What if the thing holding you back isn’t the problem, but how you’re thinking about it?
In this episode, I’m joined by Brandon J Hurst, a Chick-fil-A Owner/Operator, entrepreneur and author of Outthink Yourself: The Mindset and Discipline of Leaders Who Refuse to Quit. From selling his mum’s pickles at eight years old to turning down a free master’s for a $12-an-hour job in Chicago, Brandon shares how the quality of our decisions is shaped by the quality of our thinking.
We talk through his Thinking Discipline System (See, Become, Build), why emotions are data rather than noise, and what a busy Friday night on a restaurant floor can teach senior leaders that a boardroom can’t. I also push on the question I’d been waiting to ask since I first read the title: where’s the line between discipline and burnout?
Brandon’s answer stayed with me. Refusing to quit means staying committed to the purpose while being willing to change the approach.
In this episode
- The pickles, the slap and the start of an entrepreneur
- Real limits vs self-built ones: what do I know, what am I assuming, what else could be true?
- See, Become, Build: the Thinking Discipline System
- Checking your ego when you think you’ve got it figured out
- Leading from the front line, and why the gap between strategy and execution breeds dysfunction
- Resilience vs burnout, and why care will always cost you something
- What rest looks like for someone who refuses to quit
- The best advice Brandon ever ignored
Links
- Preorder Outthink Yourself (out 26 January 2027): brandonjhurst.com/outthinkyourself
- Free Thinking Discipline journal with preorders: go to his website and follow the 3 easy steps to claim their free journal
- Follow Brandon on Instagram: @iambrandonjhurst
- Brandon’s recommended read: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan with Benjamin Hardy
If this episode gave you something to think about, share it with one leader who needs to hear it.
