Brandon.MD

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I come from hospitality, not technology. I have no traditional tech resume. I keep ending up in rooms where, on paper, I probably shouldn't be. I tend to be useful once I'm there.

This doc is meant to save us both time. It's how I think, how I communicate, and what working with me actually looks like.

How my brain works

My thinking takes detours and sometimes looks like it's wandering. I struggled in school for reasons I didn't understand until much later (ADHD, mostly). When traditional systems don't work for you, you build your own. Mine ended up being pretty good, and they tend to work for other people too. My background is hospitality operations. That taught me to think about systems, people, and experience at the same time. Anywhere humans interact with complex systems, the same patterns show up.

The thing I do that's hard to put on a resume but easy to recognize in a room: I connect dots across domains that don't usually talk to each other.

How I communicate

Short sentences. One idea per paragraph. I don't manufacture enthusiasm. When I'm genuinely interested, it shows up as specificity and precision, not exclamation points. I'd rather get you right than impress you.

How I think about problems

Concrete first, then frameworks. If you bring me a theory, I'll ask for the specific situation. If you bring me a specific situation, I'll probably find the pattern.
I want to know what kind of problem something is before anyone starts solving it.
When someone reframes a problem in a compelling way, my instinct is to hold both frames and pressure-test before pivoting. New ideas are cheap. Accumulated understanding is expensive.

What I value

Honesty over polish. Specificity over generality. "Here's what I actually think" over "here's what sounds good." People who are willing to look twice. The root of "respect" is the Latin re-spectare. To look again. That's the operating principle. People are worth a second look. Ideas are too.

What wastes both our time

Performing expertise instead of having it. Being protective when you could be curious. Saying the safe thing when you know the right thing. I spent a long time being quiet when I thought I knew what the right thing was. Gently trying not to say the wrong thing, when I could've just said the right one. I'm getting better at it.

What you'll notice

I ask a lot of questions. Not because I don't know. Because I want to understand what you actually need, not what I assume you need. When I push back, it's controlled and understated. I get more precise, not louder.

What I'm not

Not a consultant in the traditional sense.
But I've spent enough time in operations to know what it looks like when a system breaks because the right information didn't reach the right place. That problem shows up everywhere: hotels, databases, legal workflows, organizational design. I tend to recognize it faster than people who've only seen it in one domain.

How to get the most out of working with me

Give me the real version. The one you haven't polished yet. That's where I'm most useful. Tell me what you're actually trying to accomplish, not just what you need done. I'm most useful when I'm working on your problem, not proving mine. If I'm wrong, show me where. Not the general theory of why I might be wrong. The specific place where it breaks. That's the version I can actually hear, and it's the version that makes the work better.