“The Experience Is the Brand” Part 2

(Check out Part 1 on Bartell Drugs if you haven't yet...)

There’s not too much today that feels particularly magical or special about visiting a Starbucks…(though in fairness, their Reserve Roasteries comes close).

The brand is a victim of its ubiquity and success.

Much has already been said about the challenge new CEO Brian Niccol faces. But I’d rather reflect on Howard Schultz’s extraordinary leadership—just how inspiring and rare his approach is in business today.

As a marketer, one of the things I admire about Howard is his obsession with the in-store experience and his conviction that Starbucks’ culture and values—how it treats its workers (partners)—lies at the heart of the Starbucks brand experience.

I recently listened to Howard’s interview on the Acquired podcast (I know, I’m late to the party). It should be required listening for aspiring marketing or business leaders.

I was already familiar with much of his story:? Howard's desire to build a different kind of company—one that provides respect and dignity for workers, particularly front-line baristas…The influence of his childhood…growing up poor… his father’s injury that made him unable to earn a paycheck for a period of time to cover medical bills and other family expenses…experiences that inspired Howard to push Starbucks to take the lead on worker benefits:? health care for part-time workers and same-sex partners; stock options for all employees.

But what really struck me over the course of 3 hours 15 minutes interview is how much Howard speaks to the heart and soul of what make Starbucks special; how counter-intuitive his approach is vs. other CEOs who might fixate on revenue growth or shareholder value; and his extraordinarily high level of emotional intelligence.

Quoting at length (but you really need to go listen):

“The elements to characteristics that build the Starbucks business, the culture is compassion, empathy, and love. Those are not just words. It’s like real things that are not being taught in business schools. People on the outside view it as not true. I’m telling you the reason we’ve succeeded is because the underpinning of the company’s purpose has been just that.”

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“The one thing is we’re not a beverage company serving coffee. We are a coffee company serving people. We need to be much more coffee-forward. And we cannot continue to allow the mobile app to be a runaway train that is going to consistently dilute the integrity of the experience of Starbucks.

We’re not in the transaction business. We have to execute transactions, but that has to go through the lens of being an experience business, an experience place. People are longing for human connection. Even if they’re on a mobile app, let’s provide it…..”

Some have criticized Schultz for armchair quarterbacking / back-seat driving since leaving as CEO. But can you blame him?? I actually think it’s a blessing.? What’s going to happen when Howard is no longer around and Starbucks loses the “Howard Barometer”?

?In many ways, Howard is just warning Starbucks about the forces that might lead to premature brand decline; much like Jeff Bezos warning about rising Day 2 culture at Amazon. But I can’t help but marvel at Howard's poetry, eloquence, passion, and humanity.?

?Let’s hope Brian heeds the siren’s call!

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