The Soul of Starbucks

Long before “Empire,” (You know, that concept of a world leading country that dictates to the rest of the world what our global standards should be?) there were indigenous cultures everywhere that were thriving and prospering. They had concepts of inclusion because they knew they depended on each other to survive. Many of these concepts still exist in other parts of the world. They are effective and oftentimes, they are kinder.

When a member of the community would misbehave, the community would look at the person with loving and corrective eyes. The community would remind the person of his or her destiny and point out that this action is not in alignment with the person’s destiny and would ask for a course correction.

The person understanding that he or she is part of a greater whole, would respond to this accountability and remember who he or she was created to be.

The person was not rejected, condemned or negatively shamed. The soul of the person would remain intact with this corrective measure. The soul was not punished, but encouraged towards its innate greatness.

Our concept of capitalism thinks that boycotting is the way to get Starbuck’s attention. We think it is all or nothing.

Let’s try something different. Let us try the communal concept of accountability and believing that Starbucks has not yet evolved into her highest expression of herself. Let us recognize our own responsibility as a community to hold her up to a higher standard and remind her of who she really is Let us be witnesses to her that she is capable of being better.

We don’t exclude. We include. We don’t punish. We correct.

This is how we as a community nurture the soul of Starbucks.

Let us applaud them for this step of closing the stores down for bias training and then let us continue to follow up and find out what other steps they are taking to CONTINUOUSLY work on being better community partners to us.

Let us hold them accountable. It takes more work on our part and on their part. But it is worth it.

Money is not everything.

Destiny is everything.

Iyabo is a Leadership Development Coach whose work focuses on the soul of the leader. She moves leaders from thriving careers into discovering, crafting and living into their life work. By helping successful people integrate spirituality into their leadership roles, they become more engaged with their work, expand the connection of their work to social justice issues and experience more satisfaction in their life work. Using the power of narrative and reflection, she helps leaders fine tune the sacred “work their souls must have” (Alice Walker).

Iyabo is located in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from Goucher College (B.A.), Georgetown University Law School (J.D.) and Candler School of Theology at Emory University (M.Div.).

Iyabo’s home on the web is at http://www.coachiyabo.com

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