It's Not about the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks

As a leadership author and teacher, I recommend Behar's work for its challenge to live the idealism of leadership. While Starbucks is less than perfect as an organization [just witness their recent court battles], Behar outlines how he tried to inspire leadership in all ranks of the company. The chapters on mission, personal development, and the complexity of collaboration are important areas for those desiring to become effective in their leadership roles. Too many organizations live subpar--in the "real" world of corporate practice. Behar challenges the reader to live leadership idealism. What a difference it would make in corporate America if some leaders lived out even a few of Behar's principles. A simple, yet worthwhile read.

I respect, though do not agree with Lloyd Eskildson's review. While the review was deeply thoughtful and wordy, the underlying fact is, that the book is about the author's people skills, not about current market fluctuations which occur in every industry known to man. The author is not professing his beloved Starbuck's will rise through the likes of a nuclear explosion - which is seemingly where you expect a business to go -my goodness. The review was snobby at best. Way back down here on earth, the real-life day-to-day operations within a company are complex at best, and accounts of these experiences must be given more credit than to call them "surface" and "misleading". They are called books because they are TINY WINDOWS into the life of an author. Why do I understand this? Because of extended, sometimes painful experience - I can read "behind" the wording and envision the type of conversations going on when he 'appears' to be surface-writing. Only someone with more corporate experience than time spent in a library, would understand this. That being said, the book is a magnificent tool to change a very trendy and highly disturbing trend in American business - complacency. When business is 'all about me' (the birthplace of complacency in my opinion), it declines. Without mentioning names, I will say with ferver and focused passion, that there are only a handful who really understand how to avoid the 'all about me' syndrome, which the majority of business owners fall into quite readily. More times than not, giving a person the keys to their own business is like a lamb being led to slaughter when it comes to personality change. There grows within the concept of being a C.E.O., a need to self-serve for the sake of who's watching. Peer pressure at this level is magnificent and largely a waste of precious time and energy. I roll my eyes at it, out of pure boredom and silliness of the game because I simply haven't time for caring if my social and physical accessories are up to par with the Jones family. What the author has done here is level the playing field - and not out of disrespect for the office he honors. He understands 'how' to wear his hat and how to let others wear theirs. Nothing is more damaging to a company than to not understand this. It's an excellent book and should not be missed by anyone wanting an edge in their business. I highly recommend it.

Howard Behar understands the importance of the people who work for him and how to bring out the best in them so that they'll know how to provide the customer with best possible experience. BRAVO! It is about the people and it is so refreshing to hear from a CEO who not only knows it, but knows how to operationalize it. This is a must read for any CEO who truly wants to make a difference.

Wow, I devoured this book over a few nights, and Howard Behar is an amazing, inspiring author. His leadership style and vision has reignited my ambition to uplift others, both those that I work with, as well as those that I serve. I think so often these days, we forget what it means to work in a human service capacity, however Behar does a great job of telling it like it is. Progressive, yet timeless.

Well, Starbucks has to be about its coffee at some level (and the book admits it on page xiii). For heaven's sake they sure make a big fuss about it, right? In any case, I am not a real Starbucks customer because I don't drink coffee, they don't serve soda, and I think their pastries have no flavor (but they look nice). That being said, I like this book even if it is another in the many books trying to catch some of the glow in the success of Starbucks. Behar at least has the credibility of actually having led a good chunk of the growth. The book is about getting your core understanding of yourself just right and having people centered values. Howard Behar joined Starbucks in 1989 and was named its President in 1995 and retired in 2003. In this book he lists ten principles and then discusses each in its own chapter (plus an introduction). They are: 1) Know who you are 2) Know why you're here 3) Think independently 4) Build trust 5) Listen for the truth 6) Be accountable 7) Take action 8) Face challenge 9) Practice leadership 10) Dare to dream While these seem awfully like light fluffy clouds in a list like this, the chapters do flesh them out in ways that will help you get at why a serious man like Behar believes in them. Really, it comes down to how you work with people. You cannot run a business of any size by yourself and in order to work with people and earn their trust you first have to know something about yourself. Once you have a solid core with serious values you actually live by, you can then reach out and lead others because you are worth following. This is a helpful and concise book and if you appreciate reading about principles for self-development, this will be a book you enjoy. Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI