I finally got around to reading How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill.
You can read my review on amazon if you click here.
Mostly I felt this book could inspire a lot of discussion.
Was Gill’s experience typical? Are most Starbucks managers as charismatic and competent as Crystal, the manager who hired him?
Which of the author’s qualities made this experience successful? Not everyone who fantasizes about life as a barista can make it happen. I met one woman who loved working at a non-Starbucks shop till she got carpal tunnel syndrome from the espresso machine.
Why won’t this solution work for most people?
And most of all…why didn’t this guy get a coach? Or hire a consultant when his business began going sour? Why didn’t he consider hiring a therapist when effects of his downsizing spilled over into his family life?
This is the kind of book that’s fun to discuss because you get so many layers…and so much room for disagreement.
Scroll down and look for Cliff Walk. This book reminds me of Don Snyder’s equally arduous post-career journey.