Rapid Response: Danny Meyer on the wrenching decision to do layoffs
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2022
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Back in March of 2020, Danny Meyer laid off 2,000 people — that's 80 percent of staff at Union Square Hospitality Group, representing 20+ restaurants across the country. It was a heartbreaking decision made with full understanding of the impacts, short and long-term — or as much as can possibly be known in this volatile time. In this special episode, Danny shares why and how he acted so quickly, the process he and his team used to make this decision, the impact of the layoff, and what comes next for his industry.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/danny-meyer-layoffs/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Is your AI built for everyone, or is it built to work with your businesses data? |
| 0:06.1 | IBM helps you integrate and govern unstructured data wherever it lives, so your business can |
| 0:11.5 | have more accurate AI instead of just more of it. Get your data ready for AI at IBM.com, |
| 0:18.1 | the AI Built for Business, IBM. |
| 0:21.7 | Hey, everyone, it's Bob. |
| 0:23.8 | Today we're re-releasing a special episode of rapid response focused on layoffs. |
| 0:29.3 | This was the very first episode of rapid response recorded in March of 2020 with |
| 0:34.4 | ShakeShack founder and restaurateur Danny Meyer. |
| 0:37.3 | Danny's been on Rapid Response four more times since then, and he appeared previously |
| 0:41.9 | with Reid Hoffman on the classic Masters of Scale. |
| 0:44.8 | But Danny's insights in this interview dealing with laying off most of his team are particularly |
| 0:50.7 | instructive in today's economic environment. |
| 1:00.0 | How do you balance a people-first culture and mission with the financial imperative to reduce costs? How do you communicate the choices you've made? |
| 1:03.0 | And how do you protect your people as much as possible from the disruption you're creating? |
| 1:08.0 | Danny's raw emotion and candor are matched by astute strategic assessments and advice. |
| 1:15.1 | He's since rebuilt his team back to pre-pandemic levels. |
| 1:18.9 | We've made some small trims to the original interview. |
| 1:21.9 | You can find the full uncut version in your show feed, along with all of Danny's other appearances. |
| 1:27.2 | Here we go. |
| 1:38.8 | You made a really difficult decision. |
| 1:41.9 | I just wanted to start by asking you to talk about it. You know, you have always |
| 1:46.8 | put your employees first, right? You always said employees first, customer second, community third, |
... |
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