S2 E7 - Governing Like a CEO with Governor Mike Braun

Governor Mike Braun of Indiana has navigated the worlds of business, the United States Senate, and now executive leadership of one of America's most dynamic states. He brings to this conversation a rare combination of private-sector discipline and public-sector accountability — the kind of leader who understands that the weight of a title is measured not in prestige, but in responsibility.

In this episode of Leadership Unscripted, Governor Braun sits down with Dr. Greg Steely for a candid conversation about what it truly means to lead at scale. They explore the art of decision-making under pressure, how to balance the demands of today without mortgaging the future, and what stewardship of public trust looks like when millions of lives hang in the balance. These are the leadership lessons that don't make the headlines — but shape everything.

With Indiana's future in education and workforce development on the line, this conversation couldn't be more timely. If you believe that real leadership is about serving the next generation, not just the next election cycle, this is an episode you cannot afford to miss.

Leadership Unscripted is brought to you by Growing Leaders a program of the Maxwell Leadership Foundation. Learn more about Growing Leaders at Growingleaders.com and Maxwell Leadership Foundation by Visiting Maxwellleadership.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Let's talk a little bit about leadership. That's what we do, and we know you're a phenomenal leader. You believe deeply in it. Let's talk about how now as the governor, how your stewardship of leadership now, of this leadership mantle you've been given, how does that change and adapt now that you're in this position?

SPEAKER_00 0:14

I'll cite this big difference between running a business, which is a lot harder than being in the Senate, or being a governor. Yeah. And that's because in this job, it's applying for it. Two hard deadlines in May and November, and you're out of business. It took me 17 years to get out of it and scale a business.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Governor Mike Braun didn't just study business. He built a man who is the visionary about things to do in the state that will impact our country. Governor Mike Braun.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

We were in one location. It was very uh hard Scrabble. Now three of my four kids run the business that I led, and it's got 90 locations in 40 states and several in Canada. If you want to lead, it's not a solo job because if you're doing anything of scale.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

You already did that. Welcome to Leadership Unscripted. That's one of the better ones I've heard. Welcome to Leadership Unscripted. Man, I am super excited to bring you a very, very special guest. Anytime we get to meet with the top influencers anywhere in the world, we're excited. But today, we are meeting with who we consider the top influencer in the state of Indiana and a man who is who is a visionary about things to do in the state that will impact our country. So today we welcome to the podcast, Governor Mike Braun. Governor, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being with us today.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

My pleasure to do it.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

And we are so happy. And congratulations on becoming governor. And uh and I know the state is excited to have you here. Um I know we're excited to have uh had have you on the podcast. We were talking to Governor uh Governor Huckabee Sanders. We had done a podcast with her, and uh we had talked about how we were trying to get to Indiana, get to know you, or doing some stuff, and she was like, You're gonna love Mike. So um we're excited and thank you. So I want to dive right into it if we can because I want to be respectful of your time. So let's talk a little bit about leadership. That's what we do, and we know you're a phenomenal leader, you believe deeply in it. We just had a conversation about John and Hillham, and that's where you live, which is amazing. Talk near Hillham. Deal here Hillham. Yeah, let's let's talk about how now, as the governor, how your stewardship of leadership now, of this leadership mantle you've you've been given, how does that change and adapt now that you're in this position?

SPEAKER_00 2:54

So, in this position, you've got a lot of things you can do, but if you're gonna be effective at it, you probably needed to get those skills a long time ago. And I get that question asked often uh because I was wanted to be a surgeon when I went to college until I found out it was gonna take nine years or further education and had to shift gears, uh, then uh gonna be a become a lawyer. So I switched from biology to uh political science. And by the time I got through college, I was into three majors, it was an econ degree with a minor in political science, and didn't go to med or law school, went to business school. Wow. And you think, well, making a lot of changes there, to me, it goes back to leadership. Because when I was a kid, mostly probably driven by my mother, to just get involved. Yeah. Not forcefully, but she said, hey, it's always better to take a shot at it, see if you like it, get involved. And I really followed that through uh becoming a scout. Yeah. Um, getting the Eagle Scout Award, which was the first time I really had to take a step up with uh tenderfoot, second class, first class, star life, and then Eagle. Wow. 21 merit badges. And uh doing all that kind of stuff will prepare you. I was involved in student government, only lost one election so far. Okay, was running for a class president as a junior against the two-year incumbent and didn't give it up, but did it again as a senior and won. Right. Uh, but again, you're sticking your neck out. And whether it's something simple like that or where you get into the real world, and when I was headed to Wall Street after getting an econ degree and then going to business school, took the first entrepreneurs course back in '78, I uh said, I don't think that makes sense. You you're leading in terms of where you're going with your own life. And all I can tell you is when I made the call to my dad that we got a change of plans, he was so proud. And he said, Well, what's plan B? Well, we're moving back home.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

It was not into the basement, but again, it was probably the smartest decision my wife and I ever made. And she's been involved too. Yeah. So the leadership is going to evolve over time. Right. And I didn't have to be leading, but if I was going to get seriously involved, I was probably going to end up there. And then 37 years from not going to Wall Street, office was in a used mobile home, literally, in Haysville, near Hillham. Wow. And it took me 17 years to get out of it and scale a business. We were in one location. It was very uh hard Scrabble. Now three of my four kids run the business that I led, and it's got 90 locations in 40 states and several in Canada. Wow. The American Dream. Yes. And all throughout it, I'll say this was the driver. Never had a mentor other than my family in my community, which is a blessing. Yeah. If you don't have that, you're going to need someone to kind of help you through things. So good. You got to take risk. It doesn't come to you. It's going to be a lot of hard work and you hone those skills. Hardest thing I ever did was running for Senate because I was a state rep man. My wife offered me up for the school board when the call came for her, and I was 50 years old, man. That was 04. Did that for 10 years. The local state rep called me when he wanted to run for Senate. And that's when I got into the political side of life. And again, everything I did as a business owner and what I did even through school helped me do well there. Yeah. And, you know, in the Senate, I was talking to you earlier, we were awarded the freshman Senate office of the year of the Congress, the three Congresses we were there. That whole Hoosier team went with me there, and they've come back. So it sets the stage up as governor, where you are the GOAT, generally uh not the greatest of all time, because you're on the point of every issue. Right. And those are so divided, and you got to plow through with what makes sense, uh, make your case, and a lot of times take a lot of um, you know, incoming along the way. Sure. All along go, take a little risk, manage it, and deal with whatever you've learned along the way. And I'll cite this big difference between running a business, which is a lot harder than being in the Senate, or being a governor. Yeah. And that's because in this job, it's applying for it. Two hard deadlines in May and November, and you're out of business. If you've got thick enough skin and you're willing to go through the long application process, you're the only one. You're the monopoly. And when you love a business where they give you the revenues and they go up two to four percent each year, federal government's gotten way ahead of its skis, deeply in debt. Enterprising states that have to live within their means, whatever we do here, it'll be shared around with the other 49. It's good. I think that's how we take the country into a new place.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

I love that. I love that. Let's expand a little bit on your leadership now and talking about that. So you said in this position, there's division everywhere. How do the great leaders, and we consider you a great leader, and you're you're you know you're learning on the fly too. Yeah, how do the great leaders lead in the midst of division in order to bring more unity to uh to to the community?

SPEAKER_00 8:42

So you gotta have a support cast. Yeah, and I've always been lucky uh in building the business. It was uh like hiring a really good salesman out of the local gas station. Yeah, those kinds of things. You gotta have a nose for how do you get others to come along with you. And I did that in taking that team out to DC and coming back. Yeah. But if you want to lead, it's not a solo job uh because if you're doing anything of scale, you've got to then know how to manage and how to get people to come along with you. I love that. I've been blessed there, and I had that same um tutorial 37 years in the real world. Yeah. And doing that as an entrepreneur has made the political side of life fairly easy, especially in applying for the job, because you're constantly selling your business and getting people to come along with it.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Right. That's great. Uh let's let's talk about now that you're leading in this position, you've got to not only keep your eye on the future, because you're looking at the future of the state. Where are we trying to take Indiana? But you've also got to lead lead in the now, because there's I'm sure there's abundant issues that you're trying to work through that affect the the people of Indiana now. Talk about how you how do you balance that? How do you lead both those ways?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

So clearly, if you want to be successful in life, you can't play the short game. Uh you got to play the long game, but you got to get there. Yeah. So that means you're gonna have to have good principles, good game plans, or you're gonna get caught in a bunch of cul-de-sacs.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Where then you're taking time to back out and replan. So I'm not doing anything in the short run that doesn't dovetail with the mid and long term. And again, using the metaphor of a business, the more you do that, your balance sheet gets better, the opportunities come your way, and it gets easier. One of the big mistakes you can make is try to please so many in the short run to where it's not sustainable. And that's a tricky navigation in the world of politics. Sure. At least in business, if you got a good line of credit or you've got a decent net worth, you can take a few rough turns. So in politics, it's got to blend together in a way because a lot of these issues, they're not gonna be patient to wait for the next term. I love that. A little trickier there.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Yeah, I love that. Um, next generation. That's our heart. Yeah. That's John Maxwell's heart too, is the next gen. Talk about let's talk about leadership of the next generation, your heart for that. Um, workforce readiness is is so big on your heart and what you want to get done in this state. Talk about the next gen and and talk a little bit about where leadership needs to go with them and how we need to help them, and maybe how Indiana is is rallying around students today.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

So any generation that's a new generation is gonna probably be mostly interested in their edification, their education, and what do you do with it? Uh we're at the pivot point where the standard pathway has gotten too expensive. Yeah. Uh four-year degrees, uh, almost all of us that own businesses, three of my four kids run the one now, we don't make that requirement.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Uh we take a broader view. However, you get your skills, we want you to have a work ethic. Most of what you learn is gonna be on the job anyway. Yeah, that sounds a lot like workforce development. And in our own state here, it used to be 65,000 jobs 10 years ago, now it's 130,000. Where if you've got the skills to be a mechanic, you're gonna probably have the best paycheck in a place like Toyota, other than the top brass running it. That's right. That is hard for even establishment education to get their hands around. So, what we're doing in Indiana is no different than what I'd be doing in a business. We're orienting your education with parents in the driver's seat, kids as well, with the full gamut of choices. We're not gonna uh say that you've got to get a four-year degree when half the kids pursuing it don't make it to the finish line. That's right. Have lost time and money. And we've got an actual high school diploma now that is gonna be career and technical education oriented so that you're getting to the market what the market needs, so you don't have to move back into the basement if you got the wrong degree or out of state. Yep. And we're getting it done, I think, better than any state. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Yeah, I love that. All right, we're we're we're almost done here. So this has been great, by the way. Thank you. All right, I got some rapid fire, quick, fun questions for you. Which you haven't given to the case. I know. I know. This is here we go. All right. Uh, Governor Mike Braun, when he's not running the state with his team, right? And he's not being the best husband and father in the world that we know you are, we could find you doing what to relax.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

You would find me wondering uh that woodland that I know about. Yeah that was the first investment I made that had no legal right-of-way to it. Right. And I got into forestry and agriculture as sidelined interests. Once I didn't go to Wall Street and came back home, awesome. So I manage timberground. It's great therapy for the job of a senator or a governor, and I find more wild mushrooms that are delectables than any government. You love that senator. Yes. Hunt and fish a lot.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Yep. You do, you hunt and fish a lot.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Right there. And figuratively speaking, I may have to go 30 minutes onto a different farm. I never travel to fish or hunt. You bring the weather into play. I make sure the weather is perfect and go to a place where you even abuse them.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Governor, you like control. I like that about you, sir. Yeah, why not?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Yes, why not if it makes sense?

SPEAKER_02 14:33

That's right. All right, next question. Um, if you could spend, you got 30 minutes with any leader, dead or alive, ever, who would that be and why?

SPEAKER_00 14:43

It would be Thomas Jefferson because when he was at the cusp of seeing what the rest of our country was about and commissioned the Lewis and Clark uh expedition, uh, I would have loved to have been on it uh with a guarantee that I was gonna make it back. I think I still would have rolled the dice because I mean everything was in front of us. Sure. Uh and you look at what happened from there forward. Yeah. That's an amazing story. And I like what he was about. He liked small government. Yeah. Uh one of his favorite statements paraphrased, I hope what we've created here, they don't try to use to vote yourself into prosperity. Look how you know where he was at prior with a place that's now running two trillion dollar deaths. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Unbelievable. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

But I think that would have been an interesting time.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

That's a great one. All right, last one, real quick. Uh big hoosier, right? Talk a little bit about what you did for coach coming off the national championship. I just think that's wonderful what y'all did and and uh here at the So I watched it and in high school.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

I uh was a split end, played football, basketball, short forward, ran track hurdles. I was probably best at the hurdles, but love sports. Yeah. And uh where I live in southern Indiana, you're generally relating to IU, and we got two great Big Ten schools. Yeah. I mean, Purdue has been uh amazing since I've gotten into this job. Uh I'm equally interested. Yes. But here, uh, when it comes to Signeti and how we got a hold of him in the first place, to me was a miracle. Yeah. And then for anyone to say uh Google, I win, well, uh and back it up with what he did. I mean, losing uh two games in the first season um that's amazing. Yep. And then going undefeated in the second. Unbelievable. And we talked about the how bad our record was. I know that we're still got the second works record, but that's like a miracle. Yeah. And it uh to me, I like the underdog, I like people that come from kind of nowhere and build something out of nothing. And he did that.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

That's the American dream. American dream, governor. Thank you. This has been a pleasure. Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate you.