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Executive Times |
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2008 Book Reviews |
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How
Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else
by Michael Gates Gill |
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Rating: |
*** |
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(Recommended) |
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Click
on title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
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Upbeat Michael
Gill’s book, How
Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else,
could have been a depressing and maudlin story to read. Thanks to Gill’s fine
writing style (influenced perhaps by his Yale education, J. Walter Thompson
career, and the genes from his father, the late New Yorker writer Brendan Gill?), the book is light and
entertaining. Fired from JWT, newly divorced, and diagnosed with a brain
tumor, things weren’t going well for Gill. An entry-level job at Starbucks
gave him just about everything he needed. If you don’t believe that, read the
book. Here’s an excerpt, pp. 134-137: When
the next Guest, a young mother with a child in her arms, brightly ordered, 'A
Two Pump Grande Decaf Skim No Whip Mocha," I repeated the drink down to The
young woman noticed I
was impressed. "Well, it's great you got up so early, and got her dressed
and—" "My
child is a
boy.... His name is Max. My name is Rachel." Suddenly
I remembered that Rachel had introduced herself to me before, and had
explained about her need for decaf. How stupid I was. I used to pride myself
on my recall of names, but at the register, under stress, I was losing it. "It's
great you got Max dressed and out so early …” I stumbled out the response. Rachel
smiled at me. "This
is not voluntary,"
she said, explaining to me as though
I were just a child myself. "I have to have my Mocha in the morning or I am not a good mother or good for anything!"
She laughed and moved away, juggling her child and her hot Mocha with a
dexterity that showed she had done it many times before. Not voluntary,
I thought to myself. What a great business. Starbucks was not something people
decided for or against in a casual way. It was obviously a key part of their
lives, an important destination for them every single day. Maybe even several
times a day! My mood had lifted so much
since starting this job. And it occurred to me why: My old job involved
sitting as a customer in Starbucks unable to find customers of my own. What a
relief to me to have customers eager to greet me rather than my calling for
clients like I had done in my own old business, and no one wanting to take my
calls. I loved greeting these early morning Guests, and serving them. They
probably had no idea what a gift it was simply to have them waiting eagerly
in line to see me. "Hey, Mike," "A natural?" I asked
her. "You are doing a great job
at connecting this morning." "Connecting?" "With the Guests. A lot of
Partners just make change, you make conversation. And you're funny. You
are a funny guy!" I thought she meant this as a
compliment. Maybe I had shown her some confidence and competence that she had
not expected. I felt the pride of a schoolkid whose teacher has praised him. What was so funny? Was
funny good? Over my many years of working in Corporate America, I had
picked up the meaning of a plethora of business cues; all of these went out
the window in dealing with The
Guests and I did seem to be having some laughs as we talked. I was certainly
having an enjoyable time, and they seemed to be as well. When
there was a break from the constant stream of tests, "My
daughter." I
had no more time to think about it. "Iced
Venti Americano, light on the ice," the next man told me, dressed for
business with a pin-striped suit. I
realized there was a real mix of professions here on the I
looked up to see a line out the door. The more Guests in line, the less
conversation I could have. Nonetheless, it seemed
that a sea of positive energy was coming my way. Instead of being upset at
seeing a new face in their morning routine, they were very welcoming to me. In
my haste to serve the next customer, I gave six dollars
instead of sixteen dollars back to a professional-looking young woman
carrying a computer in a case over her shoulder. "I'm
so sorry," I said. "I know you need to get to work.” "Don't worry," she
took the time to tell me before hurrying off. "You'll do great." How different this was from my
job in the macho competitive world of J. Walter Thompson! The clients there
often enjoyed a good laugh,
but it usually came at my expense. Working on the Ford account, the client
would sometimes get a positive pleasure when things went wrong. I recalled my
first presentation to a bunch of New England Ford dealers. In my
nervousness, as I got to my feet to make my presentation, I upset a pot of
coffee, spilling it in the lap of Jerry Mantoni from Another tense time, after
presenting over two hundred new layouts of possible ads to Lee Iacocca—each
layout representing many hours of extreme effort—he simply said:
"Nothing here bites my ass." Once again the room erupted in
laughter. Everyone at Ford lived in fear and loved to see someone else get publicly humiliated. My first boss at J. Walter
Thompson had told me, "Fear is a great motivator." The
ad you were working on was either great or a piece of shit. The game was win
or lose. And it wasn't just the ad, but the person presenting the ad, that
took the hit. You were either a great creative genius or a stupid piece of
shit. If you won new clients, you were a hero; if you couldn’t get any new
clients, you were a bum. There was no in-between. And there certainly wasn’t
respect or dignity. Those words were literally never mentioned. Contrasts
like the one in the expert abound on the pages of How
Starbucks Saved My Life. Gill’s upbeat way of presenting the story of his
Starbucks experience will bring reading pleasure to all. Steve
Hopkins, January 22, 2008 |
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The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the February 2008 issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/How Starbucks Saved My Life.htm For Reprint Permission,
Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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