How many of us here drink coffee? And how many of us have had Starbucks, at least once? And how many of those are fans of the brand? What is it that we like about the establishment? The coffee is great but what really kept us coming back? Well, according to Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks Corporation, it's the atmosphere, the romance of drinking coffee and the warmth their stores exudes.
Throughtout this book, Howard tells us with great enthusiasm about how Starbucks became what it is now, from a humble little store in Seattle selling (only!) dark-roasted beans to a multi-billion, multi-store, multi-multi-multi company. Yeah, this is a business book, people.
What's unconventional about it is that it's actually fun to read. The history of the brand is absorbing and how everything seemed to fall into place just for them is wowing.
Perhaps it's all propaganda? Well, certain parts certainly felt that. I even seriously contemplated about getting a job as a barista down at the Wangsa Maju branch of Starbucks. But their mission statement is really empowering to their employees (here we go, propaganda...) and the company seems to really care about them. Great health plans, a revolutionary stock option called Bean Stock; it all seemed like Starbucks wants to make sure everyone felt like their in a family.
It all looks good on paper, but is it really the truth? *shrugs* I don't know and I'm not going to spend time trying to find out. All I know is that this book is a fascinating read.
I give it a 7 out of 10. (Which means, hey, borrow it from me but don't complain if you don't like it.)
No comments:
Post a Comment