On CNBC Leaders Playbook, Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer explains why he hires for emotional skills first. Kindness, empathy, and integrity, he says, are harder to teach than job skills — and they're what truly make great employees.

Danny Meyer, founder of Shake Shack, describes his hiring philosophy as seeking '100% employees,' which he defines as a combination of emotional and technical skills. He states that 51% of the ideal candidate's qualifications are emotional hospitality skills, while the remaining 49% are technical abilities relevant to the job.

Meyer identifies six core emotional skills: kindness and optimism, curiosity, work ethic, empathy, self-awareness, and integrity. He notes that while these traits are difficult to teach, they can be identified during the hiring process and should be celebrated when demonstrated by employees.

Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer on how to hire the right people

We're looking for a 100% employee, just like anyone applying to work for us should be holding us accountable for being a 100% employer. How do you get to that 100%? 51% of it are your emotional hospitality skills. And those emotional skills, we've identified six that are always present in someone who's got what we call a high HQ, high hospitality quotient. Someone with a high HQ is someone who is happier themselves when they make someone else feel better. Imagine if you had a car where the more you drove it, the more it filled itself up with gas. That's like someone with a high HQ. The 49% that gets us to 100 are somebody's technical skills. Are they a really good cook? Do they make the world's best pasta? Whatever it is, we need both. You've got to have the whole package. So can you teach a hospitality quotient or is it just inherent? It's hard to teach emotional skills. The six emotional skills we look for in everybody are, are you kind and optimistic? Are you a curious learner? Do you have an excellent work ethic? Do you have empathy? Do you care how someone else feels? Do you have self-awareness? Do you know what your own personal weather report is on any given day? And finally, do you have integrity? Do you have the judgment to do the right thing, even when it may not be in your own self-interest? I don't know how to teach someone to be those things. I do know how to teach someone how to hire for those emotional skills. And I also know how to celebrate those skills when you see them. And that's the thing.

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Breakdown