#267: Michael Meldman, Founder and Chairman of Discovery Land Company – Be one of one in your category

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How do you make your brand stand out? Ask Michael Meldman. He’s the founder of Discovery Land Company, a global portfolio of high-end private golf communities known for doing things differently. By tossing out the traditional country club rulebook and building around comfort and community, he’s created a truly distinctive brand. He’s also a co-founder of Casamigos Tequila, the billion-dollar brand he built with George Clooney. In this episode, he shares how he builds brands that deliver exactly what the market wants and needs. If you want to create something unique or stand out in your category, don’t miss this one. You’ll also learn: What most leaders get wrong about brand experience The key to attracting great talent How to sell your product’s emotional benefits (not just its features) Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The How Leaders Lead App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daily Insight Emails⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of How Leaders Lead. Today, we've got a fun one.
0:06.4	We've got Michael Meldman on the show. He is the founder and chairman of Discovery Land Company,
0:11.6	the co-founder of Casamigos Tequila, and part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, three things I love
0:17.9	very much, golf, tequila, and football. In this episode, he and David are going to
0:23.0	dive into some of the things that have made him such a successful brand builder. And at the end of
0:28.2	the episode, David and I are going to break down some of those key learnings so that you walk
0:32.5	away from this episode with something really tangible that you can apply to your leadership,
0:36.5	to your life, and to your work.
0:38.1	You're also going to really love Michael's stories
0:40.1	about creating a tequila brand with George Clooney.
0:42.8	It's a lot of fun.
0:43.8	I think you're going to love this episode.
0:45.6	Here we go.
0:47.0	What's your favorite George Clooney,
0:49.3	Casamiga story?
0:50.4	I probably can't tell it. You know, so Mike, here you are.
1:00.0	You're the founder and chairman of Discovery Land Company, the co-founder of Casamigas
1:06.0	Tequila, and part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.
1:10.0	And yet, what I'm curious to know is the story behind why you just overhauled your entire closet.
1:18.4	Well, I overhauled my entire closet to change my wardrobe from Casamigos to the Raiders. As you can see, I'm a branding guy,
1:33.0	so I'm always wearing a project shirt with either the Raiders or Cosamigos. We just
1:41.0	finally finalized our, we had an earn out and a buyout on Casamigos so that part of my life is over.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from David Novak Leadership, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of David Novak Leadership and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.