If you ask entrepreneur and former NFL player Dhani Jones what he does for a living, he’ll say he reads the Matrix. His insatiable curiosity and experience in a vast array of worlds has made him a conduit of information. Whether it’s through his investments, his TV shows, or his consulting work – Dhani likes to help people make sense of the world with his unique perspective. A perspective that is deeply rooted in his love for football. Dhani joins Breaking Schemas hosts Marcus Collins and...

Most business leaders with good sense would say starting a for-profit company and a nonprofit company at the same time is not going to be a successful business venture. You need to make the money first and then invest in the nonprofit later. But that’s exactly what David Merritt, former University of Michigan point guard, did. David was so invested in the mission of his company, Merit Goodness, he was determined to find a way to make his fashion brand work just enough to simultaneously fund...

What happens when you combine a business degree, a passion for hip hop, and an expert lens on pop culture? Disruptive magic. Music journalist Sowmya Krishnamurthy is the author of Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion. After earning her business degree at Michigan Ross, she moved to New York but wasn’t looking for a typical finance job that many in her cohort were after. She was there for the music. Sowmya joins Breaking Schemas hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch to...

The relationships you build on your career journey can play a crucial role in your success. Whether it’s with mentors, peers in your industry, colleagues, clients, or all of the above – networking is key. But what does cultivating and leveraging those relationships look like in action? Larry Brinker, Jr. is the CEO of Brinker – a family-owned construction company in Detroit, Mich. that builds communities through projects like hospitals, corporate headquarters, sports facilities, stadiums,...

In 2018, dancer, marketer, and nonprofit founder Grace French did one of the most courageous things a person can do. She came forward and reported the abuse she had endured as a child at the hands of an infamous USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor. But that was just the beginning of her work that’s been shaped by courage. Grace went on to found the nonprofit organization, Army of Survivors, with a mission to bring awareness, accountability, and transparency to sexual...

How do you get to be the second most subscribed YouTube channel of all time with a viewer count larger than some countries? By being bad at it for a long time. Marc Hustvedt is the President of MrBeast, a YouTube channel created by Jimmy Donaldson – who Hustvedt calls the “Kobe Bryant of YouTube.” But before the MrBeast team was racking up over 220 million subscribers, it was a lot of shooting free throws and hoping for the best. Hustvedt took his Michigan Ross education to Hollywood when...

The first step in breaking from the pack and disrupting the status quo is having the agency to do so. Mike Muse has made a career of doing just that at the intersection of politics and pop culture. He’s the co-founder of the record label, Muse Recordings, the founder and CEO of LawChamps, a TV personality and ABC News correspondent, and the host of the Mike Muse Show on Sirius Radio. Breaking Schemas hosts Marcus Collins and John Branch chat with Muse about his unique and accessible...

The only constant in life is change. In some instances, this change is evolutionary, with incremental, almost undetectable steps. But oftentimes, change is revolutionary, causing disruption of the status quo, and those who are able to navigate these changes typically win, while those who are unprepared and unaware, well, they typically don't fare so well. And that's why we created this podcast, Breaking Schemes—to talk with change makers, category challengers, and idea generators who have...