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Beans: Four Principles for Running a Business in Good Times and Bad
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Often in our daily quest to grow and compete in our careers we forget the importance of bringing it back down to the basic principles with which we started. Most of us chose our careers because we had a passion for our field. Over time we tend to forget why we go to work everyday. Hopefully, we find a way to make it less about a paycheck and more about the people we come in contact with and the joy we have for what we do. "Back to basics" is the overriding theme of Beans: Four Principles for Running a Business in Good Times and Bad.
Businesses succeed on four main factors: Passion, that's how much you care about what you are doing. People, the way you pick your staff and get them ready to work, and the way you set things up so you attract the customers you really want. Personal, how you turn your staff and your customers into your friends, people who belong with you. And Product, that what you're selling is worth buying.
Beans: Four Principles for Running a Business in Good Times and Bad is easy to read and gives you a quick kick in the pants that will open your eyes to the very reasons you got into your career in the first place. My favorite quote in the book is, "We know ... that the more connections that exist between customers and employees, the greater the bond, the greater the loyalty, and the greater the financial success of the organization."
Beans is the story of The El Espresso, a legend in its own time in Seattle, and a coffee company that has prospered by intentionally staying small, inspiring fanatical customer loyalty in the process. Told over the span of a single day, it follows The El's founder, Jack Hartman, through a business crisis that will challenge him and make him clear on why he does what he does. Unsure of whether he has lost the passion needed to sustain his business, Jack hires a consultant who flies to Seattle to "help" him but in reality bears witness to the secrets of good business, whether it's a company of 20 employees or 20,000. In the process, Jack learns about "the Four P's" and how applying these universal principles can reenergize his employees, his customers, and even himself.
Though fictionalized, this is a true story in the best sense of the word. It arrives at a time when people are yearning to return to honest ways of doing business -- before corporate dominance, inflated executive salaries, accounting trickery, and outright greed became so much a part of our everyday business headlines. It is the story of how a pushcart David up against the corporate Goliaths succeeded by focusing on what is core to good business and a good life: honoring customers, trusting employees, building passion around a product, and turning an honest profit. "As you read Beans, you will experience a business where everyone wants to be a regular, where the customer is known and respected, and there is an honest blur between serving people and running a business. Learn the lessons of Beans and this can be your business, too." -- from the Foreword by Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees.
ISBN: 0787967645
Format: Hardcover, 176pp
Pub. Date: June 2003
Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
about jeni...
Nationally-recognized author, speaker and corporate trainer, Jeni Herberger leverages 18 years experience within the design industry providing others with practical strategies on doing business better and living life fuller.
"I want to take the opportunity to share with you just a few of the books I believe hold philosophies and practices that enhance our lives. Besides that, you just can't beat a good book!"
Jeni is a featured speaker at the 2007 How Design Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, June 10 – 13 and the In-HOWse Designer Conference in Austin, Texas, September 9 – 11.