Book Description
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE SUCCESS!
You already know the Starbucks story. Since 1992, its stock has risen a staggering 5,000 percent! The genius of Starbucks success lies in its ability to create personalized customer experiences, stimulate business growth, generate profits, energize employees, and secure customer loyalty-all at the same time.
The Starbucks Experience contains a robust blend of home-brewed ingenuity and people-driven philosophies that have made Starbucks one of the world's “most admired” companies, according to Fortune magazine. With unique access to Starbucks personnel and resources, Joseph Michelli discovered that the success of Starbucks is driven by the people who work there-the “partners”-and the special experience they create for each customer. Michelli reveals how you can follow the Starbucks way to
- Reach out to entire communities
- Listen to individual workers and consumers
- Seize growth opportunities in every market
- Custom-design a truly satisfying experience that benefits everyone involved
Filled with real-life insider stories, eye-opening anecdotes, and solid step-by-step strategies, this fascinating book takes you deep inside one of the most talked-about companies in the world today.
For anyone who wants to learn from the best-and be the best-The Starbucks Experience is a rich, heady brew of unforgettable user-friendly ideas.
Customer Reviews:
"We are in the people business selling coffee.".......2007-10-22
In 1971, an idea formulated in Seattle, Washington to create European-styled coffee-houses has blossomed into a cultural (and ever increasingly) global phenomenon. Starbucks Coffee is one of our most respected and successful companies. Stores are found in thirty-seven countries, and five new stores open every day. Starbucks has thirty-five million customer visits per week, along with eighteen visits a month per customer. According to Mr. Howard Schultz, Chairman of the Board, "We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee."
Dr. Joseph Michelli, an organizational psychologist, founder of Lessons for Success, and talk show host in Colorado, has written a book that concisely analyzes the unique customer and employee/partner-focus of Starbucks Corporation. He observed that there were two levels at Starbucks that distinguished them from other companies: 1) A very unique corporate culture, and 2) The values of that culture are passed down to their partners (employees are called "partners" at Starbucks).
Dr. Michelli has determined that five factors form the foundation to the success of Starbucks:
1. Make It Your Own: At Starbucks, partners are encouraged to welcome customers and learn their names.
2. Everything Matters: A consistent image and character are found in every store. "Retail is detail."
3. Surprised And Delighted: Partners go the extra mile to offer superior customer service.
4. Embrace Resistance: "When presented with negative feedback by a customer, recognize you may have an opportunity to actually strengthen that relationship."
5. Leave Your Mark: Environmental leadership, social responsibility, and health-care benefits for part-time partners.
During his eighteen months on this project, the author provided examples from Starbucks partners, managers, and customers. For me, two customer testimonies stood out:
One woman met her future husband at Starbucks. The staff from her local store attended the wedding, and donated coffee. When her husband died tragically a year later of cancer, the same staff members were at the funeral.
Another customer was having a bad day, and forgot her wallet when she went to pay for her coffee. The barista said, "Don't worry. You can pay me tomorrow."
Dr. Michelli does an excellent job to explain the secrets to the success of Starbucks, and how other companies can emulate their methods. He concisely summarizes key components, and provides significant quotes from a variety of sources. The next time that you visit your local Starbucks, you can impress one of the partners with the following: "Your busiest store is in Tokyo. You buy 4% of the world's coffee. Today, you opened five new stores."
All fluff no substance.......2007-10-05
This is a charming book and I've learned a lot about Starbucks by reading it. However, it was all fluff and no real substance and it came across as a PR piece for Starbucks.
If you're expecting a book that will give you some insight as to how to replicate the "Starbucks experience", you won't find that here. In truth, I read 1/2 to 3/4 of this book and gave up on it. After a while, it became tiresome to read anecdote after anecdote without any real substance behind it.
Highly Recommended Reading.......2007-10-03
Why has Starbuck's seen such phenomenal success and growth in a highly competitive niche? How have they becoming synonymous with coffee the way Kleenex is to tissue?
Michelli makes the case that it's partly consistent quality coffee, but much more so the whole "experience" consumers can expect at any Starbucks.
The author breaks down what makes up the Starbucks Experience into:
1) MAKE IT YOUR OWN
2) EVERYTHING MATTERS
3) SURPRISE AND DELIGHT
4) EMBRACE RESISTANCE
5) LEAVE YOUR MARK
He fills the book with stories that demonstrate the points made which makes it very readable. I did find the distinction between items 1-3 above a little vague and that many of the examples could easily have fit into one of the other categories he created.
I would be fascinated to hear more about how Starbuck's screens to get employees that give service well beyond the norm.
If your vocation involves any level of customer service this is for you and great to share with your friends, employees and business partners.
starbucks is special because it is personal.......2007-09-20
this book shows why starbucks is special. At first blush, it is so glowing in its praise that it seems like propaganda. But the sheer volume of anecdotes and the homely feel of many of them quickly sink in. One in particular sticks in my mind. A starbucks shop was hiring partners (employees) and decided to hire some local homeless people. The partners chipped in to buy them suitable clothes until they could earn enough to stand on their own. Now tell me, why can't other companies do this? good question.
Attention to Details.......2007-09-16
The Starbucks Experience provides an interesting insite as to keeping it simple and staying focused on details. From the fields to the customers, a total focus on details makes the Starbucks Experience a terrific guide on how to conduct business.
Amazon.com
Since 1987, Starbucks's star has been on the rise, growing from 11 Seattle, WA-based stores to more than 1,000 worldwide. Its goals grew, too, from the more modest, albeit fundamental one of offering high-quality coffee beans roasted to perfection to, more recently, opening a new store somewhere every day. An exemplary success story, Starbucks is identified with innovative marketing strategies, employee-ownership programs, and a product that's become a subculture.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, a manager, a marketer, or a curious Starbucks loyalist, Pour Your Heart into It will let you in on the revolutionary Starbucks venture. CEO Howard Schultz recounts the company's rise in 24 chapters, each of which illustrates such core values as "Winning at the expense of employees is not victory at all."
Book Description
Since 1987, Starbucks's star has been on the rise, growing from 11 Seattle, WA-based stores to more than 1,000 worldwide. Its goals grew, too, from the more modest, albeit fundamental one of offering high-quality coffee beans roasted to perfection to, more recently, opening a new store somewhere every day. An exemplary success story, Starbucks is identified with innovative marketing strategies, employee-ownership programs, and a product that's become a subculture. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a manager, a marketer, or a curious Starbucks loyalist, Pour Your Heart into It will let you in on the revolutionary Starbucks venture. CEO Howard Schultz recounts the company's rise in 24 chapters, each of which illustrates such core values as "Winning at the expense of employees is not victory at all."
Customer Reviews:
Not as good as I expected.......2007-10-22
I think the reason I am giving this 3 stars is because I had just finished Richard Bransons "Loosing My Viriginity" autobiography. That books really sets the standards on what an interesting, well written autobiography should be. A great read.
Anyways back to this book. Its all a bit of a dull read really. It somehow doesnt capture what should be an exciting journey. Maybe it is just hard to make coffee exciting. There are parts of it that are sort of interesting, reading about the times Howard spent in Italy researching coffe shops there was probably as good as it got.
But really, it is difficult to finish this book. But at the same time its not the worst ever. Hence the 3 stars.
starbucks is special because it is personal.......2007-09-20
this book tells the very personal story of how Howard Schultz discovered, changed and created the Starbucks we know. Schultz grew up in the projects in Broooklyn, NY, moved away to college in the midwest and became a driven sales rep. He then discovered Starbucks which was a supplier of coffee beans of the best quality. The owner/managers were extremely fastidious about quality and Schultz adopted this obsession with excellent coffees. He realized the appeal not only of excellent coffee, but of the cafe, a place to socialize and enjoy the drink. Eventually he left starbucks to found Il Giornale, the precursor of starbucks cafes, then returned to buy starbucks and the name. From that time, he embarked on a dramatic, high paced quest to expand starbucks into a reknowned supplier of the best coffees and the most appealing coffee shops, enlisting a number of equally driven as well as scrupulous team mates along the way. Unmistakably, the journey was and is marked by integrity, fanatical devotion to quality, courage, care for the partners (employees) and customers as individuals. Moreover, the personal approach to the product is illustrated by the great care, almost trepidation, taken before a new product is introduced. And equally noteworthy is the source of the new product: requests by customers, as relayed by the store partners. For instance, the frappuccino. On the other hand, the team is able to invest on a fantastic scale and at impressive speed to expand the reach of starbucks.
To better understand starbucks, if you don't already, read this book.
Finally, this book tells why starbucks is radically different from fast food places which also happen to serve coffee.
Intriguing Entrepreneurial Story - Good Read.......2007-08-12
This book reads like a novel, keeps you interested, and also gives amazing insight into entrepreneurship and one of America's most interesting cultural icons. I enjoyed both the topics and the style of the book. highly recommended for anyone who is interested in business, entrepreneurship, and marketing.
Pour Some Truth Into It.......2007-07-31
One reviewer here points out that Howard, being from Brooklyn and later working out of New York, "failed to cross the bridge and discover Little Italy where they had been making lattes and cappuccinos for decades."
It suddenly occurred to me, not only did Scultz fail to discover Little Italy before he made his famous trip to Milan in 1983 as a Starbucks employee, but he actually contradicts himself in the book about America's intro to lattes and cappuccinos. Example: page 53 - his "first taste" of a caffe latte in Verona: "No one in America knows about this . . .etc." Then pages 58, 59: When he has his first "test run" of an espresso bar (April '84) "As far as I know, America was first introduced to caffe latte that morning."
Problem is, on pages 81-84 when he becomes associated with Dave Olsen to start Il Giornale, he gives the following background on Olsen: "In the Fall of 1974 he opened Cafe Allegro on an alley just opposite main entrance to UW campus. Few Americans knew the term caffe latte in those days. He made a similar drink and called it a cafe au lait." This was 10 years prior to his espresso experiment in downtown Seattle!
Did Schultz rewrite history in order to sell a book? That clearly wouldn't have been necessary. But there is an additional problem. I have a friend who worked at the University Village store in 1977 who has a story that similarly contradicts Schultz's timeline. He told me the following: "During our training at Starbucks they pulled out an espresso maker to show us how to make capuccinos (only to demo the machines since they weren't making drinks for sale). The person doing the demo started with more-or-less an apology - something like "foaming milk is hard to do and the goal is to just get the top of the drink completely covered with foam". Meanwhile I had discovered 2 espresso houses in Seattle (the Allegro and the Last Exit Off Broadway). They were making good lattes (then called café au-laits) with lots of foam. I realized that either our machines were merely toys, or the person giving the demo at Starbucks did not know how to properly foam milk. I went across the street to QFC, bought a gallon of milk, set up a machine in the shop, and proceeded to foam milk until I could do it the right way. It took most of the gallon to do it but I was able to produce 3 times the amount of foam (on a volume basis) as the milk I was using." This was in 1977, seven years before Schultz' test run of an espresso bar in downtown Seattle!
Although I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I would be interested to know if someone can shed any light on this obvious discrepancy.
An Entrepreneur's Guide to How to Make it Big.......2007-07-04
Schultz not only is a great storyteller; he provides the reader with so many ways to refer back to the book with his catchy subtitles and quotes. What struck me most was his ability to reiterate time and time again the importance of relationships and how you treat your people to the success of any organization. His remark that a business who is satisfied with serving a customer coffee from a pot that is sitting there for an hour is not one he wants to deal with shows just how important it is to set standards and keep them.
Book Description
"If you look at Southwest Airlines, and I admire what they do, they've been the most successful airline in the industry."
--Gerard Arpey, CEO, American Airlines
"Through extensive research Jody Hoffer Gittell gets to the bottom of what has sustained Southwest Airlines' positive employee relations and high performance through good and bad times."
--Thomas A. Kochan, professor, MIT Sloan School of Management, MIT Global Airline Industry Program
In an industry with losses in the billions, Southwest Airlines has an unbroken string of 31 consecutive years of profitability. The Southwest Airlines Way examines how the company uses high-performance relationships to create enormous competitive advantage in motivation, teamwork, and coordination among employees. It then goes further to show how any company can foster these powerful cooperative relationships and explains how to:
- Lead with credibility and caring
- Invest in frontline leaders
- Hire and train for relational competence
- Use conflicts to build relationships
- Make unions its partners, not its adversaries
- Build relationships with its suppliers
Download Description
Drawing on extensive research and interviews with frontline Southwest employees, managers, and senior executivesB-B-The Southwest Airlines Way explains how Southwest's relationship-based performance principles can be adopted by managers in any industry, with dramatic results.
Customer Reviews:
Useful for IO Psyc class.......2007-09-22
Got the book for my Industrial Organizational Psychology class. It's a pretty interesting read. I recommend it to anyone looking to study IO Psyc.
Over The Top View of Supposed Perfection.......2007-04-27
I got about halfway through this book and couldn't stand the back slapping tummy rubbing view of perfection portrayed by the author. I lent the book to a colleague who has worked at Southwest and they agreed. Perhaps if you hadn't worked in the game it would be a better book. problem is Southwest probably deserves a better book because they are a great success story - just don't have an author crow so hard about it and detract from the true story. I rate the book three stars (possible generous) simply because I couldn't bear to read it all. For the money I recommend 'Hard Landing' by Petzinger as far more worthwhile ('From Worst to First' is also better).
A little heavy on the chest beating.......2007-01-30
The first part of the Audio CD was a turn-off. The title begins by trumpeting the virtues of Southwest. Not only was that not necessary, it gets old very quickly. Once that is over, the discussion is quite a bit more interesting. The philosophy that Southwest operates under is presented in a "top ten list" format. In addition, the author discusses how each of the ten items is necessary for the formula to work, and thus why many companies have failed to improve when trying to use only some of Southwest's techniques.
I would recommend this title only after reading other business titles. Two in particular are "From Good to Great" by Jim Collins and "First, Break all the Rules" / "Now, Discover your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham. I feel this book doesn't stand well by itself; rather it is a case study of these two works, and probably a few others I haven't read yet.
I recommend the former because Jim Collins notes long term successful businesses all figure out their key performance metric and subordinate all business processes to it. The first part of "The Southwest Airlines Way" speaks right to this point. Aircraft turn around is Southwest Airline's key metric, they do it better than their competitors, and all of the 10 points support minimizing the metric.
The latter references by Buckingham theorize that people's talents are fixed, not learned. Thus, Buckingham recommends hire for the talents you need, as it is a waste of resources to try and train the untalented. This goes hand-in-hand with Southwest Airlines interviewing for, and only accepting, applicants with natural aptitude in people skills. Southwest Airlines ten points to success follow many of Buckingham's observations (recommendations) on how to successfully manage employee talent.
The Southwest Airlines Way.......2006-11-10
This is a great book on the study of Organizational Behavior. It provides great examples and keys elements to running a successful company. As a college student, this book has been invaluable as a source of information for various classes. I highly recommend this book to any student of Human Resource Management or Organizational Behavior.
High performance relationships - the key to Southwests success.......2006-04-02
The book is about how although Leadership, culture, strategy and co-ordination have been critical for SW's amazing performance uptill now the hidden factor is the high performance relationships that permeate the organisation. One person working in isolation does not deliver customer satisfaction. Only a group of people working as a single unit with no friction, hidden agendas or dysfucntional incentives can do that. Above all a group of people with outstanding relationships.
Some of the key practices at SW expanded in the book are:
1. Lead with credibility and caring
2. Invest in frontline leadership (high supervisory staffing levels)
3. Hire and train for relational competence
4. Use conflicts to build relationships
5. Bridge the work/family divide by bringing family into the organisation
6. Create boundary spanners (people at the edges of two divisions who help co-ordinate between them)
7. Avoid finger pointing - measure performance broadly
8. Keep jobs flexible at the boundaries
9. Make unions your partners, not adversaries
10. Build relationships with your suppliers
One interesting similarity between the Toyota way principles and the South West way I noted was that they both believe in long term consistent profit growth (organic if possible) and they believe in not laying off people during hard times. I think this contrasted a little bit with Jack Welch's approach of faster growth through acquisition where appropriate and his belief that you should regularly ask the bottom performers to leave the company to get rid of the deadwood. The other similarity between Toyota and SW was their willingness to get in bed with their suppliers and their belief that culture was everything.
Average customer rating:
- Interesting and easy read on Harrah's and the industry!
- Motivate yourself
- best marketing book I ever read
- This book is a "winner!"
- "very FUNNY book"
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Jackpot! Harrah's Winning Secrets for Customer Loyalty
Robert L. Shook
Manufacturer: Wiley
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ASIN: 0471263230 |
Book Description
The inside story of the gaming company that hit the jackpot playing by its own rules
Robert L. Shook, a New York Times bestselling author, delves into the business behind one of the world's foremost gaming and entertainment companies, Harrah's. Since Bill Harrah took over a small card game business in 1937, Harrah's has become a top casino, dominating Nevada and beyond. The first gaming company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Harrah's is a $4 billion-dollar business driven by smart marketing and smarter leadership. This book is the first to examine Harrah's and its leader, a man who dominated an industry and amassed a staggering fortune while refusing to deal with mobsters and corrupt politicians. Though Bill Harrah died in 1978 and the company has since been sold, Harrah's has retained its sense of history and remained an industry leader. Following the company's growth, Shook uncovers rich business lessons about marketing and customer loyalty, increasing market share in fiercely competitive industries, and maintaining a sense of integrity in a cutthroat business world. This is a compelling and intriguing story of a company that gambled and won, and it offers business readers an opportunity to benefit from the hard-won lessons of a paragon of the entertainment industry.
Robert L. Shook (Columbus, OH) is a seasoned business journalist and the ghostwriter behind several New York Times bestsellers. He is the founder and former CEO of Shook Associates and the American Executive Life Insurance Company. He is the author or coauthor of thirty-five books, including The IBM Way, Mary Kay on People Management, and Mary Kay's You Can Have It All.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting and easy read on Harrah's and the industry!.......2006-11-29
This book tells in an easy, readable fashion the story of Harrah's from the humble beginnings of a small parlor in Reno to the multibillion dollar behemoth it is today. Although the primary focus is on Harrah's, of course, the book covers the growth of the industry in the US overall from the early days, through the mob years in Vegas and the entertainment explosion that happened, to the proliferation of boats, reservation gambling and other gambling alternatives such as the lotteries through many US states.
This is a great book to read for reminders on the basics of "getting it right" when it comes to customer service, treating employees right, thinking strategically and executing on a vision. It is amazing what Harrah's has done in the area of parlaying customer information into long term, profitable relationships!
I have read many business books, this is my most favorite in recent months, for sure.
Read on, and watch out for that river card :)
Motivate yourself.......2003-02-08
Great book -- the lessons taught are for all service based organizations. Learn how to create customer loyalty and enjoy your business more. Must read!!
best marketing book I ever read.......2003-01-16
I have read other books by Robert L. Shook, and he is an accomplished writer of business books. He's at his best with Jackpot. This book is both informative and entertaining. Shook takes his reader behind the scenes at Harrah's, a gaming company with 26 casinos and reveals how the company is able to compete so successfully against billion-dollar properties in the Las Vegas market. Harrah's secret, as the subtitle states is how it wins customer loyalty and does it better than its competition. This is an excellent book for any business reader engaged in a highly competitive industry, and, in particular, goes head to head with the big boys. Shook's writing style is superb--he interwines anecdotal material that makes for a fascnating read. True, this is a business book, but at times, it's such a page-turner, you feel you're reading a novel.
This book is a "winner!".......2003-01-14
This book is about an outstanding culture that is culminated from the founder's passion, integrity and leadership.
Jackpot provides cutting-edge lessons and ideas that are being exposed for the first time in topics such as: marketing and customer loyalty, building market share, and preserving high integrity.
Harrah's placed its chips on integrity and serving the customer. It's no wonder they are so successful.
"very FUNNY book".......2003-01-08
This book is a riot! I could not put it down. One of the funniest books on gambling I have ever read.(and I've read 100 books on Vegas/Gambling.Go straight to page 43 first- "there is no underworld presence today in Las Vegas"- this author really knows how to write satire.The book is just filled with one funny story after another about how everything now in gambling is on the up & up.Robert Shook is more humerous than that Connecticut Senator whose trying to protect children from the entertainment industry.Another fun thing to do with his book- circle the word "lawyer" and then underline all the Federal & State laws that his book exposes.God Bless America! We should all feel blessed to have a comedy writer like Robert.
D.Matthew Hayden
author
Vegas Stories
Average customer rating:
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Sex, Strategy and the Stratosphere: Airlines and the Gendering of Organizational Culture
Albert Mills
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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ASIN: 1403998574
Release Date: 2006-05-25 |
Book Description
This book bridges a crucial gap in the literature on gender and organizational culture by providing an historical account of how discriminatory practices develop, are maintained but also change over time. Drawing on in-depth interviews and extensive archival material, the author presents an historical account of the way specific discriminatory practices developed and changed over the life of three airline companies--British Airways, Air Canada, and Pan American Airways. The book covers the period 1919 to 1991 and is organized around key periods in the hiring and treatment of female employees but the focus is on gender in the broadest sense of the word (looking at the social construction of male and female sexuality; heterosexuality and homosexuality). Gender is explored through analysis of organizational symbolism, workplace practices and organizational structuring. As a history of discriminatory practices the book is unique in the field of business and corporate history.
Book Description
The Incredible Life Story of the World’s Most Successful Restaurateur Will Whet Your Appetite for Inspiration and Success
Known as “the Steven Spielberg of the restaurant industry,” Phil Romano has achieved a higher rate of success than any other restaurateur in history. During the past 40 years, he has launched more than 25 dining concepts and amassed a restaurant empire valued in excess of $10 billion.
More than 10 million customers a year in 48 states and 8 foreign countries visit a Phil Romano eatery, no doubt many back for seconds. In Food for Thought: How the Creator of Fuddrucker’s, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, and eatZi’s Built a $10 Billion Empire One Concept at a Time, Romano shares his recipe for success.
From dreaming up an original concept all the way to reaping a jaw-dropping return on investment, Romano reveals the distinctive process and “operational-integrity creed” he follows to create a winning eatery, including:
•How to achieve the entrepreneurial mindset and recognize opportunity when it crosses your path •“Service is primary. Profit is secondary” •Getting out of the “dining business” and into the “eating business” •How to recognize a great idea in a world of mediocre ones •Utilizing a network approach to management; i.e. “Nobody works for me, they work with me” •“Difference and points of difference are what makes success, not just brilliance” Written with candor and spiced with humor, Food for Thought provides a fascinating look at the hits and misses of Romano’s remarkable career. Whether you’re a novice entrepreneur or seasoned pro, it’s sure to help you cook up your own ideas and strategies for success in any industry.
Customer Reviews:
Food for thought provides excellent thought.......2006-12-18
Romano has built one of the great food empires and keeps on creating more. He has had over 25 different restaurant concepts and has made billions. He focuses on the creative content and the principles that have created hit after hit. He also analyzes his failures and the reason for why they failed. While Fuddruckers is arguably his most successful Romano's Macaroni grill has also prospered and even though both were sold off reading about their beginning was fascinating. His newest restaurant EatZi's is a great idea that combines upscale grocery store with eating experience. It will be interesting to see if this idea takes off outside of the large cities it is being tired in but overall this book will fascinate you and leave you wanting to start a restaurant of your own.
A Truly Fascinating Business Story.......2006-07-06
If you're in business, any business you can learn from Phil Romano. His grandmother taught him early about visualization, saying, "Talk of the devil and he will appear, talk about failure and it will happen, talk about success and you'll have it."
Phil never worked in a restaurant before owning one and has never relied on anyone but himself for a paycheck.
As I always like to point out in my reviews and my Blog (The Real Estate Investors Blog) there are several invaluable techniques as far as deal structure. Starting with the structure of Fuddruckers:
After being turned down for a bank loan Phil rounded up 10 investors at $15,000 a pop and gave them 48% and kept 52% for himself. So they put up the money and he ran it and called the shots. That 15k grew to $3.4 million in less than 2 years. This was his 12th restaurant concept and he walked away with $17 million.
His next move is mind boggling. He invested $250k to back the investors of the heart stint and walked away with $165 million over the next 17 years or thereabouts.
Then he's on to The Macaroni Grill, buying entire towns and toying with different concepts. He took a gas station from doing $500k in revenues to $5 million. Then there's Nachomama's, Spegeddies and EatZi's a 50/50 partnership with Phil and Brinker which was doing $3,000 per sq. foot in sales. Everything from the structure, the numbers and the margins are described.
Some Romano-isms:
"I've come to learn that creativity is mostly about identifying a problem and, instead of just living with it, coming up with a solution. Too many companies are resigned to working around problems instead of really addressing their cause."
"I don't predict the future; I imagine it. And my imagination has no bounds. Neither should yours."
"If you make a mistake in hiring someone, don't make the mistake in waiting too long to let them go. The problem will just get bigger and bigger."
"Throughout my life, I've often been asked why I don't do things by the book. Well, it's because "the book" is for people who aren't creative enough to figure out a better way."
"I've had my share of failures, most of which have been outlined in these pages. But something inside me has always said to get up, dust off, and move onto the next challenge with a positive attitude. Life is far to short to dwel on bad calls you've maid. Negative thinking can kill you, and it can infect others."
"I advise people in the restaurant business to dream big, imagine their success, and imagine the success of the employees around them. Negative thinking is toxic."
I bought the book for several of my friends, family and partners who are in the service industry and truly recommend it.
By Kevin Kingston, author of: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate: A True Story About the Ups and Downs From Wall Street to Real Estate Leading to Phenomenal Returns
Lively autobiography of Fuddruckers' innovator.......2006-06-07
Philip J. Romano is "an idea man at heart." The innovative restaurateur launched multiple successful U.S. franchises, including Fuddruckers and Romano's Macaroni Grill. He discovered that people would pay for his concepts, so he kept thinking and opening new restaurants. In this chatty, inside-flavored autobiography, he shares his creative processes and the principles that guide his business decisions. He knows the hot dinner business cold, and doesn't mind saying so. We dish up this light, entertaining read to those who are interested in entrepreneurial success stories or to anyone who wants an insider's view of the restaurant business.
A great story, some real inspiration & business sense.......2005-05-18
I love reading about the creativity behind the business. I admire someone who has the courage to follow through on his inspiration. Phil Romano did it over and over again. I do believe that he puts service before profit -- the proof is in the restaurants themselves. This book makes me curious about the ones I haven't tried yet, and I'm waiting for what's next.
I even culled some business tips -- some rules to live by. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for some inspiration, a good story, and some sound business moves.
great business book.......2005-05-17
I just recently read WINNING by Jack Welch and I have to tell you that book is just a good. It is a real quick read and there was so much great info from front to cover. And, it is actually quite funny.
I reccommend this book as a great summer read.
Book Description
An American icon celebrates 50 years because Colonel Sanders and Pete Harman put people first, implemented an urgency for excellence, and paid attention to every detail of their restaurant business. These business secrets and practices are written in an easy to read story that in engaging and a delite to anyone interested in growing a business.
Customer Reviews:
KCF will always be cookin'.......2006-12-20
KFC has a great history and its development is a wonderful addition to any study of the fast food industry. I recommend this book in conjunction with Behind the Arches. For those who love the Colonel and want to learn more about the man, the myth, and the legend they can get it all here. The growth of the company and strategy for deployment are all clearly explained. IT is very well written and I enjoyed the anecdotes along the way.
Colonel Sanders and the KFC Empire.......2006-06-23
Secret Recipe is a book that offers a good, historical breakdown of the Kentucky Fried Chicken company and the individuals who built the restaurant into the thriving business that it remains today. Darden tries to cover all the important bases, from the original restaurant that opened in Corbin, Kentucky, all the way to the present day business, owned and operating by Tricon, Inc.
I really enjoyed all the facts that this book contains. Until I read this book, I did not know that it was Pete Harman who thought of the name, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and I didn't know that Harman dreamed up the idea of selling buckets of chicken. Like most people, I assumed that the Colonel himself deserved credit for these business discoveries. After reading about the naming of the restaurant, I sure am glad that Harman had the necessary business sense to reject the restaurant name "Utah Chicken". It just doesn't sound right. It makes about as much sense as the "Utah Jazz". This is just oen of many facts discussed in this book.
Throughout the pages of this book, the author includes important quotes that are highlighted in a gray box, set aside from the regular text. There are also a few lists of facts here and there such as "Early Franchise Holders" and "The Colonel's Appearances on Television". You can also find text boxes on many pages titled "Pete's Words of Wisdom", which include quotes from Harman on successful restaurant operation.
One other important note to make about this book is that it was written as a historical summary of the KFC business as a whole. It isn't a biographical sketch of Colonel Sanders. Author Robert Darden does make frequent mention of the Colonel, as he should. But there's just as much coverage given to Pete Harman and other people who were instrumental to the success of this business.
Colonel Sanders has been gone now for more than two decades. Much of his original vision of what a restaurant should be has changed over the years. Even the name of the restaurant has changed from Kentucky Fried Chicken to the abbreviated KFC. But one thing that hasn't gone by the wayside is the image of Colonel Sanders. His familiar, smiling face remains a part of the KFC restaurant chain and is displayed on KFC merchandise and around each KFC store unit. It's a tribute to the man and the legend known as Colonel Harland Sanders. His finger lickin' good original recipe of herbs and spices has satisfied chicken lovers all over the world for more than half a century. And this book is equally satisfying, full of trivia and historical accounts of the KFC company and its rise to the top of its restaurant class.
KFC in SLC.......2002-03-06
This book provides great insight into the real story behind KFC. Especially entertaining for those that are familiar with KFC, the organization, the franchises, and the restaurant business. Goes into the philosophies of Pete Harman, the first, biggest and most influencial franchisee. Talks alot about the company, the growth, the growing pains, and what made the company successful.
Average customer rating:
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Pon Tu Corazon En Ello / Pour Your Heart into it: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time (Autoayuda)
Howard Schultz , and
Dori Jones Yang
Manufacturer: VS Ediciones
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Accessories:
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
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Sonicare Elite 7500 Power Toothbrush
ASIN: 8495542099 |
Book Description
A clear illustration of the principles that created the Starbucks phenomenon and the wisdom acquired while making the high-quality cup of coffee an American reality.
Un relato que ilustra los principios que han moldeado el fenómeno Starbucks, compartiendo la sabiduría que ha adquirido en su búsqueda para hacer del café de primera calidad parte de la realidad americana.
Average customer rating:
- Cuts through the kitsch like a deathwatch beetle
- its decent reading, but uncaptivating
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Spectacular Nature: Corporate Culture and the Sea World Experience
Susan G. Davis
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Hobbies
ASIN: 0520209818 |
Book Description
This is the story of Sea World, a theme park where the wonders of nature are performed, marketed, and sold. With its trademark star, Shamu the killer whale--as well as performing dolphins, pettable sting rays, and reproductions of pristine natural worlds--the park represents a careful coordination of shows, dioramas, rides, and concessions built around the theme of ocean life. Susan Davis analyzes the Sea World experience and the forces that produce it: the theme park industry; Southern California tourism; the privatization of urban space; and the increasing integration of advertising, entertainment, and education. The result is an engaging exploration of the role played by images of nature and animals in contemporary commercial culture, and a precise account of how Sea World and its parent corporation, Anheuser-Busch, succeed. Davis argues that Sea World builds its vision of nature around customers' worries and concerns about the environment, family relations, and education.
While Davis shows the many ways that Sea World monitors its audience and manipulates animals and landscapes to manufacture pleasure, she also explains the contradictions facing the enterprise in its campaign for a positive public identity. Shifting popular attitudes, animal rights activists, and environmental laws all pose practical and public relations challenges to the theme park. Davis confronts the park's vast operations with impressive insight and originality, revealing Sea World as both an industrial product and a phenomenon typical of contemporary American culture. Spectacular Nature opens an intriguing field of inquiry: the role of commercial entertainment in shaping public understandings of the environment and environmental problems.
Customer Reviews:
Cuts through the kitsch like a deathwatch beetle.......2003-07-23
A devastating deconstruction of Sea World that gives jagged substance to the nagging feeling of dislocation and coercion that most of us feel when we are in a corporate theme park. Its also a handbook for rescuing environmentalism from greenwashers and the corporate media. Finally, its a sustained hymn of pure hatred and contempt, and everyone loves to read abuse. Enjoy!
its decent reading, but uncaptivating.......2001-03-15
Susan G. Davis's Spectacular Nature: Corporate Culture and the Sea World Experience examines Sea World from "economic, local historical, spatial, and experimental perspectives, as well as the point of view of its management and at least some of its customers. Her thesis encompasses the representation of nature and the environment by private corporations; Davis states that Sea World represents new private institutional uses for nature mainly as a product for mass consumption. Davis's primary objective is to discover a connection between public meanings, mass entertainment, and private enterprise as she tries to "understand the theme park form and its appeal to its customers, as well as critical questions about Sea World's cultural meanings and effects." Spectacular Nature makes one think more critically about their theme park experiences, specifically the place of the amusement park in society and American culture. It does this by proposing a question of intent: Is the theme park strictly here as a business enterprise with the purpose of making profit, or does it seek to be an environmental activist and educational philanthropist. Davis argues that Sea World is a combination of all three worlds; "it styles itself an urban public resource, a site of animal rehabilitation, marine conservation, research, and education." She argues that large corporations are responsible for shaping our culture by producing the locales of America's families. It is a bit disappointing when Davis reaffirms the fact that American culture is based on commercial centers funded by big corporations. One would think that there is more to our great hegemonic nation besides theme parks, movie theatres surrounded by an extremely commercial environment, shopping malls, and minors singing awful pop music. In Orange County, Davis notes that Disney has a tremendous influence and is planning on building a themed community to help demonstrate the redefining of social space. Not only are theme parks culturally relevant in our society, but also Sea World and other parks like it are replacing forest trails and lakesides as means of appreciating nature. Apparently some people believe that going to an environment with confined animals affirms their identity as caring, sensitive, and educated individuals that is possibly reinforced by the Sea World announcer saying "you show you care just by being here." She makes the point that nature has become an object for consumption and empathy. Unlike most money grubbing theme parks, Davis clarifies that Sea World at least offers educational programs to poor and unfortunate children. Although a field trip to Sea World isn't as educational as a trip to the tide pools, it provides excellent hands on experience for the hundreds of thousands of students from first grade to college. Davis states that the educational enrichment experience is slightly tainted by the Kodak moment with the children feeding and petting all the various wildlife. She also explains that despite all the parks educational efforts its first priority is to provide its parent corporation, Anheiser-Busch with a "fair rate of return." Another issue raised in Spectacular Nature is the matter of animal captivity. Of course animal rights activists want the animals in the wild ocean where they can swim freely without the constraints of their swimming pools. They also think that performing tricks and wearing props is demeaning towards the animals. Sea World has changed the whale acts and eliminated the props to make them seem more natural. Sea World wishes everyone to know that their animal performers are happy and cheerful, and if they weren't, there would not be a show. Shamu is Sea World's representative and Davis explains that the killer whale serves as a "mediator for the audience, Anheiser-Busch, and the larger corporate world. One of the most troubling factors of Spectacular Nature is that opens your eyes to the dominance of corporate America in shaping our lives and culture. There is no getting away from it because major corporations such as Proctor & Gamble and Anheiser-Busch distribute almost everything we consume. Even when we want to get away from suburbia and indulge in nature's majesty we either have to drive for hours or go to a zoo. I live in Orange County and I'm not pleased with Disney's continuous expansion because I fear one day my community will be a corporate stretch of neighborhoods. Davis doesn't intend to make us despise corporations she makes us more aware of their force in our culture.
Average customer rating:
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Corporate Strategy for Hospitality
Tim Knowles
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0582281679 |
Books:
- The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process And Technology
- The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- Understanding PKI: Concepts, Standards, and Deployment Considerations, Second Edition
- Used Car Buying Guide 2007 (Consumer Reports Used Car Buying Guide)
- Value Driven Intellectual Capital: How to Convert Intangible Corporate Assets Into Market Value
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- Video Over IP: A Practical Guide to Technology and Applications (Focal Press Media Technology Professional Series)
- Water in Environmental Planning
- Who's Who in the Bible: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary (Reader's Digest)
- Working Across Boundaries: Making Collaboration Work in Government and Nonprofit Organizations (Jossey Bass Nonprofit & Public Management Series)
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