A short interview-style conversation where a business owner (Speaker A) and Donald Burns discuss leadership and openness to learning. Speaker A reports that in their 37th year they achieved record sales and profits and that workplace culture is stronger than ever; Donald Burns highlights the owner’s openness to new ideas as a driver of success.
Our 37th year, we had a record year in sales. We had a record year in profit, and our culture is better than it's ever been. We have a strong leadership team. This is gonna start sounding like a commercial for you, and it's really, really not. It's just if I were talking to somebody else, same thing. So I don't want anybody to think you've got me on here to talk about, you know, all your. This is just. This is how it happened. And I'm like, a veteran, this stuff. I've been, you know, over four decades in this business, and, you know, things are really good nowadays. So, you.
Know, the thing I admired about you is, like, you're definitely like. There's a lot of owners out there that just definitely don't think that, you know, I can't learn anything new. I'm just kind of like, I've been doing this for a long time. One of the things I always loved about you is that you've always had this openness about just being able to, like, all right, tell me. Let's talk about it.
Explain why.
And, like, you know, open the doors. And you are just a knowledge. You just love to learn and read and grow. And that's the number one thing, I think, that makes a great leader, is that this ability to be a lifelong student.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
