March 5, 2024

Danni Eickenhorst: Leadership 101: Pour Into Your People

Episode 27
We are collectors of talented people.

Danni Eickenhorst: Leadership 101: Pour Into Your People

Episode 27

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Recognize the inborn talent that people bring to the table and give them the opportunity to use that in service of what we're trying to do.

Danni Eickenhorst is a community builder actively working to make the St. Louis region a better place to live, and she is also the CEO of HuSTL Hospitality. Her restaurants include Steve’s Hot Dogs, Steve’s Meltdown and The Fountain on Locust.

Danni talks to Cynthia about her carnival of careers in corporate America before deciding to go all in on the hospitality industry. The only problem? She had no experience whatsoever.

Danni is a master at leveraging her own strengths and lifting up others. She succeeded and learned some valuable lessons along the way, which she shares in this episode. She learned how to be a great leader and has create a new kind of restaurant culture that pours into each person and helps them pursue audacious personal and professional goals. Dannie is also actively involved in making St. Louis a better place, sitting on numerous boards and participating in community building. She is unstoppable! This episode will make you want to work with Danni and try every restaurant in her portfolio.

Show Notes

1 – Intro 00:24
2 – More about her current restaurants 02:00
3 – How she jumped into the fire with no experience in the restaurant industry 04:46
4 – Origin of The Fountain on Locust project 07:07
5 – How was it to leave your job for the restaurant business 08:17
6 – How she got through the tough COVID times 12:04
7 – Working closely with your husband 13:11
8 – How did you gain the trust of the employees 14:56
9 – Views on modern leadership 19:04
10 – Starting out as a bad leader 21:12
11 – Stories of early leadership struggles 23:13
12 – Learning leadership when it’s not inborn 25:03
13 – More on becoming a great leader 27:33
14 – Tips for people who want to be better leaders 28:50
15 – Being willing to be wrong 31:45
16 – Being a leader today 32:32
17 – Pouring into your other leaders 35:01
18 – How do you systematize culture 36:57
19 – Good leadership is contagious 39:26
20 – Understanding the value of team building 41:26
21 – How we got Steve’s Hot Dogs into City Park 42:54
22 – Working with Steve 45:39
23 – Ridiculous Goals 47:36
24 – Attracting positive people and performers 48:20
25 – Power of a psychologically safe environment 48:57
26 – Giving back to the community 49:57
27 – Two new locations 52:30
28 – Success takes time but opens new doors 53:57
29 – Did you ever think you’d be doing this now 55:59
30 – Building on your skills and experience 56:47
31 – Most surprising feedback friends gave you 58:59
32 – How do you prevent over helping others 1:00:07
33 – Barriers faced 1:02:39
34 – How do you overcome insensitive or sexist comments 1:05:55
35 – Women in leadership vs saying people In leadership 1:08:37
36 – Finding the right culture for your needs 1:10:03
37 – Other ways to dream big and succeed 1:14:41
38 – Cool menu items at The Fountain 1:17:42
39 – How do we find you 1:18:30

Content Notice

This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.

Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.

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Debbie Champion: The Jury Whisperer

Cathy L. Davis: Somebody Needs to Hear Your Story

Katherine Flett: Don’t Be a Jerk

Tamara Keefe: Trading Golden Handcuffs for Genuine Happiness

Danni Eickenhorst: Leadership 101: Pour Into Your People

Nancy Weaver Headshot

Dr. Nancy L. Weaver: Support Over Silence

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Debbie Champion: The Jury Whisperer

I always ask myself, when the jury goes out, is there anything I would have done differently if I could have? And sometimes the answer is yes. And you think about what you would have done differently. And I always take notes while the jury’s out as to what I wish I had changed, because when the jury comes back, and if they win, if you win, you don’t want to change anything. And so you don’t learn from that. And so I try to do that while the jury’s out.

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I have a three year old, Nora, and I was going to court that morning, and I was in my full suit and walking out, and she said, mama, you look like a superhero. And it was just, like, the best thing to hear. Because I’m like, “Yes, little girl, I hope you always see a woman in a suit and think that’s a superhero.”

Tamara Keefe: Trading Golden Handcuffs for Genuine Happiness

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“We’ve talked to adults who were mistreated as children and they say that if one person had said something, done something, reached out…given me any indication that how I was treated was not ‘ok’, that would have made all the difference.”

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