13 June 2020
I think this book cover is what originally reeled me into picking up this story (I'm a sucker for a nice book cover). This is also a Seattle story - albeit about a Seattle I never knew (my first visit out here was in 2012, and some places in this book no longer exist today). This book primarily covers from 2007-2010, during the Great Recession, and the pains that Starbucks faced as it had to reconfigure its huge business from the ground up to weather the economic crisis. Probably the other draw for me to pick up this book was our current Coronavirus pandemic, and how Starbucks recently reported a $3.2 Billion loss in revenue as a result. The current ceo (Kevin Johnson) took the reins in 2017 after Schultz left the second time, so I'm curious to see what parallels come out of this event with the one a decade earlier.
I should call out that this book is two things: a case study of one company's internal crises and steps toward remediation; and a not-too-subtle advertising platform for the Starbucks brand. To talk through the advertisement angle first, I get that this is an inseparable part of Schultz's life in multiple ways, so it'd be hard for this book to have a the same voice if it muted the enthusiam, pride, or warmth. I think as a storyteller it's an attempt to get you to experience the pressure and magic this company as he had - usually it worked, but sometimes it felt a little out there. It bothers me most about this book.
As a case study, it was very well broken down and structured. At times I felt like this was more a dissertation or academic research paper written by a college kids transcending on caffeine. I did really appreciate the discussions about the hits (like VIA) as well as misses (like company growth), and what seems a relatively honest take on the results of the company's actions. Personally I think it's an accessible business read if you've started a company but don't know what to do after you start growing: because this book goes through the lessons learned ultimately caused when you blindly expand to appease Wall Street and not your customers.
I liked the book though, and it made me curious to read his previous one, "Pour Your Heart Into It" (1999). This was a very easy book to pick up, especially if you like coffee, current economic history, or both. The enthusiastic voice of a biased author can be a little much, and warrants putting the book down every so often. Although it seems assembled with a coauthor formerly from Forbes, I think the third party approach like "The Everything Store" (2013, Stone) or "Steve Jobs" (2011, Isaacson) ensures a disassociation between the brand and the stakeholder of that brand. Even with all this history it doesn't go deep into the data of the problems that existed, so you may feel that it's too anecdotal, and an incomplete story at times. But given it's a front-row seat to a large company's firefighting during a catastrophic time in recent history, it's a worthwhile read. 4/5