Page 132 - The Starbucks Experience

Embrace Resistance

with their image—Starbucks executives have instead suc-
cessfully built their brand by generating an often more
relaxed approach.

Create Your Own Experience

• Where have you missed opportunities to strengthen
relationships with others by simply listening to their
discontent?

• How gracefully do you model a willingness to embrace
resistance and accept responsibility?

• In what ways can you use the criticism directed at your
company to improve your functioning or that of
your team?
117

For some concerns, listening is all that is required. It offers
space for commentary and constructive discussion. Other
types of resistance demand direct action. Great leaders know
when listening is not enough.
Starbucks leadership took immediate action when social
concerns about the living conditions and environmental prac-
tices in many third world coffee-growing countries began to
surface. According to Dub Hay, senior vice president of Cof-
fee and Global Procurement, “Rather than ignoring the
voices of those who expressed concern about the way migrant
coffee pickers are treated or the environmental practices of
coffee farmers, our people in the Coffee Department began
working with socially conscious groups that were among the
most vocally critical. In conjunction with these organizations