The Cathedral Within

708: Danny Meyer - How You Make People Feel: The Founder of Shake Shack & Union Square Hospitality Group on Culture as Soil, the 49/51 Hiring Formula, and Leading With Generosity

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk, 27 September 2026. The book comes up at 48 min 13 sec in.

Danny Meyer mentions reading "The Cathedral Within" by Billy Shore while developing the concept for Shake Shack. He describes it as being about creating community wealth and credits Shore's thesis—that capitalism can be used to generate community wealth, rather than relying solely on philanthropy or government—as direct inspiration for donating the Shake Shack kiosk to Madison Square Park so that a percentage of every sale would flow back into the park.

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