Podcast: Play in new window | Download
“We’re in the people business serving coffee, not the coffee business serving people.” ~ Howard Behar
As the president of Starbucks North America and Starbucks International, Howard Behar spent over 20 years helping grow the company into a worldwide phenomenon. During those years, he was integral in establishing and nurturing the Starbucks culture.
Since the beginning, the Starbucks approach put people and values first. And at various turning points in its history, Starbucks fought to hang on its culture, core values, and passion — all while growing exponentially.
In this interview, Jesse and Howard discuss stories and lessons about:
- How Howard discovered his “One Hat” — rather than trying to be different things for different people — so he could simply be consistent with his authentic self, including his personal values, passions, dreams, and style of working and leading;
- How to practice One-Hat leadership (and One-Hat living) with honesty, clarity, and passion — and be truly engaged and alive;
- How to discern your core values as a person, a leader, and an organization;
- How to continually reaffirm your core values and build a team that share those values and;
- How to change the values in a team that has lost their way.
In this episode, Jesse interviews Howard about his book It’s Not About the Coffee, as well as his newest book The Magic Cup.
Howard Behar is a speaker, mentor, and author of It’s Not About the Coffee as well as his newest book The Magic Cup. He served at Starbucks for over 20 years in roles that included VP of Operations, president of Starbucks North America, founding president of Starbucks International, and a board member. He joined Starbucks in 1989, when it had only 28 stores located around Seattle, and helped lead its growth to over 15,000 stores spanning five continents. Along with CEO Howard Schultz and COO/CFO Orin Smith, Howard Behar made up the leadership team known as “H2O” that made Starbucks one of the most admired companies in the world.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- Book: The Magic Cup: A Business Parable About a Leader, a Team, and the Power of Putting People and Values First
- Book: It’s Not About the Coffee: Lessons on Putting People First from a Life at Starbucks
- Website: howardbehar.com
- Twitter:@howardbehar
- LinkedIn: /howardbehar
- Forbes.com interview: The Secret Recipe To Starbucks’ Success
Subscription Links
 |
 |
 |
| iTunes | Stitcher | RSS |
Your Feedback
If you like our show, please rate us on iTunes. That makes a huge difference in helping more people discover it. We love to know your thoughts about this episode. Please submit your comments below! You can also email comments to Jesse at jesse@engagingleader.com, subscribe to him on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.