This novel begins with a biography of Howard Schultz, the man behind Starbuck's rise as a company for the 21st Century. It certainly helped to learn This novel begins with a biography of Howard Schultz, the man behind Starbuck's rise as a company for the 21st Century. It certainly helped to learn what molded and shaped his business philosophy as well as his own personal standards/goals. If I had to sum it up, I'd say that Schultz is guided by his heart and a sense of what's important to companies thriving in the modern world: engage the employees. The remainder of the book covers the first ten years of Schultz's involvement and guiding hand in the growth of Starbucks. Funny, I didn't really pay much attention to their stores until I moved to the eastern part of Pennsylvania where there were more locations. Then, I took a job that required me to travel to thirteen states and Canada, and I saw Starbucks everywhere. Starbucks became a reliable location to secure my morning cup of java. I enjoyed the story of their rise to prominence. Schultz doesn't leave anything out, including some of the setbacks. The years in question are 1987-1997, and since then the company has really spread out. I'd welcome a second book covering those years since 1997. I'm not certain that Starbucks still employs the same principles as Schultz (he retired as CEO) but weekly or more often visits to the local Starbucks are a regular part of my routine. I still get the sense that it's a decent place to work and employees seem to be appreciative in their demeanor. While it took me twelve months to read this book, that doesn't mean it was boring or wasn't engaging. It's because I decided to participate in many Goodreads challenges/group reads this year and prioritized the books with deadlines ahead of ones that I could take a more leisurely reading pace with. This book and one other suffered from my lack of attention because of that. Yet, by only reading one or two chapters at a time I came to appreciate the contents of Howard Schultz's story more than if I had read it straight through. The other book I neglected was fiction, which I abandoned after fifty-plus pages because more interesting reading compelled me. To be fair to it, I'm going to start over from the beginning with that one in 2023....more
BUSINESS FOR PUNKS (BREAK ALL THE RULES — THE BREWDOG WAY) by James Watt. Portfolio / Penguin Books 2015. Hardcover, 256 pages. ISBN # 978-1-101-97992BUSINESS FOR PUNKS (BREAK ALL THE RULES — THE BREWDOG WAY) by James Watt. Portfolio / Penguin Books 2015. Hardcover, 256 pages. ISBN # 978-1-101-97992-1.
This is a book that exudes the late 1970’s UK punk rock emotion and attitude in several ways. The format is heavily reminiscent of the art style on the first album by the seminal punk band, The Sex Pistols, from it’s black and white and blue-tinged photos to the slogans and quotes pasted all over the pages in haphazard fashion.
The contents treat the conventions of the traditional business world in irreverent and humorous fashion. Yet, the book contains enough chunks of wisdom to be of value to any modern start-up company. It’s chock full of Brewdog founder James Watt’s mantras and catch-phrases. It’s the most funny and entertaining business book I’ve ever read. If they were all like this, I might read more of them.
Watt is the co-founder (with best friend Martin Dickie) of BrewDog which started very small in native Scotland and grew from there. Sometime in the first quarter of 2017, they will cut the ribbon for their first brewery in the United States (Columbus, Ohio). Watts is not just a street-smart business leader. He earned his chops as a qualified deep sea captain, and holds honors degrees in both law and economics.
In Watt’s philosophy, the key is not to start a business, but to begin a revolution. His company, Brewdog, grew to it’s position as one of the better and fastest growing businesses through hard work and a lot of enthusiastic faith that transferred to employees as well as loyal customers. Everyone embraces the mission, and that is to create passion for craft beer. Business plans are scrapped for missions. They don’t hire sales people; they employ missionaries to help spread the word.
How they accomplished this is summed up in the pasted captions in the book’s prologue: “We tore up the business rule book and did things on our own terms.” From there, Watts lays out his philosophy and rules in seven sections that cover everything from start-up to financing, marketing, sales, team-building and a lot of attitude. Along with the revolutionary ideas, readers get a biography of sorts and background details of Watts and Brewdogs’ rise to glory.
Unless you’re a straight-laced suit who’s downed too much of the corporate Kool-Aid, you’ll finish reading BUSINESS FOR PUNKS and want to do one or all of three things: 1) Start your own business. 2) Go buy some Brewdog product 3) Invest in the future of Brewdog. Me, I’d love to drink a good, hearty beer with this guy. ...more
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