More from Starbucks

So much for the weekly update, but that's mostly because I've actually settled into the workflow, and the weeks no longer seem as discrete as they once did. Still, a couple amazing things have happened in July.

The first that comes to mind is the tour of the company's roasting plant in Kent. It's one of 4 roasting plants in the world (the others are in York, PA, Carson Valley, NV and the Netherlands), and this particular plant provides the beans for stores in the Western US (except CA). It's staffed by a few people who have been around since the early 80s, and our tour guide was the ultimate hippy. While his super-serious delivery was pretty funny ("Flavorlock made this from a $3.8mm company to a $30B company...yeah...yeah."), I had to be impressed by the way that everything really came together for Starbucks. So many other companies have tried to be the dominant supplier in any given industry, and so few succeed. The razor-sharp focus on coffee quality was evident in the way they measure the quality of the roast and the way that packaging is done. I'm not sure that the coffee beans are propelled with the velocity of a Howitzer that would be the envy of our military, or that restaurants that served 8-day-old Starbucks coffee in the 80s are still blacklisted by the company, but I'm impressed with the operations. Would have liked to learn even more. But I did get to see a Kanban, and didn't have to ask what that was, so I think my education is paying off.


Probably the two most powerful morning minutes I've ever experienced came on Tuesday morning when I got in early and went up to see Howard's office. At his assistant's table across from his office were a pile of copies of his book from employees (some other interns) with notes asking for his signature and explaining how he had helped change their lives. In the office are pictures with him and dozens of the world's most famous people. World leaders, Bill Bradley, Mark McGwire, and Ichiro come to mind. There's also a picture of him with Kenny G, which made me wonder why there isn't a new Kenny G CD in Starbucks stores. Anyway. Even an Ichiro 2004 batting glove enclosed in a big class cube with an autograph. Nice view to the North (and West and East). Just being in the room was a very intense feeling - like being in the Pike Place store if there were no one around. The guy that sits there had a vision, and he used it to fundamentally change the way people will forever interact with the world around them. That's powerful stuff. In my last job I probably was in the offices of 15 CEOs from the Fortune 500 and a few private companies. Nothing compared to this, ever, and he wasn't even there.

Random assortment of other things - painting pottery at Color Me Mine on a team "offsite"...going to the engagement party of Kevin, one of the other interns...running a half marathon in Bellevue on Sunday with Rebecca...having the CEO, Jim Donald, come up to me again at work, this time while I was working in the 8th Floor commons, to ask me how things are going and when I was getting married...taking walks with the Mandells and Teddy...watching the Tigers take 2 of 3 from the M's right before the All-Star break...coming in one Wednesday at 5:15am after dropping Amy off at the airport and getting to park right in front of the building...but not even close to being the first one there...getting good feedback from my director and others I'm working with...good lunch with Ben, the Kellogg intern who's the Net Impact chair there, where we talked about what to do with our lives...discovering that decaf lets me sleep better and tastes the same...