Last Sunday The New York Times had a nice “Table for Three” write-up featuring Michael Kors (MK) and a favorite of ours, Danny Meyer (DM). It appeared in the SundayStyles section, so it may have been missed by many readers who normally breeze by this part of the paper. The MC (AKA Number Three) was Philip Galanes (PG).
Credit Robert Caplin for The New York Times
We enjoyed it immensely. It was filled with quite a few notable quoteables:
Mr. Galanes pointed out how they both started businesses without much practical experience.
Danny Meyer remarked with an excellent description of an entrepreneurial person— “someone who is so unabashedly in love with a topic that they have no choice but to share it with other people.” He also noted the tendency to “only see forward and up.” It’s like what’s burning inside of you to share blocks out any negative energy. We’ve all been there. Learning to helicopter out to look at the bigger picture is a good thing. Just step back and take a deep breath.
We loved a comment made by Michael Kors: “Always trying to figure out how to make something that’s familiar and unexpected.” Nice dichotomy.
In context, it was a section about being empathic.
DM: You can’t fake that. The thing I enjoy more than anything is watching people eating happily. And what Michael was saying about “both sides of the coin” is exactly the same with restaurants. Every single restaurant we have is playing this game where we try to trick you into not knowing whether you went out to eat or came home. The more a restaurant feels like you went out — like this place — we have to dial up the yummy factor, so you feel the hug of home. And at a place like Union Square Cafe — —
MK: Which is homey — —
DM: We need to stop your conversation a couple times with the food: Why is that salmon so damn good?
MK: That’s my world. Always trying to figure out how to make something that’s familiar and unexpected.
DM: That’s it!
MK: Because if it’s fully familiar, you’re bored to tears. Why would you buy it? And if it’s so unexpected it takes you hours to figure it out, you’ll wear it once and never come back. I want to make that thing you always reach for.
DM: We’re both selling a pretty emotional product. The thing you put on yourself, the thing you trust to put in your body. Yes, you need to eat and drink, but you don’t need to do it here.
DM: That’s it!
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We love it!
Change Your Eye:
What was especially awesome in this piece was the section related to “unplugging.”
PG: Last note: It’s summer. I know you’re swamped, but will you make time to unplug?
DM: Have to.
MK: Same here. I have to make time to daydream and change my eye.
DM: Change your eye? I like that. What does it mean?
MK: Mrs. Vreeland was right: “The eye must travel.” You have to see something different, even if it’s just finding a new way to walk home. Or taking an extra day on a work trip. If I’m in San Francisco, trust me, I’m going to Big Sur.
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DM: Don’t you get good ideas when you do things like that?
MK: Absolutely. You’re seeing something different.
DM: And connecting dots you never could at your desk.
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That’s today’s take-away and a challenge for the week: Find ways, on a daily basis, to “change your eye.”
Come to think of it, if we didn’t change our eye so that we actually read, instead of scanned, the SundayStyles section, we would have missed this piece entirely.
So let’s embrace the “eye changing” challenge. Please comment below and let us know how you did it. It may inspire others.
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