When the Starbucks Gossip blog posted this memo a day or so ago, it was roundly rejected as a fake, but apparently a leaked internal e-mail to Starbucks senior managers was the real thing. And it's fascinating reading. Here's a snippet:
...we desperately need to look into the mirror and realize it's time to get back to the core and make the changes necessary to evoke the heritage, the tradition, and the passion that we all have for the true Starbucks experience.
Hopefully, this will mean less of a focus on selling books and DVDs at Starbucks and more of a focus on good coffee.
I've always thought that it's not so much making mistakes, but whether or not you can learn from them, that's the true sign of a company that's going to succeed. Howard Schultz has done a tremendous job building Starbucks over the years, and this latest report would suggest that, any missteps notwithstanding, he's still on the right track.
