Archive for July, 2009
Leadership Lessons Podcast: Former Starbucks President Howard Behar July 6 2009 no responses
The latest Leadership Lessons podcast interview is guaranteed to go well with your grande Caramel Macchiato. My guest is Howard Behar, the former president of Starbucks Coffee Company. His book, It's Not About the Coffee
Howard brings a unique perspective on leadership to our conversation. He joined Starbucks in 1989 as its VP of sales and operations when the company had 28 stores in the Pacific Northwest. When he retired as president in 2003, Starbucks was a ubiquitous global brand. He continued to play a role in the company’s strategy as a member of the board of directors until 2008.
In preparing for my conversation with Howard, I thought it would be interesting to get his thoughts on what needs to stay the same for senior leaders and what they need to change as their organization moves from the start-up phase to rapid growth and success and now, as is the case for Starbucks and many businesses these days, retrenchment. Howard is both passionate and clear about what leaders need to focus on as well as the mistakes they must avoid as their companies change.
You can listen to or download the interview using the media player below.
Vote Early and Vote Often July 1 2009 3 responses
Being the political junkie that I am, “Vote early and vote often,” has always been one of my favorite silly political jokes. Well today, I am asking you to vote early. Vote for what you ask? Well, I’m happy to let you know that the Next Level Blog has been selected as one of the “10 Best Leadership Blogs for 2009.” While voting often is highly frowned upon (and actually not technically possible), I highly encourage the voting early part. You can do so by clicking on the Best of Leadership Blogs logo and selecting the Next Level Blog from the list.
You’ll see that the Next Level Blog is in some pretty impressive company on the list so, as they say at the Academy Awards, “It’s an honor just to be nominated.” That said, I’d really like it if you’d vote for the Next Level Blog and, for make me really, really happy bonus points, please pass this post on to your colleagues and ask them to vote too.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for leading. And thanks for your vote!
What’s On Your T Shirt? July 1 2009 no responses
I’m spending a lot of time this week talking with high potential leaders in our group coaching program about the next level strengths and opportunities that are showing up in their 360 degree feedback results. The goal is to get the focus down to improving one or two behaviors that will make the biggest difference in how effective they are as a leader over the next year. One thing I’ve learned in coaching busy leaders is that there’s a much greater chance of success if you focus your attention on one or two opportunities that could make a big difference than it is to spread your attention across 5 or 6 or even more things. My rule of thumb is if you can’t remember what you’re working on, then you’re probably not going to get much better.
That’s where the T shirt comes in.
Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of 
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