Page 125 - The Starbucks Experience

PRINCIPLE 4

The German poet Heinrich Heine once noted that a person
“only profits from praise” when he “values criticism.” Valu-
ing criticism is a major piece of the Starbucks puzzle, and it
plays a large role in the Embrace Resistance ingredient that
is outlined in this chapter. Embracing resistance involves a
complex set of skills that can enable businesses and indi-
viduals to create business and relationship opportunities
when they are confronted with skepticism, irritation, or
wariness.
This principle requires leaders to distinguish between cus-
tomers who want their concerns to be resolved and those
individuals who will never stop complaining or be satisfied.
Embracing resistance involves more than simply placating
people or groups that pose a challenge. It focuses on learn-
ing from individuals who don’t always make it easy to
110 listen.
In business, it is great to see your company’s name in the
press when things are going well. However, it is a decidedly
different story when the media target your company in a
negative fashion. Such was the case for Starbucks when a col-
umn written by David M. Martin, the chief training consult-
ant for NCBS, appeared on Tom Brown’s bankstocks.com
Web site.
The column, titled “Wake Up and Smell the Latte,” was
an unsparing, detailed critique of service issues at Starbucks
licensed stores.
As David notes, “The trait of Starbucks that has appealed
to me the most in the past has begun to weaken. That trait is
consistency. Simply, I think it was once extremely difficult to
have a bad experience at a Starbucks. No matter what time
of day or night, no matter what city you were in, no matter
what product you purchased—you could count on good