I recently went one-on-one with Andy Lansing, CEO of Levy.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? 

Andy: What I’m doing today is the last thing I thought I’d be doing 35 years ago when I joined Levy. Back then, my dream job was a career in law and to be a sports agent—and I was already doing both of those things. I was absolutely committed to that path when Levy came knocking. Larry and Mark Levy were looking for a new General Counsel, and one of my friends asked me if I knew anyone interested. After meeting with Larry and Mark a few times, I realized how special this opportunity could be and that if I passed, it might never come again. I’m glad I listened to my instincts - and my wife Ellyn’s encouragement. This path has been one of the best decisions of my life. 

I had the gift of working alongside Larry as Levy grew. He told me, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people spot an opportunity when it’s there because it may never come again.” With the expansion of our restaurants and sports portfolio, I took on new responsibilities including the management of our corporate support services teams. I was exposed to everything from supply chain to marketing. Since I wasn’t a restaurateur, I asked a lot of questions about why we did things the way we did. My naivety allowed me to push us to find new and better solutions. I remember coming into Larry’s office as I was learning about our supply chain and asking him, “Do you know why we purchase 20 different olive oils across the Company?” His response affirmed that he wanted me in this role for my fresh eyes, and the result was a streamlining of our purchasing pipeline for efficiency and optimization. His trust and how he granted me such latitude is a leadership commitment that I put into practice every day. 

Adam: What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Andy: I’m the first to admit that being General Counsel of this company at 27 was one of the most challenging experiences of my career. Larry would ask me to do things like sort out a trademark in areas of law I hadn’t touched since law school. Whenever he did, I’d always tell him “no problem,” but on the inside I’d think, “what have I gotten myself into?” I’d never let him see me sweat, and whether it was taking a city clerk out for burgers or convincing the patent and trademark office to spend hours on the phone with me, I always found a way. That taught me so much about embracing a challenge and believing in yourself. Larry taught me that when you really believe in people, you put them in situations to prove themselves and see if they can swim. Those experiences gave me a lot of confidence. 

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business? 

Andy: The first is our people. When we survey our team members, we constantly hear how important and unique our culture is in this industry. Knowing that culture is one of our most valued differentiators, we are obsessed with retaining our world-class talent. We have an incredible number of key leaders who have been at the company for multiple decades—and we are very proud of this longevity. However, we are keenly aware that if we haven’t hooked someone prior to their 18-month mark with us, they might not stay with the company. Therefore, we are focused on bringing our long-tenured leaders together with our new hires to make connections in ways that exemplify our culture, to keep that new talent and foundation for our growth.

The second is specific to the food and beverage business and is the recognition and balancing of high touch and high tech. Hospitality is about connecting with other people and making them feel welcome like they are at home. Much of the technology introduced in our world is about efficiency and optimization—fully frictionless, tech-enabled checkouts and markets, as well as equipment that enables faster production. As we innovate and evolve our business, we are attuned to both and continue to gather knowledge and data on our guests so we can dial up both based on what they truly want and create memorable experiences. While we’re always innovating, we never want to lose our connection with people.

The third is an obsession with looking at our businesses and our partners’ businesses holistically. We started as one delicatessen with a focus on getting the food and hospitality just right. Today, we bring so much more than what our guests are eating, including our analytics capabilities and technology to optimize operations and all the details. We go beyond the plate to create valued experiences.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? 

Andy: The single most important quality of an effective leader is the ability to surround yourself with the right people. That means I only hire people who are nice, passionate, and have expertise that I don’t necessarily possess. “Nice” and “passionate” have been Levy’s magic elixir since the beginning. “Nice” to me means treating others the way you want to be treated. Nice people can be competitive, direct, and successful. They’re honest and true to themselves. “Passionate” means people who aren’t afraid to throw crazy things against the wall and run with them. Our culture embraces “out of the box” thinking and looks for ways to make it a reality. When we were starting our analytics division, E15 Group, I became keenly aware of how much more my team knew about analytics than I—and that’s how it should be. I’m a life-long learner, and when we started growing this part of our business, I learned to sit back and let the experts make us look smart. 

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Andy: As I just shared in my lawyer-to-olive oil expert story (or as I like to say, my torts to tarts journey), Levy is where I learned that anything is possible. We have countless examples of nice individuals with a passion to lead who grow into new and expanded roles in all areas of the organization. We have operators who started on a culinary path, and they are now leading some of our largest venues. We have field-based operators who have evolved from a single location to a home office role with oversight over best practices for an entire division. What all of these stories have in common, is that we act on the belief that at Levy, anything is possible. You can do anything, be anything. You need to be the person who raises their hand and says, “me.” I want to expand my skills and knowledge. That enthusiasm goes a long way in driving career and personal growth.  

When I address our new leaders, I share this sentiment, “If there is a need to move a piano, be the person who jumps in to do it, not just pick up the bench.” Levy is an organization of endless possibilities for those who choose to move the piano.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Andy: 

Prioritize culture: I always say that culture is Levy’s true secret sauce. We grew from a collection of restaurants to the leader in our industry delivering world-class hospitality at the most iconic venues and places. Along the way, we never lost sight of the family values that made us who we were in the beginning. 

Hire for nice: One of our family values since the beginning has been “nice.” And it still surprises me that more people don’t hire for it. One of the questions I always ask in an interview is, “Are you nice?” People are always surprised because it’s such a basic and obvious question, but the answers and the conversation that follows always sheds great light. You have to be nice, which is not the same as soft. Nice people are honest, direct and true to themselves, all really important predictors of someone’s success at Levy.  

Build a team that makes you feel dumb: I mentioned earlier how hiring smart people with diverse skill sets beyond what we already had at the company helped us achieve one of our biggest successes in E15 Group. Each of us has our own story and unique perspective that we can bring to the table. The worst thing a business could have is a group of people who only say “yes” and follow the leader. To build a successful team, leaders need to be comfortable surrounding themselves with people who know more than they do. 

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams? 

Andy: In addition to hiring really smart people, it’s critical to give them the autonomy and trust to succeed. It sounds funny, but I let them know it’s okay to make me look stupid.  It’s my way of giving them the freedom to do what they do best. The other big part of how I lead is to spend as much time as I can on the front lines of our businesses. I travel around the country as often as I can in order to connect with those team members who are spending the most time, closest to our guests.  In addition, I like to taste their menus and be a part of the guest experiences that our teams create. A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into developing menus to provide an exceptional guest experience and while I certainly provide feedback to my team, I also like to recognize their exceptional work and encourage them to continue to evolve and focus on delivering the most memorable experiences possible.

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?

Andy: The best sellers, marketers, and branders are, first and foremost, the best listeners. They take in knowledge. They hear the background and dig for as much information as possible. After that intake, they work their magic and turn it into compelling messaging and stories – through continued listening, collaboration, and fine-tuning. Those incredible listening skills are vital to the sale or creating a great brand, and they go a long way in building trust. The best way to earn trust is to show people you care on a personal level by listening, and we all want to do business with people we like and trust.  Build that connection based on trust and it will be a key to retaining relationships, and you’ll deliver the sales and marketing wins as well. 

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received? 

Andy: Early on in my career, Tom Heyman, who was our president at the time, had me join meetings to soak in the business and gain exposure to our partners given we had such a broad range of them—from sports teams to some big entertainment giants and well-known companies. In one of our early meetings, we were negotiating a deal with a renowned brand. I was there to listen so I was copiously taking notes to make it clear I knew my role. At several points in the discussion, I had to refrain from pausing with a confused look when workable deal points were called out as “needing higher authority.” After the meeting, I shared with Tom that I had expected more out of the company given their reputation. He said something that has motivated me since that meeting. He said, “Andy, they are people just like us. They might have a big title, but it’s passion and believing you can do anything you want that earns respect.” 

I have been in many situations since then that his advice rings true, and it has pushed us to keep reinventing this business.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Andy: As we look to the future, it will become even more important for leaders of industry to create nice workplaces. Be nice. Hire nice. Your company—and the world—will be better for it.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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