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Danny Meyer, Founder of Shake Shack — How to Win, The Art of The Graceful “No,” Overcoming Setbacks, The 6 Traits of Exceptional People, The 4 Quadrants of Performance, Lessons from Hospitality Excellence, and More (#665)

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“The culture you have in your organization is the sum of all the wanted behaviors that you celebrate minus all the unwanted behaviors that you tolerate.”

— Danny Meyer

Danny Meyer (@dhmeyer) is the founder and chairman of Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), which comprises some of New York’s most beloved and acclaimed restaurants, including Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, Maialino, and more. Danny and USHG also founded Shake Shack, the modern-day “roadside” burger restaurant, which became a public company in 2015. 

Danny is the author of the New York Times bestseller Setting the Table, which articulates a set of signature business and life principles that translate to a wide range of industries. He is the recipient of the 2017 Julia Child Award and was named by Time magazine as one of 2015’s 100 most influential people. Danny and USHG’s restaurants and individuals together have won an unprecedented 28 James Beard Awards, including Outstanding Restaurateur in 2005.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Brought to you by Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, Athletic Greens’s AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement, and LinkedIn Marketing Solutions marketing platform with 900M+ users.

The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

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#665: Danny Meyer, Founder of Shake Shack — How to Win, The Art of The Graceful “No,” Overcoming Setbacks, The 6 Traits of Exceptional People, The 4 Quadrants of Performance, Lessons from Hospitality Excellence, and More

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Want to hear an episode with someone who worked with and trained under Danny before making a name for himself? Listen to my conversation with Marco Canora in which we discussed “assy” Cabernet, hands-off mentorship, continuous glucose monitors, post-meal walks, how bone broth helped Marco survive the pandemic, not underestimating the little nagging things in relationships both personal and professional, and much more.

#545: Marco Canora — The Art of Food, Eating, Nutrition, and Life

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

  • Connect with Danny Meyer:

USHG | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

SHOW NOTES

  • [05:21] The meaning behind Maialino.
  • [08:58] Control vs. surprises.
  • [10:53] A pivotal conversation.
  • [19:46] Converting the cranky.
  • [22:16] ABCD: Always be collecting dots; always be connecting dots.
  • [25:35] Danny’s first steps to chefdom.
  • [31:06] Being paid the worst to learn from the best.
  • [34:56] How business is like gardening.
  • [40:37] A virtuous cycle of stakeholders.
  • [43:57] The politely genuine decline.
  • [49:47] Six qualities Danny looks for when hiring.
  • [56:07] Work ethic lessons from Theo Epstein.
  • [1:03:19] Should they stay or should they go?
  • [1:13:37] Softly landing from a favorite failure.
  • [1:21:35] Taking on tipping culture.
  • [1:36:30] 51 percenters.
  • [1:38:04] Most gifted books.
  • [1:39:17] Seth Godin is a mensch.
  • [1:41:20] Danny’s billboard.
  • [1:42:21] Hope vs. optimism.
  • [1:44:10] Parting thoughts.

MORE DANNY MEYER QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“The culture you have in your organization is the sum of all the wanted behaviors that you celebrate minus all the unwanted behaviors that you tolerate.”
— Danny Meyer

“Hospitality is a team sport.”
— Danny Meyer

“I kind of have a mixed bag with this whole control thing. I want to determine which island the boat is heading for, but I’m completely open to all the pivots I’m going to have to take in order to get there, because there’s no sailboat race in history that was ever a straight line between A and B.”
— Danny Meyer

“Even if you get the best tomatoes, you’d better not throw them in the back corner of the walk-in refrigerator and bruise them so that they lose their sugar. Treat them the right way. Well, guess what? Same thing goes for people. You can have the best recipe in the world for how you hire people, but you’d better pick the best tomatoes. You’d better treat them the right way if you want the best sauce.”
— Danny Meyer

“I spent the first 10 years of my career almost exclusively focused on trying to motivate problem employees to be better, like the weeds. What I learned was that our employees are like sunflowers. They will turn wherever the sun is. If I’m spending all of my attention on the weeds, I’m actually pulling the gravitational force that way. My grandmother’s lesson was right: If I water the flowers and spend more time with the people who maybe I’ve taken for granted because they’re doing such a great job, they actually crowd out the weeds and the weeds take care of themselves.”
— Danny Meyer

“The world keeps moving, and if you don’t keep moving with it, you will definitely not keep up.”
— Danny Meyer

“Can’t we please have a charitable assumption about one another?”
— Danny Meyer

“There is a difference between hope and optimism. I think that hope is an active act.”
— Danny Meyer

“ABCD: Always be collecting dots so you can always be connecting dots.”
— Danny Meyer

PEOPLE MENTIONED

The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.

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5 Replies to “Danny Meyer, Founder of Shake Shack — How to Win, The Art of The Graceful “No,” Overcoming Setbacks, The 6 Traits of Exceptional People, The 4 Quadrants of Performance, Lessons from Hospitality Excellence, and More (#665)”

  3. Hey, love your books and all you do here. I wanted to reach out and your site basically said this is the best possible way.

    I just finished reading The 4-Hour Body, and I went to go to one of your links, but I was blocked and not able to access. Is there a way to access all the links referenced in the book?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    1. Hi, David –

      Thanks for your question. You’ll find the tools and resources from The 4-Hour Body at https://tim.blog/gear/. Please note that some of the links may no longer work and that some of the tools and resources may no longer be available, as the book was published in 2010.

      Best,

      Team Tim Ferriss

      Reply

  4. A fantastic interview. I enjoyed it so much I listened to it twice! I loved his statement about the unwanted behaviour you tolerate and it translates to families too. Also had a giggle at the part about breakfast with Seth Godin…
    Thank you for your excellent podcasts that are always enlightening and inspiring.

    Reply