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From the Ground Up: The Starbucks Culture
I am reading the book “From the Ground Up” by Howard Schultz, former Starbucks CEO and Chairman. In this book, he was recounting the early days of Starbucks, its desires, dreams, and vision. Three people, in particular, helped shape the culture from its earliest days. First was Dave Olsen, the chief coffee buyer of the…
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Own It
That’s how we must treat our work and call. When given a task – we take ownership of it no matter the outcome. When it fails, take the blame. When it succeeds, celebrate with the team. This mindset goes deeper than responsibility. We were trained this way early on in life because my parents run…
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Rethinking Designs
Last May, I accompanied my dad to his hometown province in Cagayan Valley. For some unknown reason, my dad purchased a lot eight years ago in his hometown that was not as progressive. Little did we know that he had this vision that his province would one day be as developed as the neighboring provinces.…
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Good Defense, Better Offense
While watching the NBA game last month, a commentator described a play with the words, ” good offense but better defense.” That got me thinking. With the high-caliber play NBA players are displaying, you never know who will win the game. It seems like NBA players have reached a level of competitiveness that is out…
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Finding your Leadership Identity
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. The story about my dad shaped not only me but all of us in the Sy family. We were taught that when we…