Founder and CEO of Rise & Shine Hospitality Group

The biggest lesson I’ve learned in my career is to believe in myself and be willing to bet on myself. There are always going to be people who tell you why something won't work or why you're not ready. If I had listened to all of them, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. That doesn't mean you should ignore good advice or assume you're always right, but at some point you have to trust yourself enough to take the risk.

When I am hiring, the skills and/or attitude I look for is ownership mentality. That’s the biggest one for me. I want people who don't walk past a problem because it technically belongs to someone else. I also really value people who are comfortable saying, “I don't know.” You can usually tell pretty quickly when someone actually knows what they're talking about versus when they're trying to BS their way through an answer. I'd much rather have someone tell me they don't know something and then go figure it out than pretend they have an answer. Experience matters, but self-awareness, honesty, judgment, and work ethic are much harder to teach.

I find inspiration in traveling; it’s a big one for me. I love experiencing new places, restaurants, and cultures, and I'm always paying attention to things I can bring back with me. I also read and listen to a lot of books, both business and non-business. I'm a big fan of Stoicism and find a lot of inspiration in its ideas around perspective, gratitude, and focusing on what you can control.

To avoid burnout and to take care of myself, I exercise, travel, and spend quality time with my wife and kids. Those are probably the three things that help me recharge and put things back into perspective.

Remain humble and remember that the people who work for you have their own dreams and aspirations. I tell our team: give us 100% while you're here, and we'll give you 100% back. If your dream is to open your own restaurant one day, use your time with us to learn everything you can. And when you're ready to pursue that dream, I'll cheer you on, share what I've learned, and help however I can.

During COVID, when restaurants were shutting down and so many hospitality workers were suddenly out of work, we started giving away free meals to laid-off hospitality workers and frontline workers. We eventually opened it up to anyone who was struggling to put food on the table. The truth is, at the time I had no idea how we were going to pay for it. Our own business was facing an incredibly uncertain future. I just knew intuitively that it was the right thing to do. It came back to us tenfold. The community rallied around us in a way I'll never forget.

I keep learning and improving my skills by reading, traveling, and talking to people who know more than I do. I also think you have to be willing to question your own assumptions. Some of the biggest improvements I've made as a leader have come from realizing that something I believed – or the way I'd always done something – wasn't necessarily right.