Daniel Ek, CEO of Spotify — Habits, Systems and Mental Models for Top Performance | Brought to you by Headspace (http://headspace.com/tim), Literati (http://literati.com/tim), Wealthfront (http://wealthfront.com/tim). Show Notes: https://tim.blog/2020/12/03/daniel-ek/#more-53852 Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) is the founder, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of directors of Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, with 320M users, including 144M subscribers, across 92 markets. Please enjoy! SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/1dSzTkW LINK TO ALL SHOW TRANSCRIPTS: https://tim.blog/2018/09/20/all-transcripts-from-the-tim-ferriss-show/ About Tim Ferriss: Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 500 million downloads and been selected for “Best of Apple Podcasts” three years running. Connect with Tim Ferriss: Sign up for "5-Bullet Friday" (Tim's email newsletter): https://go.tim.blog/5-bullet-friday-1/ Visit the Tim Ferriss PODCAST: https://tim.blog/podcast/ Visit the Tim Ferriss BLOG: https://tim.blog/ Follow Tim Ferriss on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/tferriss/ Follow Tim Ferriss on INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/timferriss/ Like Tim Ferriss on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TimFerriss/ Start [00:00] What’s the origin story of Daniel’s Twitter handle, @eldsjal? [06:36] “Lagom” and Spotify's immersion in both Swedish and American culture [09:24] Does Daniel think he was born eldsjäl, or was it something he picked up along the way? [12:54] A place for both European and American parenting styles? [17:13] Matthew Syed’s Black Box Thinking and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist [20:40] What helped Daniel turn his health around? [30:09] The impact of knowing how to prioritize focus [34:49] Why being clear on business roles is important [38:20] On annual reviews that keep up with a rapidly changing company [44:13] The most crucial components of Daniel's job as CEO [50:19] The differences between Spotify and Shopify aren't just in their names [56:52] Are there any biographies that stand out for Daniel? [1:01:05] Favorite books on management [1:02:22] Some tough-to-hear feedback Daniel once got [1:03:05] Spotify doesn't define static jobs; it assigns 2-year missions to staff. [1:08:45] How Daniel delivers on his own mission [1:10:48] “We believe that speed of iteration beats quality of iteration.” [1:16:29] What is Brilliant Minds, and how did it start? [1:19:09] Why Daniel invests so much money into “moonshots” across Europe [1:21:52] What would Daniel’s billboard say? [1:28:47] Parting thoughts. [1:31:13]