David Novak 0:04 

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple that you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. And today's guest is Kevin Johnson, the CEO of Starbucks. But before we go any further, I just have to ask you a question. Do you ever feel like your organization is superduper complex, like it takes for ever to get anything done? Well, if so, congratulations, you are normal. It's a pretty common issue, especially if you lead in a big organization, or one that's growing quickly. Now, obviously, Starbucks is a massive company. They operate in 82 countries with something like 383,000 employees, but they're still able to innovate and adapt quickly. In fact, they have a sane I love, they can go from idea to action in 100 days. This works because Kevin uses something called distributed leadership, where associates are empowered to make decisions themselves. But they're also given common values and a strategy that guides them. Kevin tells us how we can use the same principles to stop getting bogged down, and instead unleash some really great energy and innovation in our own organizations. So here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Kevin Johnson.

Kevin, thanks so much for taking the time to be with us.

Kevin Johnson 1:51 

Well, David, it's great to be here with you today.

David Novak 1:53 

You know, I've done a little homework and I understand you and I have we're both fans of the great late John Wooden. I actually spent a morning with him at his home his apartment, in Encinitas, California. And I interviewed him on leadership. And it was just a fascinating morning because I had a leadership program I used to teach at yum brands. What made you become such a fan of John Wood?

Kevin Johnson 2:17 

Well, you know, growing up, my you know, my father played basketball when he was a young man. And he would talk to me about one of the greatest coaches in NCAA basketball. And this is probably when I'm, you know, 678 years old, and he would tell me about the great John Wooden. In fact, my father got his PhD from Washington State University and my father would tell me stories about when the UCLA Bruins came to Pullman, Washington to play the Washington State University cougars. My father would sneak into the gymnasium the day before the game, sit in the empty bleachers up high just to watch Coach Wooden and the UCLA Bruins practice. And he described it as basketball poetry. And so as a young man, I fell in love with the game of basketball. And every Saturday I would, you know, get on television and try and find out if the UCLA Bruins were on TV, and could I watch them? And so, you know, he was he was an influential person early in my life, and I did get to get to meet him later in life. And, you know, he, he signed one of his books for me, he said, on the car, he said, he said to Kevin, always keep your socks pulled up, Coach, what? And so I love.

David Novak 3:29 

That's right. That was the fundamentals that he always talked about, you know, but he was an amazing band. And unfortunately, Kevin, you and I also share something else in common. We both been diagnosed with cancer. And when you look back on that, and I know this was 2012, what impact did that have on how you thought about business and in life in general?

Kevin Johnson 3:51 

Well, David, I'd say it had a significant impact on how I think about life. And that's probably translated to the way I think about all aspects of life, personal and business, you know, it People often ask me, How did someone who spent 32 years in the tech industry end up running a coffee company? And, you know, I share the story with that, you know, 32 years in the tech industry and, you know, 16 wonderful years at Microsoft, and then I stepped in to be the CEO of Juniper Networks in Silicon Valley. And, you know, was was focused on that when, you know, one day at the just an annual physical, the doctor asked, you know, how long have you had that, that mole on your arm? And I said, well, it doesn't look unfamiliar. He said, Well, I want you to go in tomorrow and we're going to take a look at it and well turns out it's melanoma. And you know, after two or three surgeries to get margins the next question was, you know, did the cancer get in your bloodstream and lymph nodes and other parts of your body so I was I was trying to still do my job as CEO of Juniper Networks and focus on my health. When when Day, I found myself at the San Francisco International Airport, about to board a United flight to Europe for business. And I had just called and canceled my doctor's appointments for the week. And so as I sat there in the waiting lounge to board that flight, I thought to myself, and ask myself the question, Why, through my actions, am I prioritizing a business trip to Europe over everything that matters to me, my health, my life, my family, the people I love. And I decided at that moment, that for the rest of my life, I would only do things that are joyful with people I love. And so, you know, I had called the Juniper board and shared with them that I was planning to retire that I would stay until they had a successor and a new CEO and to see, but I retired with, with no intention of ever going back into an operating role. With the view that, you know, life is short, and you want to you want to do things that are joyful with people you love. And so, you know, in many ways, that's the principle, the principles that I live to, to this day. And it's really, it's really changed the way I think about everything in life.

David Novak 6:17 

Well, out in the world, you end up at Starbucks.

Kevin Johnson 6:19 

Well, you know, I had joined the Starbucks board in 2009, you know, several years before I was diagnosed with cancer. And when Howard Schultz, stepped back in as CEO in 2008 2009, he was he needed somebody who could bring some technology expertise to the Starbucks board, and he invited me to join the board, and which I did. So I'd been on the Starbucks board for a number of years, when I retired, and I was still on the board, as I focused on my health. In fact, my wife and I moved back into our home in Seattle. And, you know, I spent over a year focusing on my health and spending time with our two sons, you know, wishing I'd spent more time with them when they were younger, and enjoying life. And one day, Howard called and asked if I would come have lunch with him. And, you know, I said, Sure, and I came down to just have a casual lunch with Howard. And he shared with me that, you know, he thought, you know, at some point he was he was thinking about his transition to the next phase of his life and had asked him, you know, if I might be interested in someone who could succeed him and take the transition, and lead Starbucks into the future. And that started the dialogue between Howard and myself. You know, I must say, I shared with him, you know, he knew he knew I had cancer, he asked how my health was, and I said, my health is good, Howard, I've been able to focus on it for over a year now. And but I said, you know, I'm not going back into an operating role. That's not my plan. But it was, it was about two months later, Howard and I had had a number of discussions at dinner with my wife one evening that my wife Jun said to me, she said, Kevin, I know you and Howard are having this conversation, and you're, you're struggling with this decision. She said, Here's my perspective. She said, first of all, you love Starbucks. And you love Howard. She said, this brings you joy. She said, if you think this would be fun, I think you should consider it. If it's not fun, don't consider it. But whatever you decide, don't look back 10 years from now and say, I wish I would have. And I picked up the phone and called Howard The next morning, and here I am.

David Novak 8:30 

You have an amazing wife. It's great. I love that story. And now you're leaving this transformation of Starbucks, from being founder led to being founder inspired. You know, we were talking about John Wooden, a little bit earlier. It's tough to fall in John Wooden that was a phrase, because he was so good at what he did. You followed Howard Schultz, what was the biggest thing you learned from Howard Schultz?

Kevin Johnson 8:56 

Well, first of all, you know, I kind of was reflected, you know, I've worked with, with founders for, you know, over 20, the last 20 Some years of my life, and, you know, certainly working closely on the senior leadership team with Bill Gates for a number of years at Microsoft, and then Pradeep Sindhu at Juniper Networks. And then the last, you know, what, 12 years or so with, with Howard? You know, I've got, I've got a special place in my heart for founders, they're special people, you know, clearly, they, they have a vision, they have an idea, they have a drive, they know how to bring people together. And so I've got this great appreciation for, you know, oftentimes the most significant transition any company goes through is what I call from a founder led to a founder inspired company. You know, I learned many things from Howard, probably one of the most important things that he shared with me and you know, he teaches is that, you know, not every decision is a financial one. He says, in fact, every major decision you make for Starbucks, he said, Imagine two chairs in front of you. And one of those empty chairs represents the Starbucks partners, the people who work first Starbucks, the 400,000 Starbucks partners who proudly wear the green apron, and the other chair represents our customers, you know, the over 100 100 million customers per week that we serve. And he said, you ask yourself one question, if I make this decision, will it make our partners and our customers proud? And I think that's a great lesson because it says that not every decision is a financial one, you have to think about the impact and the implications it has on people. And are you taking care of people? Are you putting people ahead of profit? And will it make them proud? And in many ways, that's what the Starbucks brand stands for. And that's what he built over many decades.

David Novak 10:40 

That's, that is a powerful word picture. You know, those two chairs? You know, how do you operationalize that notion?

Kevin Johnson 10:49 

Well, you know, one of the things that, that I really spend a lot of time on, and I really feel this great sense of responsibility to, is to have the wisdom to know what to honor and preserve from the past, and the courage to boldly reinvent the future. And, you know, I'm reminded of this the day before, we announced that Howard would be stepping down as CEO and that I would succeed him the day before. We took the leadership team there, about 12 of us. And we closed the Starbucks store, the Pike Place store, the very first Starbucks, that it all started from, we closed that store early, about six o'clock in the evening. And Howard, myself and the leadership team met at that store. And for those who have been to that store, you know, there's no tables and chairs. It's a store that originally sold roasted ground coffee, and we make beverages there. But it's got a wooden floor hardwood floor that for over four decades, you know, 10s of millions, hundreds of millions of people have walked on. And we sat together as a leadership team on that hard wooden floor. And we shared stories, Howard Schultz shared stories about, you know, the early days at Starbucks, and what Starbucks meant to him. And each each one of the leaders shared personal stories about what Starbucks meant to them. And at one point, Howard stood up, and he reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a key. And he said, Kevin, this is my personal key to the pike Play Store. It's a key that I have carried for decades. And he said, Today, I want to present you with this key as a symbol of this transition. Now, David, I carry that key with me to this date. And that key is a reminder of that responsibility. I have to have the wisdom to know what to honor and preserve from the past, and the courage to boldly reimagine the future. And it is that balance that's required to lead a great company like Starbucks forward into the future.

David Novak 12:57 

You know, Kevin, that's such an incredible shared experience that you had with your team. And Howard, how important do you think it is for leaders to create a shared experience like that, where people say, you know, we did this or we did that?

Kevin Johnson 13:12 

Yeah, I think it's extremely important. You know, I think you know, what I believe that shared experiences are what create shared beliefs, and common language, and a shared vision for the future. It's through shared experiences that you build trust, it's through shared experiences, that you collectively build an emotional connection to a mission. And once you are grounded in an emotional connection to a mission, and relationships on the leadership team that are based on trust, transparency, and teamwork, then you can you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. But the way to create that is through shared experiences. And so I'm a big believer in in creating those shared experiences and romancing those shared experiences and creating rituals that remind us all of the things that are important and the things that we stand for, and the things that we believe in together and why we are on this mission together. Because, you know, especially at times of adversity, you know, that's when that common connection to a mission and those values matter. They matter the most, and teams will rise to the occasion. And, you know, I just reflecting on the last six months with the COVID-19 and a global pandemic and the pride that I have for how my Starbucks partners have have, you know, really navigated this and that, and we've navigated it because we are a team, and we were grounded emotionally in the mission of the company and we we lead based on principles and values that we stood for, and that that will serve us well for decades to come.

David Novak 14:54 

You know, Kevin, you mentioned you worked at Microsoft, and I understand you were the core team with Bill Gates. Ah, so then you were the CEO of juniper, which was a networking company cybersecurity company. How have you leverage that technology background it as the CEO of Starbucks, I mean, I know you've done a lot of exciting things.

Kevin Johnson 15:14 

Well, if you think about what's happening in, in the retail industry, in general, and certainly is true, and food and beverage as well, is, you know, like, like any industry, there's a, there's a major disruption taking place, and much of it has to do with the impact that digital can have on a brick and mortar business. But, you know, I've sort of been clear that I, my belief is that the two transformative elements of modern day retail are number one, you've got to create a customer experience in your brick and mortar presence, that is a destination that customers seek out that destination. And number two, you have to extend that customer experience in your brick and mortar store to a digital mobile relationship. And so technology plays a significant role in I think all aspects of modern day retail. Now at Starbucks, you think about what what we what we differentiate ourselves on and we create is this this experience of connecting with other human beings over a cup of coffee, or a cup of tea in our stores. And so, you know, much of what we try to do is use technology to really enable human beings to be more human. And, you know, in a lot of ways, that digital customer relationship combined with the way that we use technology in our stores, is part of what creates that experience.

David Novak 16:32 

Kevin, you talk about what you call distributed leadership, you know, I've never really heard that phrase before. What is it? And why is it so important?

Kevin Johnson 16:41 

Well, here's, here's, I guess my experience has been that, you know, when when a company starts, and it's a young company, and it's a startup company, it's a very centralized leadership model, you know, there's a founder, and there's some number of people in the company, and the decisions are really made by that founder, that central leader. But as any business grows and scale, scale, and complexity can become the enemy of speed and agility. And oftentimes, what happens in large companies is that, you know, sort of the bureaucracy and the scale and complexity slows the company down to where they're not able to make decisions fast enough, they're not able to transform fast enough, they're not able to innovate fast enough. And so you know, I'm a believer that you can unleash that innovation, you can unleash that energy throughout the organization in what I call a distributed leadership model. To do that, you have to be you have to have a mission, a common mission that creates that emotional connection to each and every person that's contributing, you have to live by a set of common values that are understood and are built through shared experiences. And then you have to be very clear about the strategy and where you're going. But from there, you empower people, you empower people to make decisions, you empower people to create, with empowerment, comes accountability. So people have to learn, if I'm empowered, and I make a decision, I have to be accountable for my decision. But I'll just take, you know, I'll just take through COVID-19. You know, we set three simple principles for how we were going to navigate this global pandemic. And we set these three principles back in January when this started to unfold in China. And those three simple principles are number one, prioritize the health and well being of our Starbucks partners and the customers we serve. Number two, partner with government and local health officials to help contain the virus. And number three, show up show up in a positive and responsible way in every community we serve. Now, with those three simple principles, we made hundreds of decisions a week in 82 countries around the world, and they were made by distributed leadership, they were made by the leaders in those markets, and they stay true to those principles true to our values true to our mission. And as a result, you know, I think we've navigated this and actually created, you know, the store protocols and the operating capabilities for us to just continue to operate in the COVID. World until until there's a vaccine or there's therapeutics. So you know, that just that concept of distributed leadership has really served us well over the last six months and really been strengthened by what we've had to navigate just here recently,

David Novak 19:21 

your company has done your brand is known so much for its focus on its customers and the baristas and how they've mentioned your name personally and all that. It's great to see and it's great to see that kind of customer focus. Do you have a personal process that you use to stay on top of the needs of the customer?

Kevin Johnson 19:39 

Well, you know, I spend a lot of time you know, I spent a significant amount of my time connecting with partners we call everyone that works at Starbucks a partner so I connect a lot of a lot of my time with partners in our stores who are close to customers. But, you know, we've also transformed the way we do innovation at Starbucks, you know, we've gone from what I consider a long cycle in Ovation approach, two, to one where we embrace the mantra of going from idea to action in 100 days, and then learn and adapt. If you have

David Novak 20:09 

some event that happened at Starbucks, where he said, you know, we got to change things around here, we got to get more sets urgency, you remember when that light bulb went off in your head? Well, if

Kevin Johnson 20:18 

I think about the number one complaint Howard had when I was when he was, you know, here's CEO, and I joined as chief operating officer to begin this transition, the one complaint he had is, any project we had, the minimum amount of time was going to be 18 months, and then it took longer after that. So he's like, why can't we get anything done faster than a year and a half. And so I started thinking about it. And actually, what I what I did was, I took all of the things that I learned in the tech industry over a 32 year period about innovating and developing software and and, you know, bringing innovation to the market rapidly and basically embrace that at Starbucks. And so the first thing I had to do is realize that the reason things were taking so long is that people were afraid to take risk. And they wanted everything to be perfect. And so they said, Hey, I have to, you know, if there's 32,000 Starbucks stores, I have to have the perfect solution that works in 32,000. Starbucks stores, and that's going to take a long time. But if I said, Hey, I just want to try something in 10 Starbucks stores. And if 80% of it is right, then I embrace what I learned. And then I adapt, and I correct the other 20%. And then we deployed to 100 stores. So we just changed the methodology, the simply because I'm a believer that that, you know, as I said, scale and complexity are the enemy of speed and agility. And any company that does not have speed and agility in a world that's changing rapidly is going to fall behind. And that's how and you know, and if you fall behind, that's how you end up getting in trouble. So this was one of the things that I knew had to happen. Now to do that, we you know, we had to bring in, you know, we had, we had a number of Starbucks partners that just embrace that concept, we injected it with some new talent that that new fundamentals around human centered design and agile work environments. And we just blended the team together, we then built like a 20,000 square foot incubation lab basically modeled it after Silicon Valley incubation lab, 20,000 square feet downstairs, here in our headquarters building support center here in Seattle. And so now they do innovation down there. And and so it's not done, you know, in your silo of whatever organization or team you're on, it's done in cross functional teams that happens rapidly, it's transparent. And, and it has, it has really changed. It's changed the sort of the, our ability to do things quickly, and do things that impact the customer, it has strengthened our understanding of what customer's needs and wants and preferences are to where people understand when they're designing something, they know how to design it to support our partners and design in a way that's relevant to our customers. And I tell them, if you can innovate in a way that inspires Starbucks partners and is relevant to our customers and meaningful to our business, that's the trifecta, inspire partners, relevant to customers and meaningful to the business. And then just learn and adapt as fast as we can take the risk. It's better to take risk and celebrate the learnings and then and then adapt things rapidly than to sit back for two or three years and wait for something to happen. You know, we're gonna be dead by then we got it, we got to move.

David Novak 23:26 

Well, what innovation are you most proud of that's happened is as a CEO?

Kevin Johnson 23:31 

Well, you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of little things that have gone into our stores. And then there's a lot of bigger things. And if I think on the tech side, you know, I think what we call the digital flywheel is very well known the mobile app and the rewards program. But in the last year, year and a half, I think our technology team around Artificial intelligence has done some phenomenal things. We spun up an Artificial Intelligence Group and they we developed a platform that we call deep brew, you know, just like the coffee deep brew, and this artificial intelligence now, we've used it in our stores to now start to predict and do inventory management it can artificial intelligence can do a better job predicting how much inventory to order for a store, artificial intelligence. You know, when deep brew does that it reduces the amount of time a partner has to spend counting inventory and deciding what to order that frees up time for them to connect with their customer. Deep brew can predict we you know how many partners we need at a certain time of day in every store, and they can do a better job than human beings of figuring that out. And by doing that, it's really done two things. It's given us more time for our partners, green apron partners to connect with customers in our stores. And we've actually made their jobs easier. So those you know, those are those are some simple things that that matter a lot

David Novak 25:00 

You've talked about the importance of creating human connections and customer connections. That's, that's your purpose. You know, when you think about yourself as a leader, Kevin, what do you see your purpose in the world,

Kevin Johnson 25:13 

if I think about sort of how I grew up, and and what shaped me, you know, I kind of in my journey of self discovery, you kind of go back to, you know, what you're like, as a child and how you grew up. And you know, my mother, my mother was the pediatric nurse in Los Alamos, New Mexico. And so she's one of the most compassionate people I know, she, you know, every, every parent in Los Alamos that had a young child that went to went to that doctor, they knew my mom, so if you went to the grocery store, with my mom, she knew everyone in town that had a child. And my father was a physicist, and so the combination of, of, you know, my father's intellect, with my mother's compassion is kind of who I am. And so, you know, in a lot of ways, you know, I believe I play a role in being a bridge builder, bringing people together, I play a role in, you know, helping co create and solve hard problems, and I play a role in enabling people to achieve aspirations, they didn't think possible. And so, you know, for me, that's I get my energy from people I get my energy from, you know, being a part of a team, I get my energy from, from creating an environment where a group of people can, can come together and connect over through shared experiences towards a common mission, and then work together and achieve something they never thought possible. And that and then that in doing that, is joyful. And so that's kind of how I'm wired.

David Novak 26:49 

Yeah. And, you know, you've made innovation such a big part of what you do. How do you think about innovating and reinventing yourself?

Kevin Johnson 26:58 

Well, you know, I, I've always believed in being a lifelong learner, which, in many ways, requires you to constantly be willing to push outside of your comfort zone. And, you know, in throughout my life, you know, I started off as a systems engineer, and, you know, when an opportunity arose at IBM, for me to switch from being a systems engineer to being in sales and marketing, I thought, you know, I can do that. So let me go give it a try. And so I made that change. And, you know, it was still tech based, but I had to learn a completely new function and a new role. And I grew from that, you know, when, you know, when an opportunity, you know, and I kind of saw this whole technology disruption with personal computing, and graphical user interfaces, and I got became enamored with sort of the future of that, where it was going, and you know, that it was sort of an opportunity to say, Wow, how, what if I went to work for this company called Microsoft, you know, and my wife goes, you're leaving IBM, and I've never heard of a company called Microsoft, what do they do? You know, that was call. Yeah, it was good call. But, you know, that was in the early days to where there was, you know, it was in the early 90s. And, you know, Windows three, one was just out, and it was sort of this, but you could just see this technology disruption this way, which is going to is just going to be massive. And so, you know, to be a part of that. And, you know, I took some risks and decided, you know, this is what I want to pursue. So once again, I had to learn some new things, some familiar, but some new. And so I think pushing outside your comfort zone allows you to be a lifelong learner. Now, I would have never predicted I would be, you know, leading Starbucks Coffee Company. But that too, is an example of, you know, I think, going from a career and tack into leading Starbucks, but there's many similarities, you know, in both in many, in most all cases, it's about people. It's about people and really, in really understanding, you know, how can you play a role in bringing people together and grounding them in some common mission and then inspiring them to pursue, you know, an aspiration? And then how do we go achieve that aspiration?

David Novak 29:13 

You know, and you talk a lot about Starbucks, being authentic to what it really stands for. And, you know, Kevin years, you're known you're reputed as a very authentic leader. There's no question about that. I don't know too many people on Wall Street that have the nickname of KJ, okay. So that you know, it what is it that drives your, your personal authenticity?

Kevin Johnson 29:36 

Well, I'd say that's something that I've learned the importance of it over my life and probably earlier in my career earlier in my life. It was probably I was, I was far less authentic, because I was always worried about how people perceived me. And so I would always try and either mask things that I thought people would perceive as weaknesses, or I would try to be someone that I thought would better fit in with It wasn't until I got older and, you know, reflecting a little bit more on my own personal life journey that, you know, began to have a better realization of who I was and what I didn't have the confidence and the courage, I guess, to, you know, to be myself, and then a breakthrough sort of happen where you, you figure out that the most powerful way to connect with other people is to demonstrate your own vulnerability. Mean authenticity is about is about vulnerability. And, you know, oftentimes you sit here and you think, Well, I must be the only one that has self doubt and fear and uncertainty and insecurity. But you know, what? Everyone on the planet has it. It's the, you know, this thing we call the human experience. It's all about, you know, fear and uncertainty and self doubt. And then overcoming that fear and uncertainty and self doubt. That's what the hero journey is all about. And so the hero's journey, in some ways, you say, Well, if I, if I'm transparent, and I'm willing to be authentic, it's it's much more liberating for me, because I don't have to pretend I can just be who I am. But it's also the most powerful of all human connectors. And so, if there's any advice I would give somebody earlier in their career, I'd say, you know, really go on this journey of self discovery and understand you who you are, and have the courage to be authentic. It's, it's okay.

David Novak 31:27 

A lot of CEOs think when you're the CEO, you got to have the answer. The leader thinks, Oh, I've got to have the answer. I, you know, I've got to be this or I've got to be that, you know, can you give us an example where you've, you know, put yourself out there and really demonstrate your vulnerability?

Kevin Johnson 31:45 

Well, look, I think a lot of times, it's it's sharing personal stories that shaped you. And, you know, when, you know, being being diagnosed with cancer, and melanoma, you know, there's periods where I tried to, you know, hide that or not necessarily be transparent about that, but then I just figured that's part of, of my journey. And so sharing that, you know, I think other times was, you know, when I, when I travel around the world, pre COVID, with Starbucks, you know, I visit stores, and I'd say, the first year or so I was in the job, I would do store visits, and they were very orchestrated David, they were, you know, basically, I'd arrive at the store, the district manager would greet me, the store manager, we'd go in to the store, I'd meet the Starbucks partners in the store, they tell me a little bit about the store format, we do a coffee tasting. And then it'd be time to do some photographs with the partners, and then they'd load me in the car, and I go off to the next door. And after you've done that, yeah, but you've done a few this. And I thought, after that, I thought, why am I I'm not this is not I need something more. So I, I started doing roundtables with Starbucks partners. And I get five or six green apron partners. And we'd sit down for an hour and a half at a table. And I would just ask each one of them. Share with me your life story. And where did you grow up? And what brought you to Starbucks? And what does Starbucks mean to you? And what do you aspire for in your life. And each one of them would share their stories and I share my story, just like they do. And it's through those those sessions and listening to their stories and the authenticity and the vulnerability they demonstrated and, and, you know, my willingness to be vulnerable and authentic. It just creates this powerful connection. And I learned so much more about people and they learned so much more about me, and it just makes everybody comfortable. And so that's that's kind of my my ritual.

David Novak 33:36 

That's a great way to add, you know, you did lead an amazing turnaround of the business and Coronavirus hits, you know, how did that affect your psyche as a leader? And what what went on in your mind about what you needed to do?

Kevin Johnson 33:51 

Certainly in the early periods was probably mid January that I first you know, I became aware of of Coronavirus, early January's in China, but had sort of not anticipated that it would become, you know, such a global event. But it was mid January that I started working with the leadership team in China on their response and what we were going to do, but it was actually then two days before our earnings call in January that you know, talk to them again, they said Kevin, we're gonna have to close 90% of our stores right now. And I thought okay, well, here we go. And, you know, what, what, what you realize is like, when you go into a very unknown situation like that, you know, you have to go into sort of a crisis operational mode, which means in a time of crisis, what what people want, and what I think leaders are responsible for doing is you've got to be fully present and engaged. You've got to be calm and thoughtful in principle in your decision making. You have to be transparent and frequent in your communications to all stakeholders. And you just step by step you address the issues, you have to address, you make decisions you need to and you navigate through it, and you have to realize is that there's uncertainty. So you you're rapidly adapting and, and pivoting your approach. But I'm very proud of the fact that, you know, in this, you know, we learned a lot by going through in China, we basically built the playbook for how to do this in China. And then we started, we brought it to the US and adapted it for the US. And we adapted it for 82 markets around the world. And that became our playbook. I did frequent frequent communications with all stakeholders and very transparent. And so, you know, regular communications to all Starbucks partners, to our customers, to communities, we serve to our shareholders. And, you know, and you just, you got to be on your game. And so, one of the things I'll say that was really helped me with that though, too, is is I you know, I'm a believer in meditation and I have been meditating, but I really learned Transcendental Meditation, right to, you know, at the beginning of January. And so I still to this day, I meditate 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon, and that helps, that helps me a lot. It gives me energy keeps me sort of in the zone and, and calm and so Transcendental Meditation has been a key, but then you got to be on top of your game.

David Novak 36:14 

I got to ask you, how in the world did you learn Transcendental Meditation?

Kevin Johnson 36:18 

A year little over a year ago, we had been asked if we would play Ringo Starr every year and his birthday has a peace and love birthday party. And so Ringo Starr had a playlist of songs that he wanted Starbucks to play in all of our stores. And so I looked through it and said, Sure, we'd be happy to play these songs. Well, turns out Ringo, Ringo Starr invited me and my wife to his birthday party in Los Angeles last June. And so, you know, so we're gonna go gonna go to ring goes birthday party, and I thought, Well, what do you get Ringo Starr for his birthday party, you know, for his birthday, peace and love birthday. And we saw that he one of his charities that he contributes money to and he supports is the David Lynch foundation. So the David Lynch foundation teaches Transcendental Meditation to veterans who are suffering from PTSD and pts. So, so we contributed some money to the David Lynch foundation. So at ring goes party, we're visiting with Ringo, and he, Oh, David Lynch, come up. So he introduces us to David Lynch. And David says, Kevin, that, you know, thank you for the contribution. He said, Do you meditate? I said, Well, I've been doing this. He goes, No, Kevin, we're going to teach you Transcendental Meditation. So David Lynch said, the top guy in the country, Bob Roth, who, you know, trained on the Maharishi Bob came to our home for four days, and he taught me my wife and my son and his wife, he taught the four of us Transcendental Meditation. And to this day, all four of us meditate twice a day. So I have Ringo Starr to thank for my connection to Transcendental Meditation

David Novak 37:46 

is great. I'm gonna have to give that a try. I think a lot of people think I beat it. You know, I probably do. You know, so am Coronavirus. So we the country gets a double whammy with the George Floyd incident, the tragic death of George Floyd. And I understand, you know, you talked a little bit, go just about the importance of communication. I understand that you had a virtual meeting with your partners, all your team members, employees, the Saturday after that, that that incident. Tell us about it. And can you share a story about what impacted you the most from that that call?

Kevin Johnson 38:24 

Yeah, I'd say that, you know, it was just a few weeks before that, actually, when the video of ahmaud arbery Reese, killing and what had happened in that incident came to light. That was very troubling. And we we hosted what we call a courageous conversation. We did it virtually it was kind of like what our typical open forum, but it was done virtually following them out Aubrey and that was we had about 1000 partners joined and in that particular session, we talked about the importance of just creating a safe place for Starbucks partners to share how they felt and to share their stories and just to listen. You know, and then certainly to witness the murder of George Floyd, you know, all this under televisions and what did what that represented, you know, was just was just tragic. And so we we call for, you know, on a Friday afternoon, basically said, Look, I want to I want to have another courageous conversation, and we had on that Saturday, you know, several 1003 or 4000, Starbucks partners joined us, many of them at home, in their living rooms with their families. And it was a conversation about what it's like to be black in America, and, you know, partners sharing their personal stories and how this how this deeply affected them because of, you know, what they've, what they've had to live with and what they've gone through and, and, you know, all of us sort of reflecting on our role and response. sensibility as human beings, to stand up against racial injustice and acknowledge that this is an issue that has, you know, has been going on for centuries and in America and, and for us to stand up and understand that we have a role and responsibility to play as a business as citizens as humans. And, you know, it was, it was, it was the kind of conversation that, you know, pauses you to just reflect, you know, reflect on your own life journey and your own life experience and the fact that, you know, I, you know, I grew up white as a white man in America, and I don't always understand what what, you know, our black Starbucks partners had to go through, but as they share that you just become, you know, it is it's a powerful connector, because it creates so much empathy and, and desire to want to help be a part of the solution and improve things in this country. And and I think that's what we're on a journey to do.

David Novak 41:02 

You know, you mentioned that you're in 82 different countries, and you're opening up, I store, I think, every 15 hours, and in China, you know, how much have you had to change the format in China to get that kind of growth? And is it hard for you to, as a leader to see dramatically different things happen in one country versus another? Yeah, it's interesting,

Kevin Johnson 41:22 

the core, you know, premise of Starbucks, and creating that sense of community and a warm, welcoming place where you can have human connection and share coffee, that that's consistent around the world, you know, in China, you know, the stores, we would build, or we build, there are beautiful stores, those stores, you know, oftentimes will include Chinese artwork or culturally relevant to store design attributes that, that show respect to the Chinese culture, you know, the beverage that for the most part, the beverage menu is pretty similar, it's almost the same all the little coffee menu is pretty much the same. And the tea menu there few variations, the food menus can be a little bit different. But if you would recognize it as Starbucks, you travel around the world. And you see, you see that green, iconic color, and you see the Starbucks logo, you see the green siren, and you can go and have a Starbucks experience in any part of the world. And so China, you know, we've been in China over 20 years. Now, David, and and the way I think about this is we built Starbucks in China, for China. And so we have an entire store development team in China that picks the real estate designs, the stores, we have a food and beverage r&d team that, that innovates on the food and the beverage menus, we have a digital team and a relationship with Alibaba, China Digital partnership with them, we do a lot of things with Tencent. So, you know, we really built Starbucks, in China, for China, and that served us well.

David Novak 42:56 

You know, this has been so much fun, and I want to have a little bit more with the lightning round of q&a with you. Okay. Oh, here we go. What three words best describe you.

Kevin Johnson 43:07 

Compassionate, driven. And a bridge builder?

David Novak 43:16 

What's your biggest pet peeve?

Kevin Johnson 43:18 

You know, my biggest pet peeve is I think when when people see things happening around and they just they play victim instead of being a positive action oriented person to do something, do something constructive about the situation instead of sit back and complain about it.

David Novak 43:35 

If you could be one person for a day, other than yourself, who would it be?

Kevin Johnson 43:40 

Well, you know, I just saw the SpaceX capsule just landed the other day. I'd like to be one of those SpaceX astronauts for a day so I can kind of see what what planet Earth looks like from outer space.

David Novak 43:50 

Kevin, do you have a hidden talent?

Kevin Johnson 43:54 

I hidden talent I well, I play guitar. I don't know it's it's I'm not very good. But I do play guitar. So I have a guitar in my office and occasionally, I did play I did play as part of a little performance we did for I think 8000 Starbucks partners back in Chicago last September.

David Novak 44:13 

Okay, good. Maybe you got to hook up with near and shattering at Panera he's a big guitar player. Do you know what's something about you that few people would know?

Kevin Johnson 44:23 

Let's see my my oldest son in high school my oldest son's a musician and in high school I was was a roadie and his little rock and roll band so I was I would load in the drums and load out the drums father of a father musician.

David Novak 44:38 

What's the most important thing you learned working alongside Bill Gates?

Kevin Johnson 44:45 

The importance of of looking to the future and then making some long term bets.

David Novak 44:54 

Now, what would be your epic fail?

Kevin Johnson 44:59 

Oh, let's see. Epic fail, I guess, years ago, when I transitioned from being a systems engineer to being in sales and marketing for IBM, the first year I was in sales and marketing, like at the first half of the year, I was like 20% of my quota. It was like, something's not working here. And I figured out that I had like, too many I had too many things I was trying to do, and I wasn't doing any of them well. So what I did in the second half of that year is I focused on the five most important things, and I did those well, and I ended up making my quota that year, but I had to scramble to do it, David. And so it taught me the importance of really focusing on the things that are most important, and then just executing against those in a really, really excellent way.

David Novak 45:40 

What's the three bits of advice you you would have for aspiring leaders?

Kevin Johnson 45:46 

Well, I always, you know, the one thing for me is I one would be authenticity. And you know, I I learned that later in my life. And so I would think, you know, for leadership to especially today, to be an inspiring leader, I think authenticity is is very important. I think the second thing would be the you know, leadership that values matter, understand what values you stand for, especially at times of adversity. At times of adversity, values are tested values matter and, and it's through values that you build trust, trust is earned through through difficult periods and times of adversity. And I think authenticity and values are what enable you to build trust. And trust is one of the most important attributes that leaders can earn. And it's not granted, it's not given to them as a leader, you have to earn it.

David Novak 46:42 

You know, Kevin, you, you obviously lead with your heart, you know, you got a big heart, I can tell. And, you know, you're described by many as a servant leader. Now, I hear that term a lot of times, and it's almost like a buzzword, you know, how does a leader make a servant leader really come alive in your mind?

Kevin Johnson 47:06 

Well, I think, I think in many ways, it has to be this authentic desire to create a great experience and a great outcome for others. And I think you have to get energy from helping others succeed, you have to get energy from supporting, you know, someone in their, in their, in their own hero's journey. And so, you know, I think, I think that kind of servant leadership, you know, is perhaps a buzzword, but I think at the end of the day, it's, it's those individuals that get energy by helping others. And I've always found that if I pursued things and put my energy into things that I was passionate about, if I was a lifelong learner and willing to push outside of my comfort zone, and I always treated people respectfully, and help them every time I could do those three things, opportunities presented themselves,

David Novak 48:01 

I read and many lot of research that, you know, people who are the happiest or other directed at you, you seem like a very happy guy, you got a big smile on your face. Nobody can really see this, but I want to thank you so much for for making me happy, and taking the time to do this conversation. And just showing us the power of what pursuing Joy really can be. It's very impressive. And thank you for sharing your story.

Kevin Johnson 48:31 

Well, David, thank you so much for including me in this discussion. And I do have enjoyed it. So thank you.

David Novak 48:44 

Well, that was such an inspiring conversation, you can really hear that joy coming through when you talk to Kevin. And you can tell authenticity and vulnerability aren't just buzzwords for him there the way he lives and leads. And boy, I just love his principle of distributed leadership. Now, you probably know you just can't make every decision yourself. It's going to bog everybody else down and you're not going to be able to act quickly. You've got to empower others to make decisions to. Alright, now it's time for a little coaching this week, as part of your weekly development plan. I want you to find one, just one decision that you can hand off. It can be something small, something someone else is ready to step up and own. But remember, don't just turn them loose. As you heard from Kevin, start with clear guidance upfront and make sure you follow up with accountability as well. But remember, don't just turn them loose. As you heard from Kevin, start with clear guidance up front and make sure you follow up with accountability as well. Believe me this is a must learn discipline for any great leader. So spend some time this week getting even better We're at it. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders distribute decisions so that you can stay agile and you can adapt to anything that's happening in your business. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in. While I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be