MBA

Profiles

Brandon Gayle, MBA 2010

In the 1970s, Brandon Gayle's family left Jamaica for New York State where they settled in Rochester. "I watched my mother build her career over time," Brandon says, "from serving as a bookkeeper at a local television station, to night school at a community college, to working for Eastman Kodak in their Credit and Service Marketing Departments. All the while, the value she placed on education was clear."

At Harvard College, the value of education and business intertwined. "I worked for Harvard Student Agencies where I ran a temp agency for students and the Harvard Bartending Course — it was a great opportunity to turn around a business that was struggling, which my team and I did," says Brandon. Approached by recruiters in investment banking and consulting, Brandon chose the latter. "I felt that consulting would give me the best opportunity to see multiple industries and acquire a tangible set of skills."

Developing a deeper playbook

Three years at Bain exposed Brandon to "several analytical projects in aerospace and defense: building models, gathering data, and market research, as well as more client based work in consumer products, insurance, and housing."

Then an opportunity opened in an exciting and unexpected arena — sports, specifically, working with the New York Jets. "They were looking for help with strategic planning," Brandon says. "It was a great opportunity; they were in the process of financing a new stadium and relocating their operations from Manhattan and Long Island to Florham Park, New Jersey."

While his stint with the Jets was successful in many ways it also felt incomplete. "I didn't have the impact I thought I should have," says Brandon. "I needed deeper management skills that would help me truly drive change in organizations." That need led back to Bain, then to HBS.

"The case method is special in ways I can only begin to describe," Brandon says. "I'm forced to make decisions with every case and defend my positions in class. Over time, I've become more comfortable with ambiguity. I'm also able to come in with a position I might later abandon in light of what others say. Being comfortable changing my mind — I didn't really know what that meant until I got to HBS."

Further journeys

Brandon continues to exercise leadership as he pursues his MBA. He was recently elected Co-Social Chair of the African American Student Union. In addition, during his first year he helped organize the Caribbean Business Club trek, "the only business conference," Brandon notes, "that is off-campus. It was a great opportunity to get involved and see how business in the Caribbean is done." On another trip, Brandon joined fifteen HBS colleagues for a three-day weekend in Russia where they visited Moscow's highlights, "like the Kremlin and Red Square."

This summer, Brandon will be in Chicago, working as an extension of a Bain project team that is helping to open a charter school in September. After graduation, Brandon says, "I'm going back to Bain with an eye on gaining more management experience. Long term? I want to be a team president in the NFL."