Co-Proprietor of Commander's Palace and Picnic Provisions & Whiskey

Anybody really succeeding is working hard. At least for a good chunk of their career. A lot of people spend half their life trying to figure out how NOT to work hard. It’s sad.

Joe Henican taught me time kills deals. It takes guts to take risks, but you can’t get to second base with one foot on first.

Once you get really good at something you might end up liking it a lot! There is a book about this called, "So Good They Can’t Ignore You." It espouses the idea that the old saying of do what you love and the money will come is not always right. Sometimes it is AFTER you get good at something that you may start to really like it.

I worked for a concert promoter the year I was getting my MBA. Other students were doing accounting and banking internships, but I worked for this very entrepreneurial concert promoter one summer. We did The Rolling Stones, Liza Minelli, Stevie Nicks and more. It was just one guy, his long term assistant and me. That’s it. It was amazing. We worked hard and had lots of fun. I learned a ton about just making things happen.

The most important skill in my line of work is EQ. Forget it if you are lacking that.

Understanding finances is key to moving to the very top. You just won’t understand the business if you don’t. When the numbers start talking to you it gets fun.

Keeping the team inspired starts with standards staying high. They will never thank you at the time for holding them accountable to the standard, but it is in fact the number one thing that makes them feel pride in where they work.

I avoid burnout by staying passionate about our business and industry by constantly reading and pushing for forward motion all the time. My saying is “If it ain't broke, fix it anyway.” Keep evolving. That helps me mentally and physically. I also exercise six or seven days a week—either on the exercise bike at home, at my 35-year-long 6:30 a.m. weekly game of racquetball (and now pickleball), or, when there's a full day off, with a bike ride or kayak trip near my house.

When hiring, I look for how quick candidates are on their feet. I ask different questions and throw in questions seemingly out of order and see what they can handle, looking to see if they can handle stress. I am looking for leadership abilities and efforts. Are they just talking a good game or have they done some things that show leadership? I look to see if their private life is different from their professional life in terms of who they are... In other words, if you tell me on your days off your favorite thing to do is sleep I don’t think you will be much different at work.

Analytical abilities are critical. If you can’t analyze a problem or an opportunity then you will get in trouble and miss out.

Actual knowledge of food and wine and hospitality is important. If you don’t have a love for those things you will not get much credit from much of your team and you will miss lots of the fun.

To lead, you have to have the ability to inspire. It is your job to get a large group of people all moving in the same direction.

Pre-meals are the best way to motivate and inspire the team. Having the chance to talk to your team for 20 minutes twice a day is the greatest gift we could have in this world of short attention spans. Educate and motivate in a drip drip drip way. Great pre-meals and lots of one-on-ones with the team.