It's only crazy in Seattle

When Starbucks first launched in China, they nearly imploded. They weren’t growing at the rate they were used to — a rate far surpassing any coffee chain in America at that time. Worse, one of the biggest reason they’d been so successful was the same thing that confounded them in China.

That driver of success in America was the Starbucks barista.

Unlike most coffee chains, Starbucks worked hard to attract driven, capable talent into its coffee shops. They paid well. They offered good benefits. They marketed their culture to prospective employees. And as a result of attracting above-average talent who stayed an above-average amount of time, Starbucks thrived.

Turns out it’s really hard to provide a great customer experience if you don’t have a great culture. Starbucks understood that, and they took the longterm approach — which is really the only approach that can work — by putting their employees first.

In China, however, they were hemorrhaging talent.

They couldn’t keep their top baristas very long, and they struggled to attract great people to begin with … until they did something that, at first glance, seemed a little nuts: They offered full benefits and an annual conference to the parents of their Chinese employees.

What gives?

Well, thanks to the country’s one-child rule, and the involvement of families in their one child’s life, the parents in China have enormous influence over the careers of their children. Those parents simply didn’t trust that a coffee shop was the best possible option — until Starbucks did something to actually earn that trust.

Today, Starbucks is thriving in China. About 87% of their employees are college graduates. The number of stores exploded from 700 to 3,200, across 135 cities, over the last five years. As I write this, a new Starbucks opens every 15 hours in China, and the company boasts over 600 locations in Shanghai alone — the highest number of Starbucks in any city in the world.

Here’s the punchline: What they did seemed crazy to their peers in the US. The trick is in placing your context first, far ahead of conventional wisdom.

Now, your situation may not be physically separated from a peer’s by the Pacific Ocean, but the fact remains: your unique context dictates that you do things differently than others. And to those other people, it will always seem insane, or wrong, or foolish, or laughable, or backwards. The question is whether or not you and I can ignore their rather uninformed opinions and push ahead — and that all starts with understanding the context above all else.

Someone, somewhere, found success doing something and is now urging you to follow their blueprint. They can’t possibly know your context, and so it’d be insane for you to obey without somehow customizing things to your situation.

Likewise, at some point, you’ve probably considered a certain path, or project, or approach to a project, that others may not approve of — and yet it’s the exact right way forward for you.

But remember: It’s only crazy in Seattle.

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