Brandon J. Hurst - BJH Brand

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Brandon J. Hurst - BJH Brand

I help leaders build teams that scale. Multi-unit operator. Investor.

Author.
📙drops 01.26.27
Pre-order 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 Now ⤵️

https://brandonjhurst.com/outthinkyourself/

09/18/2026

🎶 Where my hardworking people at? 🎶

The ones who think hard work alone gets you to the next level?

I used to think that too.

Late nights, early mornings — whatever needed to be done, I was there.

Then a promotion opened up. I didn’t get it.

And then I got asked to help train the person who did.😬🥴

That one stung.

I thought being great at my job made me ready to lead it.

My thinking had to shift — from “look at what I can do” to “look at who I can help develop.”

Working harder makes you indispensable where you are.

Developing others is what proves you’re ready for the next level.

Here’s my challenge to you this week: take one thing you’re great at, and teach somebody else how to do it — without you.

Stop trying to prove you can carry more.
Prove you can multiply what you already carry.

Tag the person who taught you that hard work alone wasn’t enough — or the one you’re developing right now.

09/17/2026

You’ve probably felt it in the same week: the room where you’re the one with the answer, and the room where you’re the one who still has learning to do.

Some of my greatest growth hasn’t come from leading.

𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁.

There are rooms where my experience can move the conversation forward, and there are others where I’m better served listening to someone who’s already been where I’m trying to go.

Knowing the difference takes self-awareness.

You have to check your ego, read the room, and be secure enough to learn from the experiences and perspectives around you.

The best leaders I know move comfortably between both roles.

That’s one of the disciplines I explore in 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛: knowing what the moment requires from you before deciding who you need to be in it.

🔁 Tag a leader who knows how to do both.

09/16/2026

There’s a kind of yes that means more than encouragement — the kind that comes from someone whose life already proves what you’re trying to say.

When Ambassador Andrew J. Young agreed to write the foreword for my book, I remember thinking — this is bigger than a book.

I’m from Atlanta. I grew up knowing his name and understanding what he represented.

His legacy is everywhere.

When you think about the barriers he faced, the rooms he helped open, and everything he had to overcome just to do the work he was called to do — it puts your own obstacles in perspective.

That’s what made his “yes” so personal.

𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 is about what happens when life puts something in front of you that requires you to think differently, push past yourself, and keep going.

Ambassador Young has lived that.

So to have someone whose life represents so much of what this book is about introduce my words with his, that’s something I’ll never take lightly.

🔁 Tag someone whose life has taught you to keep going, even when the obstacles are real.

09/14/2026

Before 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 had a cover, it had four almost-covers.

Version one was a portrait. Strong, but it made the book about me, and this was never supposed to be a book about me. It was supposed to be a mirror.

Version two flipped a man underwater. Visually bold, but it read like drowning, not like breaking through your own thinking.

Version three was clean and classic. The closest one yet. Still, it felt too quiet for the energy I wanted this book to carry.

Version four was the clever one. The kind you had to sit with to understand. I wanted something that pulled you in before you even had time to think about it.

Then there was the one I chose.

The moment I saw it, I knew. It felt alive. Confident. A little unexpected. It didn’t just look like a book about outthinking yourself, it looked like the version of you that’s already doing it.

Four concepts taught me what this cover needed to be before I ever saw the right one.

𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝟬𝟭.𝟮𝟲.𝟮𝟳

Which version would you have picked? Tell me below.

09/11/2026

About last night…2027 New York Fashion Week

Becky Anderson Pickle This was a dream come true. TY for letting me be your +1.

Stylist: La Contento
Hair: Dekko Salon NY + Silk Da God 🇭🇹🇨🇦 n

09/09/2026

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜.”

That line comes from my friend Anthony Edwards Jr — Co-Founder & CEO of EatOkra® | Find Black-owned Restaurants 🍴 — after reading 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.

This one means a little more coming from Ant. I’ve watched his journey — the pivots, the risks, what it took to keep building when the answers weren’t always obvious.

So when someone who’s actually lived the entrepreneurial journey tells you a book is “the one I wish someone had handed me before I took my first leap” — that hits different.

That’s exactly why I wrote it.
Not for people who already have it figured out.
For the builders trying to figure it out in real time — like so many of us had to.

📌 Save this for the moment you need to hear it.
🔁 Tag the friend who’s lived the entrepreneurial journey with you.

Who was there before your first leap? Tell me below.

09/04/2026

Education has always been important to me — especially because I was a beneficiary of community events like this growing up.

I know firsthand that what may seem like a small gesture can mean the world to a child and their family.

Last week, we were grateful to support the Office of Council Member Council Member Crystal Hudson at the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch, where 1,000 backpacks were distributed to local students and families.

Our Chick-fil-A team also gifted breakfast cards to the first 250 students and families who came out.

There’s something special about being in a position to give back in some of the same ways others once poured into me.

Proud to keep showing up for Brooklyn and investing in the next generation.

📌 Save this as a reminder that small gestures go further than we think.

🔁 Tag someone who poured into you growing up — a teacher, mentor, coach, neighbor.

Who showed up for you when you were a kid? Tell me below.

09/03/2026

I thought working harder would get me promoted.

Late nights. Early mornings. Extra shifts.

Then I got overlooked.

And to add insult to injury? I had to train the guy who got the job.

Sound familiar?

Looking back, I had the technical skills.
He had something I’d underestimated: people skills.

That’s the Leadership Iceberg — the same framework I use to develop my own team.

Results and ex*****on are the 20% everyone sees.

The other 80% is below the surface: self-awareness, communication, maturity, relationships, and your ability to lead people.

I kept working harder on the 20% when I needed to develop the 80%.

Sometimes working harder won’t get you to the next level. Growing differently will.

📌 Save this if you’ve been grinding on the wrong 20%.

🔁 Share it with someone who’s about to make the same mistake I did.

Address

Brooklyn, NY
11201

Website

http://www.brandonjhurst.com/, https://brandon-j-hurst.kit.com/5-seasons-of-leadership, https://youtu.be/SKnl8ECbzB4?si=

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