. It will all come. And I would, if I could go back and tell myself, I was nowhere near patient enough, even though I've had this crazy trajectory that everybody remembers, I was still so frustrated. So frustrated. You know, like, why haven't I got my shot yet? Did you attend career fairs and all of that jazz?

Yeah, we started there, I don't think they were as robust as it is now. I look at what Solantis does at OU and the amount of connections that we have and I think the school's like the school of business here. We've done so much more to connect our community to major companies. It didn't exist the same way. He used to show up with a folder in literally your resume and you would just hand this out to anybody that would talk to you and try to get them to look at you for two seconds so that maybe you can get an impact with all these people there. It's so different now. We can be precise.

we can actually gain interest so much earlier. So, yeah, that's how it was back then. But for me, it was a shocker when, like, there's all of a sudden no opportunities. Like, the world changed after 9-11, and literally, what do you do? How do you get a job? So...

Yeah, it's an interesting process. But for me, I just needed to get in. It was always my attitude. Just get in. Once I'm in, I'll make it happen. Just fake it till you make it. Pretty much. My boss always says act as if. Act as if. My mentor, yeah. Act as if. Yeah, if you want it, just take it. Love it. So throughout your time, did you have any mentors or anybody that helped you? Oh yeah, no, I'll tell you, I've got a couple that changed my life. One is Tim Kuniskis was my boss for the better part a little over a decade. He is, you know,

He's the godfather of the Hellcat. He was the CEO of Dodge. He took me under his wings. He promoted me like nine times. I owe that guy a lot and I learned a lot. I'm still learning from him all the time. So for me now to have really be in charge of my own brand in Jeep and he's still the CEO of Ram today. So to have somebody that you look up to that had that kind of impact on your life and really showed you a certain level of discipline and attitude towards business, it was huge. And I was very lucky, and this is what I was talking about, they'll take you under your wing. I had six people in a row that went on in the auto industry to be senior vice presidents or CEOs, all in a row. I would have never, never, ever, ever got some of the learnings I had if I wouldn't have met and seen those people in action. And for me, it's all about seeing them, how they behave, their leadership, the way they approach business every day. So that's why I think finding people that are that instrumental and care about you will make a huge difference. Where did you find those people? Dumb luck, man. I'll just tell you love luck.

I was in Florida and on behalf of Dodge, I was the local Dodge marketing manager. And I wrote a proposal on what was wrong with Dodge. And the old CEO had switched at the time and the new one happened to get it on his desk. He's one of those dumb luck things. And he strangely was like, what is this? And it's like, oh, you know. It's...

Kid in the field in the sales group wrote this thing about what was wrong with Dodge and I weirdly got on this short interview list and everyone's told me you will never get this job. You're going to fly to Detroit right now and you're going to go meet Reid Bigland and he's going to interview you.

So I went in there with absolutely nothing to lose, said everything I ever wanted to say about what I thought, figured I would just leave, hopefully I didn't make a fool of myself, and 48 hours he called me back and said, you're now head of Dodge product for North America. Wow. I was just like, wait, what? So that's how I got moved back to Michigan. And then we started having some fun with some Dodges. Started making some cool stuff. Love it. Actually, with that being said, what keeps you passionate about the work you do at Jeep every day?

Look, for me, I've become very much aware that we're talking, this is a company of, let's call it 300,000 people that work here. There's tons of suppliers. So there are people that the food that goes on their plates every single day, a plant worker, a working person at CTC, whatever it might be. They survive on the cars that we sell. We keep plants running at the end of the day. I mean, that's what I do. Right. I get customers excited so they buy cars so I can build more cars to keep people working, keeping Americans working every day.

and seeing what they go through to make sure that they got a check is all the motivation that you need. You multiply that times the people that literally are cheap nuts. They're just psychopaths passionate about the brand, the history, the military, America. Yeah, right, it's all part of being cheap. There's a lot riding on it, right? It means a lot to a lot of people that they identify with. So I take that with a great deal of seriousness that I have to defend that point of view, that thing that means so much.

Absolutely. And with that being said actually, do you guys have any like tactics like for those rubber ducks that people use on Jeep or is that just a self-made marketing tool? No, so look the rubber ducks was started by a fan. I mean that was somebody that started it and at Jeep events and then we actually ended up taking a giant rubber duck and putting it down at one of the events the Detroit Auto Show and the thing now is is rabid. 

So if you go sit in the parking lot like you might find a duck on your car somebody that just to maybe what you've done to it at the events. But yeah, the Jeep's a deep passion point. And it's pretty fun to see people that just excited about something that you do. Yeah, usually I see that when people own a Jeep, they own a Jeep and they love their Jeep with so much passion. Yeah, and if something's wrong, they'll let you know. So yeah, we take that with a great deal of seriousness and it's fun to be around. A Jeep event is unlike any other. Oh yeah, I'm sure. So another question that I had for you.

Is there anyone you'd like to especially shout out from Oakland University?

anybody that was a mentor for you, helped you out throughout your career. I would say, look, I had some, my friends at that time frame, the people that were in that group, you had six of them from OU all stood up in my wedding. Oh wow. Yeah, so like Jay Russ and Nick McQuire, and there was Steve Franey and all these guys. Yeah. The relationships I made here was life-changing for me because I told you, I went to a high school in my senior year.

I didn't know anybody, like you don't know what happens. Then you go to college and you make these connections that literally, like they last a lifetime. So, so many friends from that era that I think that's where I would probably have the most impact because we kind of battled through that time together. But there were so many professors that made a difference. I'll tell you about the public speaking. Oh yeah. So for me, the business classes and the comms classes, public speaking for one, now that I get on stage and you got cameras on you and auto shows

I still go back to many of the principles that you learned, just the energy and talking to the entire classroom and those things. It's the same discipline, now there's just a thousand people in the crowd instead of 30. But it's the same stuff. So no, I loved my time here, absolutely loved it. I think I love my time here too, so I'm glad we're on that same page. But I actually noticed something on your arm, it said last tenth. Oh, my last tenth bracelet, yeah. Do you wanna tell the viewers what that is about? So yeah, so that's a good story. So my mentor, you mentioned earlier Tim Kuniskis,

He always talks, he has a couple of disciplines, couple of life lessons that you have. And the last 10th we always talk about is the difference between really making something truly great, truly special, truly memorable. A lot of people do enough work to get an A. They'll get 90% at work and they'll hear a job or a classroom and they'll say, oh, I did a good job. And it is. The last 10th, that last 10%, that's the difference between being truly memorable, like no one remembers an A.

Yeah, an a-plus somebody that risked it all put it all on the table and went for it and went big and watched it hit big Mm-hmm. Those are the ones you remember Those are the ones with legacy So we started so he started the last tenth and you know right now Stalantis has a lot of growing to do We got a lot of areas to improve So we've he handed out bracelets after the last speech that we just gave and really the entire mantra at

last little bit of excitement, it's the details. And then you were picking on my LFG on the other side, so that's for the sales force, so you know what it stands for. But yeah, well, we'll leave that off the podcast today. But nonetheless, the place is fired up right now. There's a lot of people passionate about improving. So between really putting in that last little bit of effort and the tenacity to make a difference, that's what you're seeing in our company right now. That's awesome. Another question that I had for you, real quick.

So I know that you talked about you were on the hockey team. I played some hockey, yes. You had some hockey. Yeah, it was the club team. It got so big so quick that you had players in there that were just absolutely extraordinary. And then it turned into what it is now, which is awesome. Yeah, I think we have a D3 team, I think it is. D2. Yeah, are we D3?

that you would know better than me if they are now. But I mean, it might be D1 at this point. Yeah, it went from completely, honestly, I don't know. Wow. I don't know what division it is. But yeah, no, it was literally the inception. Wow. A whole bunch of us at, it was literally started at roller hockey and then went to ice hockey and then it actually turned into a club. Love it. I think they play at the Onyx, I think, a lot of the time, suburban. So a lot of good places. Another question I have for you. So what is your best advice for current students looking to set themselves up success graduation.

The biggest thing you can do during, I mean obviously, okay, you got all your classes, all that stuff that's in front of you. But you wanna go make connections and learn different industries so that you can figure out where you want to go. Internships are incredibly helpful to go experience types of business, see businesses. Think about how many people that have, I don't know, a parent or a counselor or somebody in the school of the business that might have a connection to say, hey, can I just come for a day and see your business? Can I just see what you do? So that you really understand. When I was a sophomore,

I wanted to be an attorney. So I went with someone to courtrooms. I wanted to see what attorneys actually do. And then outside the courtroom. And I found out I hated it. I was like, there is no way I want to do this. And there's grind away reading books all day, every day, and going through all these documents. I find cases fascinating. I still do. But I just wanted to be in the courtroom and the guy that's like, you can't handle it. That was kind of what I wanted to do, like the prosecutor. But no, I didn't. But for me, the advice would be, businesses, see where you might want to start. So that way you're like, okay, that's for me, I'm good at that, I would like that, or I'm passionate about that, maybe I want a career in that. Because once you get your business degree, there's so many more things you want to do. So many places you can go, or things that might inspire you to be a part of. It'll make a huge difference in your daily work. Do you recommend, are you students that have graduated to look for MBA possibilities, or?

What could you do with a master's degree? What would you say about that? A master's degree is by no means bad. It's by no means bad. If depending on the job market and your opportunities, the way that I looked at it is there's so much debt associated with going to college, potentially on where you go. Some colleges, I mean, it can be very, very expensive. You're in massive debt. At the same time, all right, if you go to a company that believes in you and they've got good programs, they'll pay for your master's. So you just need to get in the door and start making money and start paying off your debt and start working through it and you may be able to find programs like that, especially if you're having success. 

So it's not necessary to do it. Now, if you go to the master's program, yes, if you can get that done and you can have an accelerated sort of learning, you can very quickly actually command a higher salary. So it's really that value equation to me based on where you're at in your life, do you want to stay in college and continue to finish it? And do you have the resources to finish it? If you do, you can go get it and it'll pay off for you long-term. You can also command more when you first get out. And OU has already shown proof of you get your master's degree, you can command more, and you're more competitive in the marketplace. But at the same time, you could get in, get your degree, start making money, and you can do many, many flexible programs today, like OUs, that you could get your master's degree and do it while you're working at the same time. So I think you just got to individually balance it out. It's not required to get a job. It's not. At the same time, yeah, it'll certainly help you. 

So I think it's just more of a financial situation of how bad you want to get out there. Awesome. And the job market, right? I mean, if the job market's hopping and you can go take one, get in. Exactly. Yeah, if it's definitely tougher, all right, maybe you want to stay and get your masters and keep doing something else and working it down. Yeah, well, if there's an opportunity, you should take it, you know? That's always a good way to put it. I agree completely. Absolutely. Well, unfortunately, this is the wrap-up time for this podcast, but I do have one quick question for you. 

If you could give a one-sentence piece of advice to all OU students, especially the School of Business students, what would you say to them? Just in one sentence. Oh, in one sentence. Let's see. Um, look.

My advice to you, so if you're in the school business, you're in your career path, follow things you are passionate about, while also good at. People say, do what you love. Chase what you love. Well, the more you do it, it doesn't necessarily always...

give you the living that you're looking for, where you want something that you enjoy. You're looking for a passion point. So I would say, follow what you're passionate about, while also good at it. Awesome. All right, well you hit it here first, everyone. That was Bob Borderdorf. Thank you so much for your time today. It was a pleasure hosting you and hearing all about your background and your experiences and you as a person. I appreciate you so much. Appreciate the opportunity to come speak with you and look to all the Golden Grizzlies out there. Go Grizzlies and have a great year. Go Grizzlies. Awesome.

Make sure to stay connected through our social media, through our YouTube channel. Make sure to hit that subscribe button and all the links for all of our social media are in the description. Thank you guys and we will see you on another episode of Grizz in Biz.