Red Bulls GM MARC DE GRANDPRE remains a busy man this MLS offseason as the team builds off its postseason run to the Eastern Conference Championship. But despite leading a professional sports organization, de Grandpre fills his daily schedule around family. "Wherever my family needs me, that’s priority No. 1," he said. "Then we fill in my schedule around that.” De Grandpre took some time out of his schedule to speak with THE DAILY about what his day looks like.
4:30am: I’m up and I usually try not to look at my phone for the first hour-and-a-half so I can go work out and really have a clear mind. Every morning I work out, either I do a pretty good run on the treadmill or I’ll do a Peloton bike ride and then I’ll do the elliptical also. Sometimes I mix things up with heavy bag work. I started to like hitting the punching bag. I don’t know what that says about me, but it’s been a good stress reliever.
6:15-7:30am: I shower, get ready for work and I make sure I have breakfast with my kids. I have two kids -- TYLER is in high school and JULIA is in middle school right now. Breakfast is always a protein shake, fresh berries (usually raspberries and blueberries), sometimes I’ll throw in a little banana bread or oatmeal. If I can stay healthy long enough it’ll be good for my kids. One thing I do every morning that is sort of a must is I make my daughter’s bed. She’s got some developmental issues, and making her bed is a problem, so I make it a point to make her bed so she comes home and can have a nice, clean room.
7:30am: I drop Tyler off at the high school, which is a few minutes away from the house, and then I hit the road. I live about 33 miles from Red Bull Arena. I always drive myself to work. On a good day it’s maybe 45-50 minutes. On a bad day it can be much longer, so I take that time to either make some phone calls to Europe or it’s time for me to just do some learning and get better, so I listen to a lot of podcasts or some audio books, really focused on personal growth and leadership.
8:30am: When I get to work, I like to walk around and just say hello and good morning to everyone, get a sense of what the energy in the building is going to be for the day and how the mood is. I’ll read a couple of newsletters like the Morning Brew and The Hustle, and just make sure I get a sense of what’s important and going on in the world.
De Grandpre makes his family a priority amid his busy schedule with the Red Bulls MARC DE GRANDPRE
10:00am: The next few hours before lunch is usually left open by my assistant so I can just review emails, see what’s important and just put my thoughts on paper on what I and the organization need to focus on. I make sure there is a lot of fluidity in my schedule. Sometimes I’ll have some meetings but then it’s really looking at those priorities and making sure I put down my thoughts on paper.
11:45am: I have a place I love to go to lunch with some colleagues from the office, Tops Diner, which is probably the best diner in the country. I have my routine. It’s either a salad with chicken or oatmeal and egg whites. Again, trying to stay healthy.
1:00pm: When I come back from lunch there is a little bit more structure in my schedule. There will be specific meetings about specific projects we’re working on for the upcoming season and then mostly it will be one-on-ones with folks on my leadership team or a group of them together and every other week we have a full leadership team meeting. I like to keep the meetings pretty brief and quick.
3:00pm: A quick break so I can see if there’s anything flaring up on email or phone calls, and then back with maybe a leadership team meeting and then maybe another quick one-on-one after the leadership team meeting based on what we’ve discussed. I walk around the office again, say goodbye to everyone, and ask people if they need anything before I leave. A norm we have here is before you leave the office you ask someone if they need anything.
7:00pm: Getting home at 7:00pm on a good day and my wife KIM, who’s amazing, will have a nice dinner ready for the family. We want to make sure we have dinner as a family almost every night. It’s really important for us. One night a week Kim and I have a date and have a nice dinner -- some time alone to reconnect.
8:15-10:00pm: We’ll watch some TV. We watch a lot of medical TV shows and then I read a little bit before going to bed. I try to watch sports as much as I can. I usually have to be shut down by 10:30pm. Obviously, 4:30am comes around pretty quickly, so I need my six hours of sleep to operate.
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