The Mind Behind the Unified Theory of Leadership – Exclusive Interview With Mark Branson
- Brainz Magazine
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Mark Branson set the world's record on the arcade game, Asteroids, in 1981, playing for 55 hours on a quarter. Branson then applied his concepts of greatness to winning 5 New Mexico state racquetball titles over a 15 year career. Branson then created a leadership theory from scratch, combining 30 years of leadership experience and his habit of winning into the first advancement in leadership thought since the turn of the century.
Mark Branson, Leadership Theorist
Who is Mark Branson?
My name is Mark Branson. I have had 3 passions in life. Asteroids, Racquetball, and Leadership. I set the world record on Asteroids in 1981, playing a single game for over 55 hours. The primary lesson I learned from Asteroids.
When you are the in the world at something, you never forget what it took to get there.
I won 5 New Mexico age division racquetball state titles and placed 3rd twice at the World Senior Racquetball Championships, resulting in a brief #9 international ranking in the 40+ division. I was seldom the best player on the court, but I used my knowledge gained from Asteroids and an outdoor 3-wall racquetball playing style to punch above my weight. I had a saying while playing racquetball. I’m not great all the time, but I know how to visit once in a while.
Leadership is my third passion. I do not fully understand why I on this journey to change our understanding of leadership as we know it, but I learned long ago not to question why I have my thoughts. I let my thoughts take me where they may.
I earned a Master of Science degree in leadership and an MBA at age 52 solely so my words would matter when I spoke of leadership. I had to be more than a store manager from Albuquerque.
My wife and I have a wonderful relationship. We love our personal time together and look forward to days off together. Lisa assures me I do not need a ‘man cave’.
I have a number of sayings. A few sayings turned into Laws of Leadership, but I do have a personal favorite. The best laid plans don’t always get you laid. If you can’t see the hidden complexity in this thought, I can’t help you.
What inspired you to develop Unified Theory of Leadership?
I always did things different everywhere I worked. I was never asked why. I was only told to stop. I wanted to do things my way. My employees liked doing things my way. There had to be a way to get my bosses to think that my way was their way when it was actually my way.
I discovered leadership was a thing while working at Lenscrafters. I started asking myself, why isn’t this thing of leadership better. Lenscrafters had a leadership conference in 2006, an utter boondoggle in every sense of the word. I reflected on the flight home. I have got to write a book.
What problem do you most often see in companies that motivates your work?
Companies have bad ideas. Employees disengage from bad ideas; Companies hold the frontline leaders accountable to get the employees engaged with Corporate’s bad ideas.
The ideas are never questioned. Employees and managers get fired long before ideas are ever questioned or challenged. Bad ideas are the reason companies underperform in the first place. Accountability is Leadership’s greatest failing because leadership never blames itself.
What exactly is Unified Theory of Leadership, in simple terms?
Unified Leadership is a perception-based leadership theory unlike any that has come before it.
You do not control your perceptions. Others control your perceptions through their actions. If others control your perceptions through their actions, you must control others’ perceptions through your actions. The Unified Leader applies this principle to corporate, bosses, peers, associates, and customers.
How does your approach differ from traditional leadership models?
Today’s leadership focuses on the individual. Control your individual emotions and better understand the emotions of others. Work on your authentic self. This leadership approach is more philosophical than people realize.
Unified Leadership is built around innate laws of leadership and a static interpretation of Emotional intelligence with a group dynamic, neither of which can exist philosophically within today’s behavior-based leadership constructs. The fact that Unified Leadership only works because these concepts do exist brings me great pleasure.
Can you share a real result or success story from applying your methods?
I managed an Eyemasters store. There was an Eyemart Express across the street. Customers came into my store, said the Eyemart was out of control, came to my store because it was slower.
Two years later, I am managing the Eyemart across the street and it is still out of control, 20 customers staring at each other while waiting for service. I changed every aspect of operations, starting with the DMV inspired customer service model.
I had to literally remove the pull-tab machine from the sales floor. I changed how we helped the customer, took out the trash, processed freight, and tracked performance. The store was down 5% YTD the day I took over in 2014.
The store had its best year ever in 2016. The store led the company in average ticket, HD lens sales percent, and non-glare percent. Three employees were consistently ranked in the top five for salespeople in the entire company, with one employee dominating the top spot for months on end.
The first thing I did was solve for the out-of-control store. It took me two months to solve a problem that had impacted operations for years. I did this by following the three Laws of Process. I suspected processes that had been in place for years. I respected processes that had been ignored for years. I embraced Corporate’s process as my own, and then completed processes my way faster than Corporate could look, relying on one of the quirks of emotional intelligence those results.
It doesn’t matter how you get there until you don’t get there. Get results faster than Corporate can look and Corporate will not question how you got those results.
What kind of businesses or leaders benefit most from your leadership framework?
I would love to see a struggling retailer like Target adopt Unified Leadership’s philosophies. New Target CEO Michael Fiddelke, recently mandated that employees must smile at customers within ten feet and interact with customers within 4 feet (kang, 2025)
You must give employees a reason to smile, a reason to want to interact with customers. The corporate perspective is not working at Target. Unified Leadership would shift accountability for employee engagement. Employees do not bear the responsibility to be engaged. Leadership bears the responsibility of being engaging.
I would love to tackle Dollar General and its litany of challenges. Overstocked stores, safety violations, large government fines. Most people would not know where to start in implementing change 20,000 stores. I would relish the challenge.
Leaders that want to flip the script on employee engagement would benefit the most from Unified Leadership. Your operations will not reach their full potential at 30% employee engagement. Unified Leadership shows frontline leaders how to engage employees with their processes while satisfying Corporate’s need for conformity in their processes.
What are the first signs that a company needs your help?
When ‘stores closed’ becomes a metric, like any metric, more is better. I believe the secret to turning around operations is found in your underperforming operations due to the quest for homogeneity. Underperforming stores are The Drowning Man, dragging operations under. The problems that exist at underperforming stores exist at all stores. Until you solve for The Drowning Man at underperforming stores, no stores are safe.
What’s the process like when you start working with a new client?
The Second Law of Process
Get results
You don’t get immediate results on the bottom line, but you can make immediate changes for your customers and employees. Your business grows on who comes back tomorrow, not what you sell today. You must give customers a reason to come back tomorrow.
Every touchpoint has the potential to give the customer food poisoning. Employees are customers’ largest touchpoint. You must give your employees a reason to want the customer to return.
Unified Leadership treats every customer interaction like the customer’s last to build true loyalty by improving the processes around employees to build true engagement.
How do you help teams shift from disengagement to high performance?
You don’t change your employees. You change the processes around your employees. The more you improve the processes around your employees, the more engaged employees become with the processes around them. Micro-Efficiency identifies time wasting processes hiding in plain sight. Improving these processes gives you more time to improve other processes.
There are two ways to improve a process. Increase the process’s efficiency or stop doing the process all together. The more you take off your employees’ plates. the better you can get employees at what is left on their plates.
What long‑term change can clients expect when they implement your methods?
I took three underperforming stores to double digit comps within two years. I believe specific elements of Unified Leadership lead directly to specific sales gains. Improving the customer service standard is worth 3%. Improving the processes around your employees is worth another 3%. Fully engaged employees are worth another 5%. This is the formula I teach so leaders can do the same.
Where can people learn more about Unified Leadership?
Unified Leadership: The Strategy of Engagement is now available in eBook and paperback on Amazon
You can learn more about Unified Leadership and the services I offer on my website.
You can also find me on LinkedIn where I share my philosophies on leadership daily,
Where can leaders learn more about Unified Leadership?
I am currently working on four masterclasses on the key elements of Unified Leadership. The Laws of Leadership, The Theory of Deep Understanding. The Illusion of Competence, and Emotional Intelligence. These classes will provide the foundation for practicing Unified Leadership, with each becoming available in the coming months.
Any closing thoughts?
Leadership says there is no single best leadership theory, so Leadership does not search for a single best leadership theory. There is no scientific basis for this belief, only the assumption that it can’t be done. I have always said, just because someone else can’t do it does not mean it cannot be done
Unified Leadership is the first perception-based leadership theory and the most advanced, dare I say, the best single best leadership theory you have ever seen.
What do you know. I do dare.
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