Inside Quiznos: Brenneman's CEO Test

It looks like Greg Brenneman, chairman of CCMP Capital and former CEO of Quiznos, may be publicly polishing his resume. The NY Times new Sunday business feature kicks off with an interview at CCMP Capital's Park Avenue, New York office. CEO interviews are frequently done by doe-eyed "money honeys", an equal opportunity title nowadays for both male and female reporters that prefer toadying over asking tough questions to inform the market. There are so many tough leadership questions to ask of Brenneman who has been in some tough management situations. Here are a few excerpts from the love-fest.

BRENNEMAN: Right now, CCMP has about 50 portfolio companies. Fifteen companies make up about 80 percent of our economics, and I’m actually mentoring CEOs of some of those companies.

My job now, which I love, is a little different than running a company because I interact with so many CEOs. And I really test for two things. One is, are they smart enough to do the job? Do they have enough capability to find those two or three levers that really make a difference in a business? And I call that the I.Q. dipstick test; if you stick the I.Q. dipstick in and it comes out two quarts empty, there’s nothing else we can do. Thankfully, the vast majority of CCMP CEOs I have met pass the I.Q. test. - NYTimes.com

There's only one mention of Quiznos and related companies — a story about its CFO addicting Brenneman to a BlackBerry smart phone.

Then there's this gem.

BRENNEMAN: The most important thing is that you treat everybody incredibly well and lead with a bit of humility.  . . . One thing that I have very rigorously reacted to is absolutely no nasty e-mails from executives back to employees or back to franchise owners.

If Brenneman's philosophy is to treat everyone incredibly well, then why is there a significant part of Quiznos' franchisee base that he has refused to give the time of day -- its independent franchisee association?

It's important to drop a name or two in a job interview. It provides credibility. For big business leadership positions, if you must hint at politics, drop a big Republican name with business ties. That's safest. For example, fellow Harvard graduate Robert McNamara, who served in the Kennedy and Johnson cabinet - no good. Liberal. Besides, citing him makes one look ancient.

BRENNEMAN: I remember something that Mitt Romney told me at Bain. He said: “Greg, in any interaction, you either gain share or lose share. So treat every interaction as kind of a precious moment in time.”

I've already heard Brenneman saying, "I remember something that Mitt Romney told me at Bain," a few times, but nonetheless, skillfully done.

Maybe next on Brenneman's Get-My-Name out tour is to drive through Times Square with an ice cream truck's music blaring."Turnaround King" can be written on it. Hey, one has to be inventive in these tough times.