Starbucks

The internet is telling a very clean story about Starbucks. A consultant CEO failed, a proven operator arrived, and confidence returned. Case closed. It is a compelling narrative. It is also an incomplete one. At the center sits a dangerous assumption, that one human can steer a complex organization alone, and that performance can be traced back to a single resumé. When confidence erodes, complexity becomes inconvenient, and someone must carry the fault so the system can signal control. Humanness asks us to pause before we accept the story we are handed, and to ask what need in us it serves.