Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom Brewed from the Grounds of Starbucks Corporate Culture

John disseminates the star in starbucks in an easy to read format. Great book for the plane or light reading for vacation.

I finished reading the book last night and give it high marks for being full of valuable information. Each chapter is very short and focuses on one particular lesson learned from Moore's years as a marketer with Starbucks. Unlike that other Starbucks book I read and reviewed earlier this year ("The Starbucks Experience"), this one reads much more like an unauthorized account as opposed to "official corporate policy." Moore concludes each chapter with a series of relevant questions. Here's one that really jumped out at me, for example: "If you freed up advertising dollars to be spent elsewhere within your marketing budget, how best would you allocate the money to focus more on being and doing rather than saying?" He also explains how Starbucks continues to challenge itself. Rather than being content as the leading coffee shop chain, they look at "making the transition from Starbucks as coffee 'brand' to Starbucks as beverage 'icon'." So instead of owning the majority market share in the coffee world, they prefer to look at themselves as "an upstart, competing against the old-school beverage icons like Coke and Pepsi." Moore gives great insight to the human side of Starbucks and what characteristics are common in the best employees. He also talks a bit about why employees leave. As he puts it, "people quit people, not companies. It's the person on the ground, not the board of directors on the eighth floor of corporate headquarters, who represents the company to your employees." How true. If you're looking to get the inside scoop on what makes Starbucks special, this is the book to read. But I'd also recommend it to anyone who wants to learn countless bits of wisdom that can be applied to just about any business.

I have known John Moore personally for about six months. Before that I was an avid reader of his "Brand Autopsy Blog". I just finished reading his book, Tribal Knowledge, and found it to be a book worth reading. It is broken up into 47 short and digestable chapters (called "Tribal Truths"), each one disecting the internal workings of Starbucks. Himself a vetran of Starbuck's marketing department, Moore share his behind the curtain insights as well as the points of views of current and former company executives. I read the book over the course of a week, most of the reading actually while sitting in a Starbucks. It was interesting to uncover corporate attitudes attitudes while watching the employees live these "tribal truths" at the same time. Moore is a marketing guru and a good writer, and has a lot to share with his readers. I reccommend this book!

John Moore had a back stage seat at Starbucks. He didn't just see the production, he was a stagehand. He gives amazing insight into not just how Starbucks became the first name in coffee, but also why it became so robust. Get pad and pen in hand and get ready write. This book is especially valuable to business owners because it induces many "aha" moments. Ideas you will want to implement in your business flow from the pages. Reading John Moore's golden little book of Starbucks Tribal Knowledge is not a 'how-to' marketing book; it's more 'how-come.' Divided into three sections: Branding, Customer Experience, and the Workplace, Tribal Knowledge zooms through short, concise and easy-to-read chapters. You learn how come Starbucks always executed promotions successfully by using a brand checkbook. You learn how Starbucks tapped into people's wants, and not their needs. You learn how come Starbucks always seems to have the type of employees you wish you could hire at your business. At the end of the book, Moore asserts that profit is a by-product and happens as a direct result of doing things right. For business owners, profit will be a by-product of reading this book and then integrating some of the tribal traditions John Moore has gleaned from his years at Starbucks.

Author John Moore has done a fantastic job of revealing some of the the amazing secrets behind Starbucks Coffee Company's brand building and marketing success. Moore explains many of the hidden truths behind what makes Starbucks a success and outlines them in an easy to follow recipe on how one can duplicate the secret formula for their own business. His Tribal Truth's are excellent nuggets of important, yet amazingly actionable steps one can take to impact their business. Whether you are running a mom and pop coffee shop or positioning your multi-million dollar company to jump to the next level, this book will inspire and impact you on a number of levels. I highly recommend this book and as a business strategist intend to have all my clients read it! Ripple On John Moore! Steve Harper Author The Ripple Effect: Maximizing the Power of Relationships for your Life and Business www.ripplecentral.com