Page 92 - The Starbucks Experience

Everything Matters

Susan’s behavior is consistent with a resounding leadership
message that is prevalent at Starbucks, namely, that not only
does everything matter, but “everyone matters” as well.
Accordingly, partners are reminded to master the details nec-
essary to live the Five Ways of Being. This effort ensures that
everyone, not just the highest-paying or most loyal customers,
knows that he or she matters from the moment he or she
arrives at a Starbucks store.
Former store manager and current Starbucks licensed store
operations specialist Kimberly Kelly shows the impact this
everything-and-everyone-matters approach can have. “There
was a wonderful regular customer,” says Kimberly, “in her
seventies, named Irene, who had been a teacher and a prin-
cipal. She and her husband visited daily—coming to Star-
bucks was an event for them. The husband always had on a
sport jacket, she was dressed very elegantly, and they would 77
order the same thing: a tall coffee and an extra cup so they
could split it. They’d also order one muffin and two forks
and a knife to share that as well. The couple would take their
coffee and their muffin, and they would go slowly over to
their table and spend maybe an hour or so visiting with each
other and enjoying their time together.”
Kimberly said the couple stopped coming into Starbucks,
and she worried about them. One day she ran into Irene at a
bank, and Irene shared that her husband had died of a sud-
den heart attack. Kimberly encouraged Irene to join her back
at Starbucks after she finished her banking. Kimberly con-
tinued, “Irene came to my store, and when she approached
the counter, she stood there and said, ‘Kimberly, I just don’t
know what to order because we always shared items.’ I sim-
ply said, ‘You know what, I’m going to share that cup of cof-
fee and that muffin with you today.’ We sat down and talked