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Title: Pour Your Heart Into It : How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time by Howard Schultz, Dori Jones Yang, Eric Conger ISBN: 1-56511-233-4 Publisher: HighBridge Company Pub. Date: September, 1997 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 2 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.39 (77 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Nice Conversational Tone and Some Surprises
Comment: This is an excellent book about an entrepreneur who understands the business world. First, Starbucks understands the "personal touch"--from its name, to its unique coffee brand names (Frapuccino, for instance, whose origins are discussed in detail in the book), to the style of the stores, to its pricing system, and even understands its customers. Starbucks realizes that its typical client is upscale, affluent, college-educated, left-of-center politically (and thus the focus on "fair trade," and all the environmental goals they set out to enforce as a company).
There were things I did not know before I read this book. For instance, the amount of training each barista receives -- enough training to discuss the various coffees in great detail. In fact, because Starbucks trains its employees to such a large extent that it is fearful of allowing any franchisers to run Starbucks because then they would not be assured of the quality control of the company. That is certainly debatable, of course.
Starbucks provides its workers with incredible benefits, as we all know, but I didn't know how strong those benefits were. On top of your sallary, you receive 14% in stock options (which, in most companies, are reserved for higher-level managers and executives), and health insurance, even for part-timers. Well, looks like the high prices for the coffee go someplace!
Starbucks is not Wal-Mart, however. Coffee competitors need not fear Starbucks, Schultz says, because, after all, he charges more than his competitors do.
One irritating part of the book is that he refers to his coffee as gourmet or exceptional at least 20 times, which can be a bit tiring. Yes, I understand the point! Your coffee is good. Point headed. ; )
In any case, this book was fairly well-written and had a conversational tone to it.
Michael Gordon
Rating: 5
Summary: Starbucks Sensational Story Shines
Comment: Ok, let me get this off my chest. I live in Australia where there is only one Starbucks in Sydney. I live in Melbourne. i've never been into a Starbucks store, i don't drink coffee but i am dying to try a Starbucks hot Chocolate! Anyway back to the book, I just finished reading it half an hour ago, three days after i purchased it. I couldn't put it down. Why does a book about a generic product propel me not to put it down? becasue the story is from the heart, from the man who took it from Seattle to Sydney and almost all points in between! "Pour your heart into it" is a one of a kind book, it tells it like it is, the highs, the lows, the passion and the challenges for a company committed to put financial awards aside in order to bring the worlds best coffee to your tastebuds. Seems that Howard Schultz does know something rather than nothing about how to treat a customer. (Hogan's Heroes Joke) Starbucks have no employees, they have partners, they offer stock options and health plans, help in charaties around the world but above all that, above all the corporate traps they have successfully managed to move around, the little coffee place that started out in Pike Place Market still has the desire and the romance to take customers into a world were drinking a "cup of joe" as you yanks call it, is now as enchanting as a waltz and as fresh as a spring day.
Howard schultz should be appaluded for writing a book in a way that brings out the passion and dedication to the company and his partners. Business books seem to be just a date of events that tell us what happened, "pour your heart into it" goes into the who, how, where and when of the starbucks empire. so if you are haphazard about reading a book about a guy that runs a few coffee places, just buy it, sit back with a Frappucino or a Starbucks Blend and just be blown away by the realisation of one mans dream to educate the world, and educate everyone that reads this book to follow your dreams, take chances but most of all "pour your heart into it"
Enjoy it, i know you will
PS: Where can i get a Starbucks coffee mug from? can anyone help me here? :)
Rating: 5
Summary: You will never look at Starbucks the same way again
Comment: This is one of the best business biographies I have ever read. It is truly inspiring. One simple, and telling, output from reading this book on a plane was that as soon as we landed I headed to the local airport Starbucks for a latte. I rarely even drink coffee! So powerful are the imagery and the passion for coffee in his story that you can almost smell the roasted dark beans, feel them running through your fingers, hear the sounds of the espresso machine and taste the coffee itself!
Why is this imagery so important? Because behind the corporate image of a relentless pac-man like machine churning out new locations at a rate slightly above the national birth rate it seems, is a simple vision of passion for coffee combined with Italian neighborhoods and a warm and friendly place where the worlds best coffee and social friendship intermix. That is what Starbucks was all about.
The book itself is a remarkable insight into this journey. It was even more special for me, as I grew up with Starbucks - literally. When Howard talks about the vision he had to treat even his part time employees with full benefits and ownership in the company through stock, I know it was more than just a nice sounding corporate manta, it really worked. Friends I went to high school with in Bellevue in the mid to late 1980's worked at the first stores, and raved about this little coffee company and couldn't imagine working anywhere else. So, from firsthand experience I can tell you that what he says about the passion and vision coming to life in Seattle is all true
While company history is quite interesting, and the book itself just hums and glides without ever getting mundane, the real gems are in the emotional reality Howard displays. He talks about being overwhelmed to tears, about the rejection he faced while trying to get funding for his fledgling company, about the naysayers and others who nearly took it all away, and the struggle with having a hand in everything and slowly letting go. You know that you are reading about a real person, someone who came from a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn with working-class roots, not an image generated by a large corporations PR spin doctors
The value of people, so often lost in corporate bureaucracy, is evident here. Starbucks grew because it struck an emotional chord with people. He knew that in order for the company to be successful he needed people who shared the values. This is often spoken of, and rarely practiced in the corporate world where systems, forecasts, processes and other such tools become the focal point, and the simple fact that all results come through people is lost. He speaks throughout the book of people who helped him, coached him, mentored him, challenged him, and made the company what it was. One quote in particular summarizes his views: "If people relate to the company they work for, if they form an emotional tie to it and buy into its dreams, they will pour their heart into making it better." (Page 6) This theme comes through in every decision.
Overall, this is a wonderful book, and is truly inspiring. I would work for him tomorrow, if it really still is the way it's portrayed here. I encourage you to read this book and see your neighborhood Starbucks in a new light.
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Title: Start and Run a Coffee Bar by Tom Matzen, Marybeth Harrison, Thomas Matzen ISBN: 1551803542 Publisher: Self Counsel Press Pub. Date: 30 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Sam Walton : Made In America by John Huey, Sam Walton ISBN: 0553562835 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Forbes® Greatest Business Stories of All Time by Forbes Magazine Staff, Daniel Gross ISBN: 0471196533 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 07 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Grinding It Out : The Making Of Mcdonald's by Ray Kroc ISBN: 0312929870 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 April, 1992 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry by Michael Dell, Catherine Fredman ISBN: 0887309151 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 05 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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