“There's a pervasive sense of short-termism that has invaded our markets. The reality is when you have such short-term pressure on our CEOs, they react. And what that ends up meaning is cost cutting. And they avoid the kind of transformative events that drove the success of Panera. Anything of value when you have 100,000 employees as we do, and you have as many stores as we do, takes time, takes years.”
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Guy Raz asked why Shaich sold Panera and took it private. He says the issue wasn't his own control but what would happen to long-term bets under public-market pressure once he was gone.
No, you know what? The truth is, I probably could because I voted 17% of the stock and I had this reputation, this credibility. The problem was, what happened if I wasn't there?
Yeah, I see. And I'm
64 and I'm not going to be here forever. How does Panera continue to do the things that it created value? There's a pervasive sense of short-termism that has invaded our markets. The reality is when you have such short-term pressure on our CEOs, they react. And what that ends up meaning is cost cutting. And they avoid the kind of transformative events that drove the success of Panera. Anything of value when you have 100,000 employees as we do, and you have as many stores as we do, takes time, takes years. And so the reality is as a CEO, as a leader, I've got to figure out where the world is going. I got to know how the world is unfolding. And I got to make sure my company is positioned as the world arrives there. You can't do that so easily in a public company.
You, toward the end of 2017, you announced that you were stepping down as the CEO. Are you finally now that you are kind of slowing down and stepped out from the day-to-day stuff, able to enjoy? I mean, you also became a rich guy. You didn't grow up that way. Are you able to enjoy some of that?
You know, money is freedom. And so I wouldn't be foolish and tell you I don't enjoy it. You know, I've often been on these panels where I'm the token entrepreneur and, you know, at business schools and the like. And people say, oh, isn't it so wonderful? Look at what you created. And they usually…
That's Ron Shaich, founder of Panera. These days, Ron's still building and investing in restaurant brands, including Kava, where he's now chairman. Our show is produced by podcast Pointman. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to How I Built This.