During his many years as a senior executive at Starbucks, Howard Behar helped establish the Starbucks culture, which stresses people over profits. He coached hundreds of leaders at every level and helped the company grow into a world-renowned brand. Now he reveals the ten principles that guided his leadership—and not one of them is about coffee.

More about Howard at HowardBehar.com

Businesspeople are taught to make decisions with facts and logic and to avoid emotional bias. But according to the latest research, we almost never decide rationally, despite thinking that we do. Our experiences carry an emotional charge, encoded in the synapses of our neurons. And when we try to deny what our emotions tell us, we lose what we’ve learned from the past. Neuroscience is challenging how we do things. It isn’t about cold, hard numbers anymore.

I talk with Charley about how he’s reaching these conclusions, goal setting, and the potential difficulty of implementing this (since it is not the status quo).

What you do is what gets the sale, at least in the short term. How you do it is where repeat customers and sustained sales kick in. A satisfied customer returns, a dissatisfied customer goes elsewhere. Bob dives deep into the elements of service excellence and what it takes to implement them. They include how to:

• Develop and live your Purpose and Values
• Understand your clients’ soft needs, and create plans to satisfy them
• Seek continuous improvement by stimulating creativity and innovation
• Keep your service-oriented culture growing
• Create a passion for Service Excellence

More about Bob at REL Communications.

Link:
www.StevenSLittle.com

I talk with Nick about the difficulty of managing, how to encourage your team to develop themselves and how to handle it when a new policy comes your way that isn’t the best for your group.

Links:
BeGoodVentures.com
Blog

Jack’s first book Hug Your Customers, showed just how powerful it is to make a human connection to your customers. Now he explains how to create a culture in your company that will attract and inspire those you work with to love to come to work in the morning. Do you say you trust your employees but hire “secret shoppers” to check up on them? Do you say you value their input but use a suggestion box? This book gives the blueprint and also the real muscle behind it all – appreciation.

Link:
www.HugYourPeople.com

Erika looks at all aspects of managing employees, from finding the right people, to finding out what motivates them, to transitions (good or bad) and all the rest. She covers the what and the how to do it. It contains plenty of examples of what to do and stories to round out the discussion.

I talk with Erika about the distractions that make us lose focus, how to handle employees who you don’t think can be extraordinary, and how to improve ourselves.

Link:
www.GrowingGreatEmployees.com
http://thesimplestthing.typepad.com/erikas_blog

Working with employees is an art unto itself. Inside the covers of this book are concise, condensed advice on how to handle the full range of manger duties. From dealing with under performers and star performers, to working with an angry employee or boss. It’s perfect for something you can pick up and use to help guide you through a situation.

I talk with Louellen about dealing with underperformers (which the answer may surprise you), the stars on your team, and handling office politics.

Links:
Louellen – www.LouellenEssex.com
Mitch – www.MitchKusy.com

With the 24/7 pressures of corporate life, we can quickly dismiss pleasantries, courtesies and just plain ‘being nice’ if we are not careful. However, there is more harm that what first meets the eye when these decencies are overlooked. And the benefits to an organization when they are performed are worth more than what might be first realized. Forget the bottom line for a moment (although it will flourish)… connecting with coworkers will build a great company in the most amazing ways.

Links:
Website – Book of Decencies

Starting something? Start here. Behind that pleasant gold-foiled book title, you’ll find a plethora of business vignettes based on over 30 years of experience in the business world. Herman has worked with over a thousand failing businesses and from that has pulled out nuggets to keep you from being in that camp. And when, even in the best of situations, what you’re doing isn’t going to float – what you should do about it.

Links:
Website – Hermanisms

Entrepreneurs are made, not born. And while it may look like the successful ones fly by the seat of their pants, it is not sheer charisma and talent that make it work. There are methods to reduce risks, increase your chances of success, and keep you in the game.

Links:
Website – www.NeverBetTheFarm.com