When Ron Brien joined The Consortium over 25 years ago, he sought to jumpstart his career, see the world and be a role model for other Native Americans and minorities.
Since then, Brien has seen his goals come to fruition. After graduating with his MBA from the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business in 1999, he joined Dell Computers as a corporate financial strategist. A few years later, he switched gears and jumped into the internet startup boom, finding his stride leading marketing for venture-backed SaaS startups, which were experiencing extraordinary growth.
In building high-impact teams for these companies, Brien realized another passion and, in 2017, moved on to found AstroHire Executive Search, a recruitment firm dedicated to finding and hiring diverse, talented and growth-minded professionals to fill roles for high-growth companies.
“One of the reasons I started a recruiting company was to apply the hiring methods and intuitions I had acquired hiring award-winning teams as a chief marketing officer,” says Brien. “I knew great talent and teams could make the difference for many ambitious, high-growth companies, and I was ready to help them.”
On his journey from MBA student to founder, Brien learned many lessons — from how to communicate across difference to how to feel comfortable in his own skin — all of which have informed his personal and professional philosophy.
Seeking Commonalities
Born in Montana, and a member of the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Indian Tribes, Brien moved around often throughout his childhood. Despite growing up in an underserved area with few resources or opportunities, he dreamed of becoming a successful businessman like the Wall Street bankers epitomized in the movies he watched growing up.
So, when Brien joined The Consortium as an MBA student at Simon School of Business, it was a major milestone on his professional journey — but also, as it turned out, a culture shock. Not only was he the youngest student in his cohort, but he was also one of the only Native Americans.
“It was different being a Native American from a reservation in and from rural Montana and then meeting diverse people of all colors, experiences and ambitions from all over America,” Brien says. “I had to learn, as a Native American in this organization, how I fit in.”
Learning how to communicate and build relationships based on commonalities — as opposed to focusing on differences — became essential for Brien as he sought to connect with his peers and eventual coworkers. It came down to “extracting the value that came from difference,” he says.
However, Brien also had to learn how to feel comfortable in his own skin — even as a minority among a diverse network like The Consortium — in order to better connect with others and, ultimately, bring his talents to bear. Afterall, the most successful people, Brien believes, are those who feel comfortable being themselves not just in their personal lives, but in the work environment as well.
“I think that’s a big challenge that, frankly, a lot of professionals, students and new business leaders run into,” he says. “It sounds like a soft, pillowy self-help topic, but I’m talking about serious business stuff. If a person is not comfortable expressing themself, or saying somebody’s wrong in a corporate meeting, for example, it’s going to slow their career progress eventually. That sort of communication and connecting on a meaningful level is important.”
This insight informs Brien’s work leading AstroHire. He knows that being confident in one’s self and the value one brings goes beyond relational dynamics. It’s a vital characteristic of a business leader.
To get there, however, certain criteria must be met.
“In a corporate setting,” he says, “successful collaboration requires candor, consensus and innovative solutions. If you understand that’s how businesses tackle challenges, you can speak with anybody. You don’t even have to know their language. You just know, ‘Hey, we’re trying to solve a similar problem.’”
As someone who’s served in leadership roles throughout his career, Brien utilizes both his corporate and life experience to seek the best hires for AstroHire’s clients — those who are not only a good fit, but who also bring unique talents and perspectives. This type of diversity, Brien believes, is necessary if businesses are going to truly innovate.
“Business problems and opportunities are constantly evolving, so you need diverse thinking to help you innovate,” he says. “You can’t keep hiring the same prototype of people to solve different problems.”
In the new diversity landscape, Brien continues to work to ensure diverse pools of candidates for companies by recruiting directly from organizations like The Consortium, Native Forward and Prospanica, knowing the top-level talent they attract. “We find organizations that are already working with diverse, high-impact humans, and we try to recruit those candidates,” he says.
For Brien, The Consortium is important because it fosters this talent among diverse communities, uplifting underrepresented perspectives to enhance the corporate business world. But The Consortium has played a vital role in his personal life as well, sparking friendships that will last a lifetime — something he attributes to his focus on the value that comes from difference.
“It took years, but I learned through a career that focusing on commonality will get you much further,” he says. “That’s a good lesson for people coming into The Consortium. You will see a lot of people and perspectives that are different from what you know or want to achieve in life. Make sure you appreciate the differences and leverage the similarities on your way to success — with people and in your career.”