#9: Michelin Star—How a Tire Company Created the Most Prestigious Award in Food

Summary

Summary of Podcast Episode #9: "Michelin Star—How a Tire Company Created the Most Prestigious Award in Food"

Introduction

In Episode #9 of Why That Worked, presented by StoryBrand.ai and hosted by Donald Miller alongside co-host Kyle Reed, the discussion delves into the intriguing history and strategic brilliance behind the Michelin Star—a prestigious award in the culinary world originated by a tire company. This episode unpacks how Michelin transformed from manufacturing tires to becoming a cornerstone in the restaurant industry, offering listeners valuable insights into the mechanics of success and excellence.

Personal Dining Experiences

The episode opens with the hosts sharing their personal culinary experiences, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of what constitutes a memorable meal.

• Donald Miller's Favorite Meals: Donald reminisces about his favorite dishes, highlighting comfort food and memorable experiences:

  "Best meal I've ever had was at Nomad in New York City... the hot dog in a croissant bun was like the best thing I've ever bitten into ever in my life." [02:11]

  He contrasts high-end dining with beloved local spots, emphasizing accessibility and personal connection over exclusivity.

• Kyle Reed's Culinary Adventures: Kyle shares his experiences with fine dining and the influence of travel on his palate:

  "Some of the best experiences are similar to you, where it's the steakhouse or it's those experiences." [05:27]

  Their exchanges underscore the subjective nature of dining excellence and the importance of the dining company in enhancing the overall experience.

The Challenge of Achieving Culinary Excellence

A significant portion of the conversation centers on the complexities and relentless pursuit of excellence required to attain and maintain a Michelin Star.

• Donald on Culinary Art as the Hardest Art Form: Donald posits that culinary arts surpass other art forms in difficulty due to their ephemeral nature:

  "Culinary is the hardest of all of them... the plate of biscuits and gravy, it's harder than any other stuff." [12:11]

  He highlights the challenges chefs face in maintaining consistency and quality, given that food is perishable and constantly evolving.

• Consistency and Transformation: The hosts discuss how maintaining excellence requires unwavering commitment:

  "Michelin stars have succeeded because human beings want to know what the best is." [22:51]

  They emphasize that Michelin's rigorous and consistent evaluation processes are pivotal in establishing trust and authority in the culinary world.

History and Strategy Behind Michelin Stars

The podcast delves into the origins of the Michelin Guide, revealing its strategic purpose and evolution.

• Origins Rooted in Tire Sales: Initially created to promote tire sales by encouraging more driving, the Michelin Guide transitioned into a revered culinary standard:

  "They wanted to sell more tires, so they needed to get people to drive more tires." [20:35]

  This strategic shift illustrates how businesses can pivot to create entirely new markets and standards.

• Development of Rating Criteria: The hosts explain how Michelin developed its star rating system to ensure objectivity and maintain high standards:

  "Nobody gets a Michelin star without multiple visits, sometimes over years... consistency is part of it." [15:08]

  This meticulous approach ensures that only establishments committed to excellence receive recognition.

Trust and Consistency in Rating Systems

Building and maintaining trust is crucial for any rating system, and Michelin excels in this domain through its unwavering standards.

• Double Assurance of Quality: The requirement for multiple evaluations over extended periods reinforces the credibility of Michelin Stars:

  "They developed a process of trust. If they cheapen on anything... they lose trust with your audience." [23:12]

  This dedication to consistency ensures that the Michelin Star remains a reliable indicator of quality.

• Michelin vs. Other Rating Systems: Contrasting Michelin with more transient forms of review, the hosts highlight the enduring trust Michelin has garnered:

  "Michelin is underwritten... it's disassociated from pandering for dollars." [25:10]

  This independence from commercial pressures solidifies Michelin's authority and trustworthiness.

The One-Two Punch: Excellence and Equality

A profound theme emerges around the balance between achieving excellence and fostering a sense of equality and respect.

• Excellence without Arrogance: Donald shares personal anecdotes illustrating how true excellence includes humility and treating others as equals:

  "Their commitment to excellence... and their belief that you are an equal to them no matter who you are makes them winsome." [25:21]

  This philosophy not only elevates the dining experience but also builds deep emotional connections with patrons.

• Implications for Business and Personal Growth: The hosts extrapolate this concept to broader business practices, suggesting that combining expertise with genuine respect for others can lead to profound success and admiration.

New Segment: What Also Worked

Introducing a fresh dimension to the podcast, the hosts unveil a new segment called "What Also Worked," where they briefly discuss additional successful endeavors or insights that complement the main topic.

• Featured Documentary - "I Am Tim": Will Guerra recommends the documentary I Am Tim about DJ Avicii, highlighting its exploration of artistic pursuit and branding challenges:

  "His pursuit of art... how to hook someone within five seconds." [36:53]

  This segment underscores the interconnectedness of excellence across different creative fields.

• Recommended Documentary - "City of Gold": Donald suggests City of Gold, a documentary about LA food critic Jonathan Gold, praising its eloquent storytelling and insightful portrayal of the culinary landscape:

  "Jonathan Gold... his reviews were Steinbeckian." [37:57]

  These recommendations provide listeners with additional resources to understand excellence and storytelling in various contexts.

Conclusion: Lessons Learned

Wrapping up the episode, Donald reflects on the profound impact of Michelin Stars beyond just culinary prestige. The conversation ties back to the overarching theme of why certain standards and practices lead to enduring success.

• The Power of Excellence and Humility: Donald emphasizes that true excellence lies not just in being the best but in uplifting others:

  "The only benefit of excellence is you can actually make other people, you can heal their souls if you are excellent." [32:11]

  This philosophy serves as a guiding principle for listeners aiming to achieve success in their own endeavors.

• Michelin Stars as a Model for Success: The episode concludes by reiterating how Michelin's commitment to quality, consistency, and respect forms a robust model that can be emulated across various industries to achieve lasting success.

Key Takeaways

1. Strategic Transformation: Michelin successfully pivoted from tire manufacturing to becoming a culinary authority by creating a trusted rating system.
2. Commitment to Excellence: Achieving and maintaining a Michelin Star requires unwavering dedication, consistency, and continuous improvement.
3. Building Trust: A reliable and objective rating system fosters trust and establishes authority, essential for long-term success.
4. Balancing Excellence with Humility: True excellence involves not only being the best but also treating others with respect and equality, enhancing overall human experience.
5. Cross-Industry Insights: The pursuit of excellence and effective branding are universal principles applicable across various fields.

Notable Quotes

• Donald Miller on Culinary Art:

  "Culinary is the hardest of all of them. I think consistently creating great art in the form of a plate of food is harder than any of that other stuff." [12:11]

• Will Guerra on the Michelin Process:

  "Michelin stars have succeeded because human beings want to know what the best is." [22:51]

• Donald Miller on Excellence and Equality:

  "Their commitment to excellence in everything they do... and their belief that you are an equal to them no matter who you are makes them winsome." [25:21]

Final Thoughts

Episode #9 of Why That Worked masterfully intertwines personal anecdotes with deep industry insights, shedding light on the intricate processes that elevate a simple guide into a symbol of culinary excellence. By exploring the Michelin Star's origins, challenges, and enduring legacy, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to create and sustain success in any field.

Transcript

[Donald Miller]

Foreign.

[Kyle Reed]

You're listening to the why that Work podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you've ever wondered why certain brands, trends or cultural phenomena find success while others don't, you're in the right place. Every week we unpack why something worked, then give you actionable insights that you can use in your own life. Now let's dive in with your hosts, Donald Miller and Kyle Reed.

[Will Guerra]

Don, the best meal you've ever had.

[Donald Miller]

That's a great question, difficult to answer, and of course I'm gonna take 12 minutes to answer it. Knowing that today is about. Yeah, knowing that today is about Michelin stars and the whole history of the Michelin star in terms of restaurant award systems or whatever. Right. I gotta just be brutally honest. I like a good steakhouse with comfort food sides. So if you're asking me to be honest, what's the best meal you've ever had? I'm going Kane Prime. I'm going the Oak. I'm going, you know, Hole in the wall. Fort Worth, Texas, after a long keynote presentation late at night with my buddies who happen to live in Fort Worth. You know what I mean?

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. We should not have recorded this before lunch because you're already. I'm getting hungry.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, exactly. And also, you know, a great restaurant to me has some telltale signs. One is a metal chair with red plastic covering and the waitress says, be careful, hot plate. Like that's, that's. We know we're in Don Miller's neck of the woods. That said, moving comfort food that is available in almost every town aside, which is better than most Michelin star restaurants, by the way. Best meal I ever had was at Nomad in New York City, which is a hotel. And they have a small, like, breakfast restaurant. I don't even know if that's called Nomad, but the Nomad bar is there. And somehow Brian Canlis, Canlas restaurant in Seattle, found out I was going to Nomad. And we were texting back and forth, he said, order the hot dog.

[Will Guerra]

So Nomad, which is very familiar to a lot of people listening to this.

[Donald Miller]

Right.

[Will Guerra]

You're going to Nomad. And he says, order a hot dog.

[Donald Miller]

Which I'm convinced he's joking. Yeah, like, there's no way a fine dining bar or whatever has a hot dog. And sure enough, they did, on the menu, realized he's not kidding, ordered the hot dog. And that might be the very best thing I've ever bitten into ever in my life. It was like a hot dog in a croissant bun. And the meat was was just like made in house. I mean, like they made that hot dog from scratch. And that is. They cut it up into like. I mean, it was the best thing.

[Will Guerra]

They cut it up.

[Donald Miller]

I think they cut it up. I think, if I'm not mistaken, they cut it up. This is Will Guerra, by the way.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Will Getara did this. He did Nomad.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And holy crap, that was amazing.

[Will Guerra]

Okay.

[Donald Miller]

You're sitting there, you're sitting in a little library at Nomad Hotel. And you know, the ambiance is amazing. The drinks obviously are incredible. And everything on the menu was sort of like upscale comfort food. And it was astonishing.

[Will Guerra]

Wow.

[Donald Miller]

Bets and I also ate at Iniki e's Petart. By the way, for listeners in the background. We've been like looking up, trying to figure out how pronounce this stuff. Cause half of it's in French.

[Will Guerra]

Oh, forgive us.

[Donald Miller]

This guy's name is Inaki EZ Petart and he has a restaurant called Le Chateaubriand that nailed it. The women are swooning as they listen right now. And it was. What do I got to say here? I'm so nervous I could pass on that restaurant again.

[Will Guerra]

Really?

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, now I shouldn't say that because that restaurant is great because it's turned a Michelin star quality restaurant into a very accessible culinary experience. Prices are not insane.

[Will Guerra]

You could get in.

[Donald Miller]

Yes. But I don't know what it says about me that, like Killen's Barbecue in Pearland, Texas. Yeah, they. The line starts at 9:30 or 10:00am it doesn't open till 11. So you get in line at 9:30 or 10:am and at 11 they open. And you just hope that they don't run out of food. I mean, you're going to get in and you're going to eat. They tend to run out of food around 2, 2:30pm but they. Then they just close because they don't have any more food.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, they're out of food.

[Donald Miller]

And that is. That is the best barbecue I've ever eaten. I've never eaten at Franklin. I've never eaten at some of the places around Austin, Texas. That guy graduated from high school with me and he created one of the best barbecues in the state of Texas. Barbecue. Barbecue restaurants. You know, I'm comparing all this French stuff to that and I'm like, be great on a bun, whatever this is, you know. So, Kyle, best food, best meal you've ever eaten. And then best meal in this sort of upscale category, best, you know, which includes experience and all that kind of stuff.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, that's. I'm in your vein. To the degree I have not eaten at a Michelin star restaurant.

[Donald Miller]

Okay.

[Will Guerra]

To my knowledge.

[Donald Miller]

You done Audrey here in town, here in Nashville.

[Will Guerra]

No, no, I haven't even done that.

[Donald Miller]

Audrey. Sean Brock's place would be like Michelin star.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. So I've not done that. Some of the best experiences are similar to you, where it's the steakhouse or it's those experiences. Honestly, one of my favorites. I. I don't know, maybe it was just because we were on a trip. Me and my wife were in Mexico, but we go to this all inclusive resort and their restaurants there are just out of this world eating things that I'm like, that looks.

[Donald Miller]

Well, probably a lot of it was fresh.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, yeah. It was just a lot of the.

[Donald Miller]

Fruit and vegetables were fresh.

[Will Guerra]

If you were like, hey, what last meal, what would you pick? I picked this soup from this restaurant in Mexico.

[Donald Miller]

Wow. Soup.

[Will Guerra]

I would never say, but this soup, it's like we. We talk about it on a regular. What was this? I don't remember. It was green. That's all I remember. So what does it taste like?

[Donald Miller]

You gotta get. You gotta do better than that.

[Will Guerra]

It was creamy. It was just the flavors in it were ridiculous. So good with some bread. It was designed really cool. It's been a couple years, so I don't remember all the extent of it.

[Donald Miller]

Don't you love it when you go somewhere and you start eating and you realize the food is five levels up?

[Will Guerra]

Oh, it ups the experience to another degree. And I think for me, that's what. So when I think about best meals, I think about another one. There was some. I'm from St. Louis, and right when my wife and I first got married, she was the foodie. I was not. I grew up Midwest. Meat and potatoes. You know, a big night for us was if we got the, like flavored nacho cheese Hamburger Helper.

[Donald Miller]

That is.

[Will Guerra]

It added a little extra flavor.

[Donald Miller]

Big night period. Not for you.

[Will Guerra]

That's true. That's good. I'm glad. I've always been nervous to say that out loud, but I'm glad I have some help. Someone who agrees with me. Nacho cheese Hamburger helper chew is. That probably disqualified me from a lot of this conversation. All that to say she grew up Southern, so sheep flavors is huge.

[Donald Miller]

So when we first got married, extra butter, man.

[Will Guerra]

She introduced me to just all these different spices and things, and it was. It kind of opened up my palate. But when we first got married, we went to St. Louis. We were visiting my parents and we were looking at places ago. We looked online and there's this place called the Tavern. I was like, all right, you know, cool. Again.

[Donald Miller]

Was it like review?

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, just like it was in St. Louis. It was new. And I was just kind of thinking.

[Donald Miller]

You know, the Tavern doesn't sound.

[Will Guerra]

The Tavern doesn't sound that nice. We walk in, they have a chef's table. It's open. They're like, here, come sit by the chef's table. We get to watch these guys prepare a kind of tapas style, but five course meal. And it was some of the best food I've ever had. I've ever had. And so the experience, but the food and just the attention to detail was amazing. But also, I think for me, some of it is the best meals I've had is the people I'm with, the company. It adds to the experience. Listen, I gotta make up for the nacho cheese comment now.

[Donald Miller]

You're gonna, you're gonna. You're going to push back on this because I know you're not a fan of Portland, Oregon. Going from the food scene in Portland, Oregon to the food scene in Nashville, Tennessee was like stepping out into a cold rain.

[Will Guerra]

Just that different.

[Donald Miller]

No, I mean, Portland was. Well, the year that I left Portland and came to Nashville, the New York Times wrote an article that said Portland, Oregon had surpassed New York City in terms of quality of restaurants. Bottom line is there were. There are two very competitive culinary schools in Portland, Oregon.

[Will Guerra]

Okay.

[Donald Miller]

Then what happened was they could all start food trucks in parking lots that the city opened up. So you had easy access to starting a restaurant without much capital. And what it created was this massively, you know, competitive food scene. Whoever survived the food truck scene got brick and mortar. And so what it created was a ridiculous number. I remember we used to go and try to get in at Le Pigeon because they only served eight hamburgers a day. And so you'd go to the Pigeon and try to get one of those freaking hamburgers.

[Will Guerra]

How much was a hamburger?

[Donald Miller]

Ah, it's like 40 bucks.

[Will Guerra]

Okay. Bad business model, but yeah, well, I.

[Donald Miller]

Mean, listen, they had. That's not the only thing on the menu.

[Will Guerra]

Burgers a day.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, you had to get a reservation. You had to. Couldn't get like a seven. When you wanted to eat, you had to get a five because otherwise you're not gonna get one of the hamburgers. And it was stuff like that. And the food scene was just absolutely insane. I mean, it was. Everywhere you go, you ate great Food. And then I came to Nashville and, you know, the best meal in town was Jay Alexander's and thank God Sean Brock moved to town and started up in the competition. Then Lotus opened up here. There started to be some great places to eat, and the food scene is changing, but, I mean, it was terrible.

[Will Guerra]

So I'm curious, so Portland, you know, do you think. Because this kind of hints into the Michelin star thing. Do you think there was a driver on competition to be the best that drove the excellence where do you think?

[Donald Miller]

I mean, I think all these. I mean, these are. This is all theory, but it's a pretty good theory. I think these chefs came out of these culinary schools and they got competitive and it was, you know, Portland is a. Go your own direction, be an artist. We're actually not paying attention to anybody else in the country that's very kind of proud of that stuff. And it. It just created this. This soil that great, great restaurants could rise up.

[Will Guerra]

Here's what I love about chefs about just this whole conversation is the desire to innovate. Right. To reimagine something I think is so fascinating. I also think so. My wife and I, we love the show the Bear. We love it.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Guerra]

And one of the twists in the Bear is they, you know, Carney decides I'm. We're going to go after a Michelin star. And to do that, we have to do these things. So we got to change our process, we got to change the restaurant, we got to change our quality of food. And he's the whole, like, the. The whole show is, does he get the Michelin star? And it drives the narrative forward. And it.

[Donald Miller]

That's the open story loop.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, it's an amazing story, but I.

[Donald Miller]

Actually looked up when I was. When I was preparing for this episode what a chef would do if they wanted to win a Michelin star. Like, if you suddenly announce to your team, we're gonna win a Michelin star, and, you know, pretty obvious stuff. Focus on culinary excellence, enhance the dining experience, develop a unique concept, invest in staff training. Emphasize seasonal and local sourcing, innovative and evolving menu, consistent quality over time, and then seek feedback. Build a strong brand identity, engage with the culinary community, and then be patient and persistent. That's a heck of an objective, you know, and here's a question for you. Yeah, I'm going to make a statement, okay? Agree or disagree in terms of art forms, painting, music, the literary category, where you're writing books or writing novels or whatever, movie making and cheffery.

[Will Guerra]

Cooking.

[Donald Miller]

Culinary. I think Culinary is the hardest of all of them. I think consistently creating great art in the form of a plate of food is harder than any of that other stuff. Harder than Bob Dylan writing like a Rolling Stone, harder than, you know, Picasso hard. Painting, it's harder.

[Will Guerra]

So you're wondering if I agree or disagree. I'm curious. Why?

[Donald Miller]

Why do I believe that?

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. I don't. I'm running in my head, why do you think that?

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, here's why. Because if I'm a painter, nothing against painting, I'm not saying it's easy. If I'm a painter and I screw up, I paint over the top of it and it's permanent. I just painted something permanent. The Mona Lisa was painted however many years ago and it's still there now. Do that with a plate of biscuits and gravy. This 400 year old plate of biscuits and gravy. Just taste it.

[Will Guerra]

Unless it's a McDonald's burger, it's not lasting beyond a day.

[Donald Miller]

And the reason is it's constantly changing, much less expiring. And it's getting worse. Like the second you take that thing out of the kitchen and it's crossing, it is evolving and changing. As the waiter brings it to the table, it's changing. Not only that, I remember going to a fine dining restaurant that was known for something particular and I ate the salad and the crouton on the salad almost broke my tooth, it was so stale. And I remember literally thinking, is there a hidden camera? Is this a joke? This is a hundred dollar plate of salad here. And the reality is, who knows, it set out for an extra three hours. So to get to know like that bin of croutons is we got to throw that out. This, everything is always evolving and changing while you're creating it. And then to keep that up in terms of consistency, I would think would be. That's why I say it's the hardest form of art.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

And I also have the most grace. Like if I go to a really nice restaurant and some of the food seems a little cold or whatever, I'm just like, you can't nail this every night. You're going to get, you're going to get 10 really great bites tonight and they're going to be amazing or taste some good things. But let's suspend all judgment because this is actually the hardest form of art.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, okay, I see where you're going with that. That makes a lot of sense because like most art, it's subjective. Right. So it's all on the user experience of what Tastes good to them. But what I heard you saying, what's interesting is it's almost like a little bit of a battle because the chef is battling against the freshness of the chef.

[Donald Miller]

Your actual art form is fighting you.

[Will Guerra]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

The whole freaking time.

[Will Guerra]

But the people you know eating it, the experience, there's so much subjective, so it's actually interesting. Like Michelin star, the rating system is subjective as well to the person giving them out. Right.

[Donald Miller]

Well, I think one of the reasons that Michelin stars have succeeded is they actually put some things in place to counter that. For example, nobody gets a Michelin star without multiple visits, sometimes over years.

[Will Guerra]

Okay.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. Did you know that?

[Will Guerra]

No, I didn't.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. So the food reviewers go in, and they go in, you know, once, and they take notes. They come back. They come back, they come back, and sometimes it's years because consistency is part of it.

[Will Guerra]

Okay.

[Donald Miller]

It has to be a consistency, great experience.

[Will Guerra]

So do once you get a star, do they come back and make sure that you're holding up to the brand?

[Donald Miller]

I did a little thing on you can lose stars.

[Will Guerra]

Really?

[Donald Miller]

Yeah. In fact, Alinea in Chicago is, you know, it's kind of a. A known thing that they're always under the threat of losing a star because they're just so freaking innovative, and they change so much, and it's just hard to keep that stuff up. I haven't eaten at Alinea. I really want to.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, sounds like we need a road trip podcast episode.

[Donald Miller]

But I mean, think about, you know, like, Sean Brock here in town at Audrey. Sean is probably the best known chef in town. He's probably one of the greatest chefs in town, if not the greatest. Won, I think, two or three James Beard Awards. He made a little bowl of grits with an egg in it and some sort of green sauce that's just sort of splashed over it. And I'm telling you, man, top five things I've ever eaten in my entire life. So Henry Cloud calls and says, hey, let's get dinner. I go, audrey. Because he lives down the street from Audrey. Can we do Audrey? The girls aren't with us. Let's just eat. Let's just eat for hours. I get there, hate the grits thing.

[Will Guerra]

Ah.

[Donald Miller]

You know, we took that off the venue. You've got to be kidding me. You took it off the menu? And, you know, imagine why. Because whatever was in that is no longer fresh and available. So Sean's not gonna make it and serve it.

[Will Guerra]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Donald Miller]

That to me is like, you know, hey, you can't use blue as a painter, by the way. Van Gogh, blue has expired this season. You gotta wait till next spring. Can you think of any other art form that is this hard?

[Will Guerra]

No, that's true. I mean it. And it's so, you know, you're right. Everything is battling against you, which is maybe what makes it so appealing for. But also so anxiety driven, you know, for the chef and for the experience.

[Donald Miller]

Well, let's also. Let's also say that. Or admit or acknowledge the fact that in order to even do it, you have to have a ton of money.

[Will Guerra]

Okay. Just for the.

[Donald Miller]

If you're gonna do a fine dining restaurant, you probably need to be funded, because how are you gonna get a clientele to come in and pay 400 bucks, you know, for the meal that night, without the reputation, without the environment, without any of that stuff? How are you going to do that? You're going to have to have millions bankrolled in order to make it happen. And then you've got to, you know, you got to figure out where you're sourcing this food, where it's coming from. To me, it's just like. You got to be kidding me. You know, to use a food analogy, I don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze, because think about Mashama Bailey in Savannah, Georgia. I actually put. When the team was smaller, before you were on my team, I got two of those Rockstar buses, those overnight, where you could get in a bunk and sleep overnight. Rockstar bus showed up in our back parking lot at like 8pm, 9pm we all get on two different buses, and we wake up in Savannah, Georgia, and we go eat at the Gray. I'm getting choked up because Mashama Bailey's story is amazing. First black woman to ever win a Michelin star in America. And, you know, it's an old bus station that used to be segregated. And now she won a Michelin star out of it when she turned it into a restaurant. I mean, it's just. And they gave us a back room and treated us like royalty. And we all ate back there. And then we went to a Savannah Bananas game. It was an awesome trip. But, you know, we're eating Michelin star food and, you know, for her to be able to figure out what seafood is available at the local, you know, whatever, bay and all that kind of stuff, I just think, I don't know, you gotta be some sort of obsessive compulsive in order to pursue this.

[Kyle Reed]

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[Will Guerra]

One of the things I found fascinating about the rating and just kind of the pursuit of it all was they started with excellence. So when the Michelin brothers first started the guide, it was all in pursuit of, as some have heard the story, who have not heard, was to sell more tires for the Michelin company. Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

Explain that. Because a lot of people may not know that. They think of Michelin and they think of. They don't think it's associated. I didn't know.

[Will Guerra]

No, it's.

[Donald Miller]

I knew this, I knew this until like 10 years ago. I didn't know this until like 10 years ago. There's actually a travel guide started by the Michelin Tire company, which is a French company.

[Will Guerra]

Yes. In the like early, early late 1800s, early 1900s. The way the guide started was they actually it was a map for people who were driving. Because I think if, forgive me on if this number is wrong, but I think there's like a total of 3,000 cars in the world at that time. So it made no sense what they were trying to do. They wanted to sell more tires, so they needed to get people to drive more tires.

[Donald Miller]

Probably lasted not a very long time. 800 miles.

[Will Guerra]

What do the roads look like back then? But one of the things that they put in there was like instructions on how to drive, where are gas stations.

[Donald Miller]

That was all in the first Michelin guide there.

[Will Guerra]

And the guide was so good. The maps were so good that most In World War I, they use them. The Allied troops are kidding. They use them as guides for when they went over there because the maps.

[Donald Miller]

Were so well made and they probably like flipped through and said, oh, we should stop here and get the hot dog.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, exactly. That's probably. They saw, hey, I heard this place called Nomad and so as they started going through, they started realizing that what people were looking for and gravitating to was restaurants. So they started to expand that and they started putting rules around. Here's how we give out Michelin stars. Here's the things we're focused on. You read those earlier and they started categorizing, you know, A1 stars, this, A2 stars, this, A3 star means this. But what I found so fascinating about it was from the very early on, they gave this guide away for free. They could have made it, you know, kind of crappy, just like, go check out.

[Donald Miller]

That's where you think, I wish we knew who did it. Because, you know, the Michelin brothers, they hired somebody who was an obsessive, compulsive enneagram. One.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

I mean, think about, think about the process of reviewing a restaurant taking two to three years. That's insane. And that is a commitment to excellence. You're not, you're not driven by selling a bunch of books at that point. You're driven by becoming the best. And, you know, we're talking about why Michelin star worked. And I think I shared with you, the number one reason is human beings want to know what the best is.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, 100%.

[Donald Miller]

And the number two reason is we eat three meals a day. So how many meals is that over the course of a lifetime? It's hundreds of thousands of meals. So it's, it's a, it's a commodity that we're consuming constantly. So it's a very, very familiar thing, food that you want to know what the absolute best is, and then you want to know who the best is to say it's the best.

[Will Guerra]

That's right.

[Donald Miller]

And Michelin Starr and James Beard would probably take those categories home.

[Will Guerra]

They developed a process of excellence, but they also importantly, developed a process of trust. So I think if they cheapened on anything in the process, they lose trust. If they cheapen on their. The process of the food, the criteria, just the focus on the standards of what is a Michelin star. They kind of, you know, diluted it a little bit. You lose trust with your audience. And one of the things I was thinking about was, was for them, if they're going to focus on excellence, on something great, it deserves effort. And I commend them for that because I think in those processes, you know, most people, when they're trying to sell something, it's super easy to just go, yeah, let's just make something really quick so we can sell more of it.

[Donald Miller]

That is also, I'm a Capitalist. Let me tell you, I'm a capitalist. The benefits of capitalism are massive in terms of feeding the hungry. Probably the most successful experiments we've ever had in terms of reducing poverty. Capitalism, however, let me also state, and this is a big plus for like National Public Radio and the arts and Patreons of the arts. When you don't have to make money doing something, you can commit to longer timelines, more research, going to a restaurant three times. So when something is underwritten, and I would imagine the Michelin review is underwritten, I can't imagine it's selling a truckload of copies every year. Maybe it is, I don't know. But I bet their budget is bigger than they are. It's not about making money. And so I would actually say that's one of the benefits of taking some things and saying, you know what, we're gonna, this thing doesn't have to make money. We're going to underwrite it so that we actually get the most objective or the best. That it's disassociated from pandering for dollars. Right.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. They tie it and I think it's.

[Donald Miller]

Fair to say, like the Michelin star. Restaurants that win a Michelin star have the same commitment of excellence, to excellence that the actual Michelin star guy does.

[Will Guerra]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

That they've actually said, well, if we're expecting them to be so excellent, we have to be excellent too.

[Will Guerra]

And it's so interesting because in the standard of the way that they rate restaurants is primarily, they say they focus on the food. But what I love is restaurants, when they pursue winning a star, multiple stars, they overhaul everything because they are, they are, to your point, they're committing to the long term process of developing. We are going to be excellent at every single thing.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Will Guerra]

And to the point of earning a star means that you have the stamp of excellence. I thought it was interesting as well as, like why I couldn't think of very many other categories where we as humans kind of outsource our rating. Most of the time it's word of mouth, like, hey, go check out this movie, check out this book, whatever that may be.

[Donald Miller]

We might read the customer reviews on Amazon.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. Why is it though that we look at a Michelin star, hold it to such excellence? What is that in us to kind of go, hey, that's a stamp. I gotta eat there now? Because someone said, that is great.

[Donald Miller]

Well, it goes back to, you know, I grew up very, very poor. We stood in line for welfare when I was a kid. We, you know, it was a Great upbringing, but we just didn't have any money. I was always very intimidated by the people who live on the other side of the tracks. You know, Mr. And Mrs. Canlis, Chris and Alice have a house. They had a house at the time on not wasn't Puget Sound. It was whatever that lake Washington is. And you know, I was just super intimidated by the fact that they run this restaurant. They won like 20 something grand awards in a row from Wine Spectator. 25,000 bottle dollar bottles of wine. They would always say, don, come by the restaurant. I'm like, there's no freaking way I'm going by that restaurant. Right. I don't even have a. I don't have a sport coat. And he had to have a tie at the time. Now Mark and Brian changed that. They made it a little less formal. But finally, when I married Betsy, we were on our way to Hawaii. We stopped in Seattle for a day and I took her to Canlas. And when I walked in, they made us feel. They didn't make us feel anything. We were so welcome in that place and treated like royalty. And I just remember thinking, oh, I was wrong. These are not. This is not a pretentious place. Now here's the magic one, two punch. Maybe the greatest thing that you think about in terms of building a business. Their commitment to excellence in everything they do at Canlis makes them very authoritative. And their belief that you are an equal to them no matter who you are makes them winsome. And it's a one, two punch. The one, two punch is you are clearly better than me in some category. Wealthier, better looking, athletic. I'm talking about cross universal, like why we admire people or institutions clearly better than me, but don't believe that you're better than me. In fact, I had lunch with Charles Koch. He's worth $100 billion and actually had the honor of writing the foreword for his book, the Principles of Human Progress, which I'm also going to publish, by the way, that comes out probably next year. And Charles Koch's worth $100 billion, one of the most brilliant people on the planet. And I went and had lunch with him and I was shocked at how he put me at the head of the table. He sat next to me and he peppered me with questions the entire time as though I were the one who were better than him. I will never get over that, how good that man made me feel. And it wasn't like he was being manipulative. He was genuinely interested in my knowledge of story and story structure and story brand and all these kinds of things. And to me, I think the reason I admire him so much is he's clearly better than me. He's worth over $100 billion. Global Titan, by the way. At the time we had lunch, he was 88 years old, and he was running circles around me intellectually. I said, hey, can I take a stab at the foreword? And I wrote it in his voice. So I wrote the introduction as Charles Koch. Can you imagine the arrogance of this? And I sat there at Stay golden, and I wrote it, and I wrote it with this voice of the only reason that I know what the principles of human progress are, are because I've made so many mistakes. In fact, if you're reading this book, there's a 95% chance I've made way more mistakes than you have, and you are probably better than me and make less mistakes. However, these mistakes have allowed me to learn. And everything you're going to read in this book is about what I've learned by doing dumb things and making mistakes. And I was like, do not send this off. I mean, I had to have two or three meetings with his team before I could even have lunch with him on how to talk to him, because the man doesn't waste time. And I emailed it off and I didn't hear anything back for months. And I'm like, you just burned a bridge because you literally put the words into the mouth of Charles Koch that I make a ton of mistakes. And maybe he's the kind of guy who doesn't talk about that. Anyway, it was just a misunderstanding. They forgot to get back to me or whatever, and they wanted to actually make it the whole theme of the book, or all these mistakes that Charles Koch made, but that made me, of course, love them even more. And there is a one, two punch in your business and in you as a person that in order to play the guide and those who've read Building a Story but know what I'm talking about, in order to play the guide, you have to have mastered something. You have to be better than most people, if not almost everybody, if not everybody at something. And then you have to believe that everybody is your equal. And if you can do that, the people around you will admire you more than anybody else that they know that's the one, two punch. And I say that because that's what I learned eating at Canlas. In fact, when my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and given two years to live, she was actually given a year to live, but they put her on a Medicine that extended that. I said, what do you want? Anything you want. She said, I want to travel before I get sick. And I put her on a first class. She'd never been on a first class flight. So I put her on a first class ticket to Seattle and we went to Canlas. And I said, don't order wine because I might have to mortgage my house if you mispronounce anything. We're just going to do cocktails tonight, Mom. And I wanted her to be treated like an equal to somebody, by somebody who was clearly better. And it was a very beautiful. I trusted them to make her feel like a million bucks. Food was great, don't get me wrong. But I wanted her to feel like a million bucks. And that's the one, two punch. And I would say for anybody listening who's won a Michelin star, which would be like nobody. Unless Gordon Ramsay is listening right now.

[Will Guerra]

Sixteen of his or whatever, he has freaking stars.

[Donald Miller]

We didn't even get to that.

[Will Guerra]

He could, by the way.

[Donald Miller]

He doesn't even have the most, really. No. There's a guy named Alain Ducasse or Ducassi in Paris who's 120 for his various restaurants. Anyway, to me, the big benefit of accomplishing something excellent, winning a gold medal, like Scott Hamilton, who we know, you know, Scott's another guy, won a gold medal, multiple gold medals. Unbelievable commitment to excellence. And you sit down with that guy and 30 seconds in, you realize, this guy does not think he's better than me. And he clearly is. It's literally like in his psyche of like, we are equals. And to me, the benefit of accomplishing something that's so excellent is the ability to make people feel amazing because they're looking at you with such admiration and you're looking at them as an equal. And it just elevates their whole soul. That's why it's not good enough to mail it in ever. It's not good enough to sit around your mom's basement and smoke pot. You gotta make something of yourself. I realize I'm on a sermon here, sure. But to me, it's the whole. The whole point of this episode. If you get into Michelin stars and restaurants and culinary experiences and art is. That's, to me, the only benefit of excellence is you can actually make other people, you can heal their souls if you are excellent.

[Will Guerra]

Wow. Yeah. There's something that's powerful, what you're saying. There's something human about it, to me is, how so? What do you mean, if you're so the Human side of. What I was thinking about as you were talking was there's a pursuit of excellence from the chef. There's still, like, if you're at that level of excellence, you're on such a higher level than I'll ever be about a knowledge of food.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah.

[Will Guerra]

And yet you're pursuing something that someone else says is great. But you're inviting me into experience.

[Donald Miller]

Yes.

[Will Guerra]

And I don't care if you have the greatest taste buds in the world or if you ate nacho cheese.

[Donald Miller]

Which I did.

[Will Guerra]

Macaroni or whatever. Yeah, nacho cheese. Hamburger Helper. You're welcome here. I want you to experience this. And that, to me, is the human experience that we all are pursuing to some degree. That we are pursuing something excellent.

[Donald Miller]

We want the best, but yet we want to know what the best is. We want to experience it.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. And to your point of like. But we also don't think we are better than anyone else. And that's the human side of it. That. That's. That's pretty.

[Donald Miller]

Well, I think that's the healing side of it. And they have to go together. You can't. You know, if you are the most. Are you the world's best at something and you're a jerk, you're literally just hurting people with your opinion of them. But if you're the world's best at something, you see everybody as equal. You're a healer of human beings. Well, man, I mean, what a. You know, I didn't. I didn't know if we were going to actually record this episode and keep it or not, because neither of us know anything about anything. But I really like the conversation. We are introducing a new segment.

[Will Guerra]

This is exciting. We've come up with a new segment. You want to introduce it?

[Donald Miller]

It's called what Also Worked. And these are things that also Worked that don't deserve an episode. Or maybe we're not going to be.

[Will Guerra]

Able to talk to them for 30 minutes. We're going to have a mini moment here and.

[Donald Miller]

You got one.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. So recently I watched a documentary called I Am Tim. I've been hounding you about it to watch it. I Am Tim. It's about the artist Avicii and Netflix just released it.

[Donald Miller]

Was that a painter?

[Will Guerra]

It was a DJ Avicii.

[Donald Miller]

And he's an artist.

[Will Guerra]

He was. He passed away, unfortunately. But that's what.

[Donald Miller]

That's what the push.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. No, that's what the whole episode is about is his journey from start to. Unfortunately, he took his life, but just kind of the journey he went through is making art. And I highly recommend it as a.

[Donald Miller]

So is the thing that also worked is that documentary?

[Will Guerra]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

What was the big takeaway from that documentary that you thought, everybody needs to watch this because of this?

[Will Guerra]

Yes.

[Donald Miller]

Because you've actually told me about this like 12 times.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah, I keep hounding you about it. It's the. To me it was the. The willingness to deviate from what's working. And he was such an art. He wrestled with this idea of I'm an artist, but I don't feel like I'm an artist because I use my computer to make music. So they bring that theme out of like you. He tried to play the piano and guitar and then at the height of his career, he had this massive smash hit called Levels. He decides to go the complete opposite direction and introduce live instruments into a performance. And when it was. I don't want to ruin it.

[Donald Miller]

It's like the opposite journey of Bob Dylan.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah.

[Donald Miller]

It's just a band and everybody goes crazy.

[Will Guerra]

Yes. And he. That's the crescendo of the documentary, I would say.

[Donald Miller]

But I mean, do they talk a lot about philosophies of art and that sort of thing?

[Will Guerra]

No, it's more about his journey, but also just like his pursuit of art. And then honestly, another angle to look at it is this pursuit of kind of marketing and things that come in.

[Donald Miller]

Of how to building a brand.

[Will Guerra]

Yeah. He's wrestling with the labels, telling me that you have to hook someone within five seconds. How do I do that and should I do that and should I care? And that was a lot of the theme too.

[Donald Miller]

Okay, I've got one for you. Since we're talking about documentaries, my. What also worked is a documentary called City of Gold about a food critic in LA named Jonathan Gold. And for some reason I started watching this thing and he's a scruffy dude. He goes into all like the strip malls, like this Thai restaurant in the back of a strip mall that nobody knows about. And he writes these reviews that are just Steinbeckian. I mean they're just so frickin well written.

[Will Guerra]

Is that why you loved it?

[Donald Miller]

Just the way I loved it because the writing was so good and the food that he was talking about, it's a combination of all my worlds. Right. But this guy would write reviews that were, you know, the food was what it was, the reviews were inspired. It was like he was channeling God in writing a description of this soup.

[Will Guerra]

City of Gold.

[Donald Miller]

City of Gold. And he's a scruffy dude, misses all his deadlines. Can't remember where he put his pad and paper. You know that guy me.

[Will Guerra]

This has been fun. Thanks for another episode.

[Donald Miller]

Yeah, thanks Carl.

[Kyle Reed]

Thanks for listening to the why that Worked podcast presented by StoryBrand AI. If you like the show, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're Enjoying this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and leave a comment letting us know what you think and what you want the guys to talk about in a future episode. Curious about how StoryBrand AI can help you create clear, effective messaging? Well, you can try it out right now and create a free, customized tagline for your business. Just go to storybrand AI. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.