Changes and stuff

Good morning… What can I get for you?

Today is a grab bag of sorts. There’s been quite a bit of press and discussion on what is actually happening with SBUX as a whole. I’d like to talk about some subtle things that have happened that caused me to leave.

Starbucks used to be a place that was special. A special place all centered around the coffee cup. A coffee commune if you will. Folks were rallied around the concept of serving people coffee… in various forms. That has slowly gone away. A person at my new 2nd Place asked me.. .”Hey, don’t they start every meeting with a coffee tasting in the corporate office?” “Yes and no”, I told her. You see alot of folks fill up a press, wait the 4 minutes and then do a half-fast attempt at debriefing… not much attachment any longer… no stories about “the first time I had this coffee I met my wife”… or “I climbed Mt. Rainier with this coffee”… In a nutshell, there’s no emotional attachment to the product that served us so well. Now you can program the hell out of coffee (Coffee Master, Coffee Ambassador, etc) but when you don’t model it with your stories and experiences, it loses the specialness it once had. I had a fella named Tony, drill into my head that it was my main job to learn about the product. To detect the subtle differences in coffees. How a Guatemala Antigua compares to a Arabian Mocha Sanani to a Sumatra… then we’d talk about his experience with the coffee… he’d send me home every night with about 6 - quarter pound samples to press before my next shift. Bottom line is that it was important to connect myself with COFFEE.

The 2nd subtle change is the removal of bonding activities. Some folks call them team-building… whatever. It’s spending time with others who cherish the goal of serving people coffee. Getting to know what they do in their lives outside of work, building relationships, developing attachments to the 2nd product Starbucks sold… people. Let’s take the removal of conferences, BBQ’s, Christmas parties, get-togethers… those are all recent changes and the argument has been “Well, those things are only for corporate” and “It was a hard decision… blah, blah”… Bottom line is that you take away the one opportunity for managers, directors, individual contributors to bond (and they need to), you remove the company’s abilty to attract and retain people to accompish the Mission. Argue all you want about the cost, the bottom line, etc and you still are missing the point. If Starbucks is still as good as they say they are then they should find a way.

So what’s happened at Starbucks? Going public… I know… I’ve reaped the benefit of the stock option… but like any corporation that goes public, it’s investors and executives that are looking to make a quick buck. They jump on the treadmill that they don’t realize is run by folks with only one goal… to make money off of the company’s success. No success anymore?? Bye bye… they jump off and the employees are left to run on the treadmill. Now, I know that going public has funded the explosive, unmanaged expansion of Starbucks… and that’s great. If your goal is to create a McDonald’s. That was not what I bought on to in 1992… because that’s not what they were selling. They sold this model… People first, Coffee Second, Business Third… Meaning… If’ it’s not good for our people and our coffee, it won’t be good for business. Some would argue that you have to have margin to continue the mission, and that’s true… for everyone else.

You store partners think about how “special” you are making your Third Place™… Before you condemn McD’s and other competitors… ask yourself. What have I done to make this place more special than that?

So are you curious how much value 15-years at Starbucks is worth… $386 on the open market. CLICK HERE

See you tomorrow for your usual…

Pat Nerr…