It's Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks | 
| Author: Howard Behar
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 70974
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 1591841925
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4092
EAN: 9781591841920
ASIN: 1591841925
Publication Date: December 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
At Starbucks, the coffee has to be excellent, from the sourcing and growing to the roasting and brewing. The vision has to be inspiring and meaningful. Our finances have to be in order. But without people, we have nothing. With people, we have something even bigger than coffee.
During his many years as a senior executive at Starbucks, Howard Behar helped establish the Starbucks culture, which stresses the importance of people over profits. He coached hundreds of leaders at every level and helped the company grow into a world- renowned brand. Now he reveals the ten principles that guided his leadership and not one of them is about coffee.
Behar starts with the idea that if you regard employees and customers as human beings, everything else will take care of itself. If you think of your staff as people (not labor costs) they will achieve results beyond what is thought possible. And if you think of your customers as people you serve (not sources of revenue) you ll make a deep connection with them, and they ll come back over and over.
This approach has been integral to Starbucks from the start, and remains so today. Behar shares inside stories of turning points in the company s history as it fought to hang on to this culture while growing exponentially. He discusses the importance of building trust, facing challenges, daring to dream, and other key principles, such as:
Know Who You Are: Wear One Hat
When organizations are clear about their values, purpose, and goals, they find the energy and passion to do great things.
Think Independently: The Person Who Sweeps the Floor Should Choose the Broom
We need to get rid of rules real and imagined and encourage the independent thinking of others and ourselves.
Be Accountable: Only the Truth Sounds Like the Truth
No secrets, no lies of omission, no hedging and dodging. Take responsibility and say what needs to be said, with care and respect.
Take Action: Think Like a Person of Action and Act Like a Person of Thought
Find the sweet spot of passion, purpose, and persistence. It s all about the people isn t an idea, it s an action. Feel, do, think. Find the balance, but act.
Behar believes that as work becomes less hierarchical and as the world economy becomes more and more about relationships and connecting, the principles of personal leadership are more important than ever. This book will show you the way.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
Interesting perspective July 9, 2008
E. Mathews (Texas)
There are some great messages in this book that really make you think differently. It's so NOT your typical business book.
However, I doubt Starbucks is as lovey dovey as he describes! I think the baristas are so cheery because they are caffeinated!
 Attempting to live leadership idealism April 19, 2008
David L. Neidert (Indiana, USA)
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.
Good weekend read. April 8, 2008
Manuel Mendias
The book focuses on human relations and its a good read. Do not expect a managment book, in the strict sence of the word. I have read Peter Druker, a mastermind, and other management books. This book focuses on the human side and I do recommend it. It is candid and I liked that. Why 4 and not 5 stars? I would have liked more data specific or thourough experiences. The ones included are good but no enough for a 5 star. Thank you Howard.
 Silly April 5, 2008
Anna Dodonova (London, UK)
Silly book! The title says "IT'S NOT ABOUT THE COFFE" when you open the book, the first page will tell you exactly the opposite! Another PR for Starbucks.
It's about people skills (not market fluctuations) March 30, 2008
Sy Santos (Albuquerque, NM)
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.
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