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The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary [Hardcover]

Joseph Michelli (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this paean to "one of the truly exceptional American success stories," Michelli convinces the reader that Starbucks is a great company, but he stumbles when trying to extract "precepts that can enhance your business and your personal life." He explores the various levels on which Starbucks succeeds, from its generous HR policies and lively work environment to its attention to detail and genuine concern for social causes—all of which highlight how singular a company it is. (Michelli throws in the word "unique" as often as twice a sentence.) But when it comes to advice for businesspeople, his "simple, yet not simplistic" tenets are too vague to be very helpful. Michelli notes that he has no personal stake in Starbucks: "I am not here to sell you on the company." But his enthused exclamations—"It is difficult to imagine all the great things that are yet to come for Starbucks"—give The Starbucks Experience the ring of an authorized book. Still, the company's practices are undeniably innovative and inspiring, and even if most of them aren't directly relevant, there's surely something in this book that's applicable to most businesses. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE SUCCESS!

You already know the Starbucks story. Since 1992, its stock has risen a staggering 5,000 percent! The genius of Starbucks success lies in its ability to create personalized customer experiences, stimulate business growth, generate profits, energize employees, and secure customer loyalty-all at the same time.

The Starbucks Experience contains a robust blend of home-brewed ingenuity and people-driven philosophies that have made Starbucks one of the world's most admired companies, according to Fortune magazine. With unique access to Starbucks personnel and resources, Joseph Michelli discovered that the success of Starbucks is driven by the people who work there-the partners -and the special experience they create for each customer. Michelli reveals how you can follow the Starbucks way to

  • Reach out to entire communities
  • Listen to individual workers and consumers
  • Seize growth opportunities in every market
  • Custom-design a truly satisfying experience that benefits everyone involved

Filled with real-life insider stories, eye-opening anecdotes, and solid step-by-step strategies, this fascinating book takes you deep inside one of the most talked-about companies in the world today.

For anyone who wants to learn from the best-and be the best-The Starbucks Experience is a rich, heady brew of unforgettable user-friendly ideas.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

More About the Author

Joseph A. Michelli
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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embrace resistance, leave your mark, corporate social responsibility, caramelized popcorn, embracing resistance, blended beverage, legendary service, being welcoming
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Everything Matters, Starbucks Experience, Make It Your Own, Five Ways of Being, Squirrel Hill, Howard Schultz, Pike Place Market, Green Apron Book, United States, Sandra Taylor, Long Beach, Orin Smith, French Press, Fair Trade Certified, Sergeant Wright, Sergeant Matthews, Seal Beach, Jim Donald, New York, Starbucks Support Center
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary
80% buy the item featured on this page:
The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary by Joseph Michelli Hardcover 3.9 out of 5 stars (52)
$16.47
Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
10% buy
Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz Paperback 4.4 out of 5 stars (142)
$10.87
It's Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks
5% buy
It's Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks by Howard Behar Hardcover 4.0 out of 5 stars (18)
$7.61
The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company
3% buy
The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company by Joseph Michelli Hardcover 4.3 out of 5 stars (24)
$14.27
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Customer Reviews

52 Reviews
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 (21)
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Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (52 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The half-caf business book, January 3, 2007
By Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary (Hardcover)
Starbucks has many detractors -- people who object to its business model, the way it prepares its beans, or simply its ubiquity. And though they don't seem to have shown up in the reviews here yet, I'm sure there are readers who may object to this book because it offers a relentlessly positive look at the coffee giant. It's important to understand that "The Starbucks Experience" is not, and is not meant to be, an "exposé" of Big Coffee. People seeking that should look elsewhere.

(I probably should mention here that although I live in Seattle, I don't work for Starbucks. I am, however, a fan of theirs.)

What "The Starbucks Experience" is, is a very interesting inside look at the approach to business that has made Starbucks not only a commercial, but also a cultural, phenomenon. As William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre explained in their recent and important book "Mavericks at Work," Starbucks is an exemplar of the values-driven business model that will set apart the next generation of business leaders. Joseph Michelli has taken us deeper inside that business model and pointed out some important ways that all of us, whatever our job or station in life, can adopt and adapt "the Starbucks experience" for our own uses.

I call this a "half-caf" business book because unlike many other writers in this genre, Michelli doesn't pound away at "life applications" or "key learnings" (awful phrase). Much of the book, in fact, is pretty straightforward storytelling with some "Ideas to Sip On" at the end of each chapter. It's up to the reader to decide how much of this is relevant and useful, and what the important lessons may be.

I think the attentive reader will come away with many worthwhile ideas. We're not all in a position to shape corporate policy, but one of the powerful truths Starbucks teaches is that everyone can have a big -- even a defining -- impact on a customer's experience of your product or service. You don't have to be a Starbucks fan to get a mental caffeine-buzz off an idea like that.
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29 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Starbucks is to coffee what High Definition TV is to black and white - There's No Comparison - A GREAT BOOK!!!!, April 1, 2007
This review is from: The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary (Hardcover)


Management consultant Joseph Michelli spent two years of his life trying to figure out what makes Starbucks such a successful operation. Remember, Howard Shultz the founder of Starbucks took essentially an ordinary cup of coffee. Prior to him, it was sold daily in some of the seediest places on the planet (still is). He elevated it into an art form, presented in a European style environment, and sold it repetitively day in and day out for 4 to 7 times what you pay somewhere else for it.



It's an AMAZING STORY


It's one of those stories where you say to yourself, this was a NATURAL. Why didn't someone think about doing this? Home Depot, McDonald's, Duncan Donuts, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, all of these operations were naturals, so natural in fact that you would think that someone else would have thought of doing it first.



Starbucks is in a class by itself


Had you invested $10,000 in the Starbucks IPO in 1992, you would be sitting on $650,000 today. If you had been one of the 100 employees with the company in 1987, and had you stayed with them, you would be looking at 100,000 fellow employees today. Who else has had growth like this?


How do you replicate the customer experience every day successfully among 11,000 stores? How do you do it in such a way, that if a customer travels from NYC to Miami, to Detroit, and then on to Chicago, and LA, and into San Diego, you can count on CONSISTENCY in each Starbucks that you would enter?


This is such an extraordinarily difficult thing to do, that you will immediately realize how many other great companies including Home Depot along the way, have STUMBLED, when it came to maintaining that unique CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. This wonderful little book answers all of these questions and more, in less than 200 delightful pages to read. There's more wisdom here than you realize upon first reading Michelli's
work. Here's more of what you will learn. There are five critical sections to the book. The author has named them Principles 1 through 5. Each is a separate chapter in the book. They are:



1) MAKE IT YOUR OWN

The people who work in the stores, who do the everyday work you see are called PARTNERS, not workers, not employees. The objective is to get a lower level associate functioning in an entrepreneurial fashion. Somehow Starbucks gets it done. Basically, each partner is asked to conduct himself in accordance with what the company calls the "FIVE WAYS OF BEING".

A) Be Welcoming
B) Be Genuine
C) Be Considerate
D) Be Knowledgeable
E) Be Involved



2) EVERYTHING MATTERS

There are two fabulous quotes that are used in this section. We should all memorize them:

A) Retail is Detail
B) All Business is Detail

I was floored by these quotes. When you think about it, Starbucks is completely right. You have to get those DETAILS right. If you do that, the mosaic that you are trying to create between store, coffee and customer - it all comes together.



3) SURPRISE AND DELIGHT

It might be opening a store an hour early because you see a customer standing outside. Perhaps you had 10 regular customers from the library across the street, and now the library has moved. You run the Starbucks, so what do you do, you visit the new Starbucks where the library moved, and you introduce your old customers to the new Starbucks. Who does this type of thing; what business has such people affiliated with it? The answer is Starbucks. Somehow this company has managed to create these types of dedicated professionals.



4) EMBRACE RESISTANCE

Most companies seem to fight off criticism or complaints - not Starbucks. They look upon criticism as an opportunity to learn from the person doing the criticizing. A case in point is a high level Starbucks executive calling up a person who did a radio show flailing against what he viewed as a lack of consistency in the coffee and service at his local Starbucks. The company embraced the criticism as an opportunity to learn on a company-wide basis. This is very unusual to say the least.



5) LEAVE YOUR MARK

It's right in the company's mission statement. The company will "contribute positively to our communities, and our environment." From buying environmentally friendly products to constantly worrying about developing a reputation for integrity, Starbucks takes what it does seriously. This is reflected in every nuance of the customer experience.


Is this the only major company in America that gives health-care benefits to all employees who work 20 hours a week or more? I think so. Most companies could care less about the living and working conditions of the overseas companies that it buys from. Starbucks couldn't care MORE.


In fact, they pay an average of $1.26 more per pound of coffee than their competitors, to insure that their foreign business partners treat their employees better that what is normal country practice. This includes looking at the books of their providers to insure that the wealth trickles down all the way to the guy picking the coffee beans.




CONCLUSION

If you are a student of management than this is a company you need to study. If you are an investor, you have to think about why you are investing in arcane, esoteric companies you don't understand, when companies like Starbucks are right under your nose, and you visit them every day. What's going on here? Who's driving the bus?


Read "The Starbucks Experience". It will give a whole new meaning to your leisure time activities. You will learn that this company is a whole lot more than just a cup of fresh, wholesome, good tasting coffee. See you at Starbucks.


Richard Stoyeck
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Motivational and instructive, the non-fat grande latte way, October 19, 2006
This review is from: The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary (Hardcover)
The Pike Fish Market in Seattle is an entertaining place. According to the motivational video "Fish!", there are lessons to be learned from how they operate their business.

A long time ago, far, far away, the Pike Fish Market was the neighbor to... Starbucks, the early version.

I can envision the energy in the Pike Fish Market influencing the Starbuck philosophy. I don't know if that really happened, but Starbucks IS the coffee equivalent of that fish throwing, shouting, and entertaining place.

Or, according to Joseph Michelli, it should be.

There are almost as many "Principles for Success" books written by the Fortune 500 as there are Fortune 500 (guess a number here). Why is this one anything special?

I'd say this book reads not as a pat on their own back, and not as a book written for MBA students. There is a level of energy, the Pike Fish Market-type energy, throughout. The principles are:

* Make it Your Own
* Everything Matters
* Surprise and Delight
* Embrace Resistance
* Leave Your Mark

These translate into customer friendly, employee empowering, creativity rewarding, and relationship forming principles. The energy comes top-down AND bottom-up.

This book is worthy of a second reading after the first. Let the concepts sink in, and see how they apply to the world. Then read again. Pick and choose what may work for you. Do you "see" REI? Costco? Powell's Books?

This well-written book is worthy of a look-see.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book
I learned a lot from the book. The lesson to be learned is that every little detail counts. Starbucks does things that other companies don't do which brought them tremendous... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Mike

2.0 out of 5 stars GREAT if you are a Starbucks "Partner"
I have learned a lot about the "wonderful" Starbucks customer service from this book, but I have to agree with the other negative reviews on this book. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Eugene I. Kim

5.0 out of 5 stars Being the best with less stress
...is about being the best with less stress; and came into our lives when my associates and I wanted to learn more about moving from being transactional handlers to trusted... Read more
Published 25 days ago by Dr. Rae Associates

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Such A "Grande" Experience
I was in Barnes & Noble looking for a good read while on my way out of a Starbucks. I saw this book, and being a business owner myself, thought it'd be a great read. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Zachary L. Schuessler

3.0 out of 5 stars A good business model
You may be surprised to find out that this book was not written by someone inside Starbucks, especially considering the glowing account of how this company rose to the top and... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Rebecca H. Parker

2.0 out of 5 stars Is Starbucks Good Or Great?
It is hard for me to extrapolate the great experiences in the book of a few that go way above and beyond the millions of ordinary customer experiences that most folks have daily... Read more
Published 17 months ago by petesea

5.0 out of 5 stars Succinct Guide To Starbucks' Leadership Principles
The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary by Joseph A. Michelli is an excellent book about the underlying leadership principles that guide... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Philip R. Heath

5.0 out of 5 stars I now understand Why Starbucks is achieving success.
Heart warming stories and sound business advice. This book covers lessons, which have worked for Starbucks. There are mentions of blunders, and of course only a few. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Belinda Meyer

3.0 out of 5 stars just like coffee - drink it up in one sitting
the book is really good in the begining. however the principals tend to overlap toward the end. the more time you take to read this book the principals dont distinguish... Read more
Published 20 months ago by me

5.0 out of 5 stars SAVOR A CUP OF THIS
LOVED IT, AND WOULD APLY MANY OF THESE STANDARDS TO LIFE AS WELL AS MY BUSINESS AND CREW.
Published 22 months ago by Ladytailwind

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