WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO RIGHT?

Danny Meyer's What Could Possibly Go Right? (Random House, 2026) follows Setting the Table and traces how his hospitality instincts had to become explicit, teachable systems once Union Square Hospitality Group and Shake Shack grew from a handful of restaurants to hundreds of locations worldwide. The book is framed around the 2010 closing of Tabla, which he came to see as a failure of holding on too long rather than a failure of the restaurant itself. Its argument: scaling uplifting human relationships is harder, and more important, than scaling production. Reviewers call it worthy reading for entrepreneurs and a study in trial and error, anchored by Meyer's familiar tools: enlightened hospitality, the hospitality quotient, expected behaviors, and the daily question that gives the book its title.

Scale a winning culture

1. Define culture as an equation: the behaviors you celebrate minus the behaviors you tolerate. What leaders let slide shapes a workplace as much as what they reward. Stop tolerating conduct you dislike, and keep at it as the organization grows, because culture is an aspiration, not a destination. (source, source)
2. Replace generic "values" (excellence, integrity) with a handful of expected behaviors drawn from your own company stories. Values are irrefutable, so anyone can claim them and no one can be held to them. "Center the salt shaker" is shorthand for doing things right, and it means nothing outside the company. That's the point. (source, source)
3. Hire on a 49/51 split: roughly 49 parts technical prowess, 51 parts hospitality skills. Look for a high "hospitality quotient" — people who are happier themselves when they make others feel better. That wiring is easier to spot in interviews than to change later, so don't excuse talented people who damage the culture. (source, source)
4. Order your stakeholders deliberately: employees first, then guests, community, suppliers, and investors last. The logic is a virtuous cycle. Well-treated staff produce better guest experiences, which drive revenue that rewards everyone. As Meyer puts it, the first customer is us. (source, source)
5. Start the day with the framing question "What could possibly go right today?" Optimism is strategy, not sentiment: it's the posture that generates solutions, and Meyer says nothing great he has built began from the opposite question. (source, source)
6. Extend a charitable assumption before judging. Walking into a struggling location, open with something like "looks like you've had an incredibly busy day" instead of a scolding. Then micro-care: visit sites, ask for managers by name, ask what can be done better, and take a "teach me, show me" stance. (source)
7. Treat promotions as your strongest culture lever. Whoever you elevate has to visibly embody the stated behaviors, or leadership's words ring hollow and do more harm than silence. Reinforce the same message by catching people doing things right and naming the specific behavior out loud. (source, source)
8. Audit your calendar to delegate. Meyer's filter question: what's on the calendar that a teammate could handle at least as well, or better, than I can? Hand those off, but deliberately keep the few roles only you can own. As executive chairman he retained three "chief" hats: culinary, cultural, and creative. (source)
9. Reframe failure: closing something isn't proof it was unworthy. Meyer says his real mistake with Tabla was keeping it open as long as he did, and calls the road to success paved with mistakes well handled. End things deliberately, then start something new. (source, source)
10. Match the pressure you apply to people's capacity. "Constant gentle pressure" — nudging people back to standard — works maybe 90% of the time; for the rest, diagnose whether the person can do the task and will do it rather than pushing forever. Be kind, not nice: kind leaders give honest feedback that nice leaders avoid. (source, source)