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Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

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Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#21
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would that be better? Wouldn't that leave him less time to do his actual work?

Sure. But it'd also give them a level of empathy it seems many CEOs lack. I'd say that's worth 1/12 of their work and, if anything, might make them a more efficient and truly understanding leader the remaining 11/12 of the year.

And just skip any major business meetings in that month?

If you think he’s a bad CEO, you shouldn’t want him there at all. If you think he’s a good CEO you shouldn’t want him dropping his work for a month.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#22

If this was not a PR move, but a desire to get a sense for work conditions, real problems, etc, it would not be publicized.

If you really meant that, you wouldn’t have posted it publicly.

I think that reasoning might have some flaws.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#24
It's a nice gesture, but this sort of ear-to-the-ground work is something that everyone over a VP level should be doing in such a high-touch customer-facing business.

When it's just the CEO for one day a month...it's like when you see a frontpage news article declaring that your governor recently undertook a choreographed ride on the local subway to better understand their constituents' public transit concerns. Instead of making them seem relatable and trustworthy, it highlights how grossly out of touch they are.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#25

If this was not a PR move, but a desire to get a sense for work conditions, real problems, etc, it would not be publicized.

It would've been a better PR for them to have not publicized it. They really didn't need to, because people would find out anyway.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#27

It would be better to put the whole executive together into a location for two weeks.

yeah, one day is not going to cut it. Full immersion requires a lot more time. Also with a single day at once location, you risk being seen as "the special guest" and treated differently, while this kind of thing would smooth out over the course of several weeks.

Re: Starbucks CEO will work a shift at the company’s cafes once a month

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would probably be the safest place to work, can't fire anyone with the risk of bad PR.

> That would probably be the safest place to work, can't fire anyone with the risk of bad PR. Why? Just as long as they don't fire someone on the spot, live on social media, I'm sure their PR team can handle it. E.g. make a statement "Joe Schmoe had persistent performance issues and was fired a month after the CEO visit, there's no connection to the CEO."

Why even make any statement? That would seem more suspicious to me.
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