This book is like macaroni and cheese. There's nothing wrong with it (well, cholesterol worries aside), but it can be bland, and it certainly isn't all that interesting.You couldn't argue with any of the management advice in this book, but is is bland and not all that interesting.
Full disclosure: I have a personal problem with the author, as he's the (dingbat) who convinced Starbucks to move from manual espresso machines to automatic ones. In doing so, he removed the romance of Starbucks and made their product and more importantly their experience no different than what you'd have at home.
Timing is tough for folks who write management principles books based on their business experiences at household name firms like Starbucks. They're not doing as well as shareholders would prefer, the former CEO's come back to fix things, and things aren't as rosy for the folks who put them where they are today (namely, the author of this book) as one might hope.
Not a surprise to me though: if I were the type to short stocks, I'd have done so the day I first saw an automatic espresso machine replace my barista's manual efforts. That is, though, the point at which I migrated to my own, home automatic machine, and relegated Starbucks to the occasional road trip or meeting place instead of a daily habit.
