Turning the Ordinary into Extraordinary
I’ve just finished reading “The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning the Ordinary Into the Extraordinary” (by Joseph A. Micelli PhD.) As the book points out, Starbucks has managed to take an ordinary cup of coffee and turned it into something much more than that. Starbucks has made a cup of coffee an experience.
Many of us have experienced the ‘two shot, skinny, no foam, extra sweet, mocha caramel latte (I think I was once with Jon when he ordered one of these). And they’ve created what they term “The Third Space” (a person’s home and office being the other two.) Heck, they’ve even managed to create a new word, as for many people the word Starbucks is now synonymous and interchangeable with coffee.
And isn’t that what our job is about? Taking something that can be pretty mundane and, dare I say, uninteresting – products, services, etc. – and finding a way to make these extremely relevant, valuable and important to the customer. Ok, that’s not some of the job, in my opinion, that IS the job.
As the title states, this book presents 5 principles, all very simple, that any company, group or team can use to make what they do and the results they produce truly extraordinary.
It’s a pretty quick read, and very applicable to what we do. Enjoy.
This article was written by BJ on 29 January, 2007 and filed under Musings. If you found it useful, you can with others. To receive automatic updates, subscribe to The Proposal Guys via 
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Thank you for taking the time to read and review my book. I am in your debt. Joseph Michelli, author of The Starbucks Experience.