Daniel Shemtob
Owner, CEO & Chef of The Lime Truck, Hatch Ya Later & Snibbs
“I’ve learned too many lessons to count throughout my career, but the one that stands out to me is to follow your passion and increase your capacity. If you love what you do it will come naturally, but make sure to find that niche of what feels good, what keeps you engaged, and then dedicate your time to being the best at it, which means pushing (including failures and triumphs).„
EXPERIENCE
Although he wasn’t my mentor, I think about Danny Meyer's book all the time and his concept of "Gentle Pressure” – which basically boils down to it is the employee and customers job to move the target and it's yours to remind them exactly where it needs to go, keeping the train on the tracks.
For self-care, I meditate, journal, workout and sauna.
At this point, my role is focused on leadership, so skills that are critical for me include financial awareness, strategy, persistence, creative problem solving and listening. Earlier in my career I would have said drive, resilience, and passion.
I keep my team motivated by setting big goals, having a clear mission and a hunger to build a great company with great people.
I listen to Josh Kopel's podcast "Full Comp" as well as the "How I Built This." podcast, I also read and listen to audible books.
I find inspiration all over. It comes in weird ways. I get a lot from traveling, and always from Burning Man.
I love the attitude of an “Entrepreneurial Mindset" when someone joins my team and thinks about the business as I do. Then that person can make suggestions, add new skill sets and grow in the business because they are coming with a win-win mindset. To be more specific, let's say I have a new kitchen employee and they come in and see we are struggling on our raw bar, they then come after a few days of being on the line and say "Chef, i've been thinking a lot about where we get backed up in service and have x idea to remove the tension from that part of the line." Too many people come and clock in/out, but the ones who are passionate bring a level of depth and vigor to improving the business, that's what I look for when I hire and when I pick teammates to grow in the org.
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