My guest this week is Daniel Ek, the founder and CEO of Spotify.In my conversations with Daniel, I’ve found him to be one of the most interesting and thoughtful business leaders in the world. You’ll see what I mean as you listen to our conversation.We talk about Spotify plenty, but what I so enjoy about Daniel is his way of thinking in systems and frameworks. He is committed to evolution, innovation, and growth for both himself and for Spotify and is on my shortlist of CEOs to emulate.This was one of my favorite conversations on the podcast, I hope you enjoy it.For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshagShow Notes1:21 – (first question) – Management lessons from a Dubai chocolate maker4:54 – Trends shaping the business landscape today: globalization, automation, and digitation7:51 – How he thinks about the vertical integration of his business and scale10:37 – Are companies doing a good job adjusting to the changes in the global business landscape14:44 – How does Spotify view scale moving forward17:59 – What trends has he seen among creators as a result of the Spotify platform20:32 – The community benefit that has been created by the platform23:47 – Intimacy of audio25:31 – Creating an environment that continues to spur innovation29:12 – Star vs constellation business strategy32:21 – Measuring network health35:12 – Spotify Originals and what his competition in the video market is doing39:36 – How podcasts play into the growth strategy43:04 – How did he solve the problem of competing with free47:21 – Is their strategy repeatable, going after fractured suppliers49:02 – Role of the CEO in a startup51:22 – Others who have taught him great business lessons53:18 – Kindest thing anyone has done for DanielLearn MoreFor more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclubFollow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag