The Leadership Habit

Chapter 9Fosters Innovation

What's new and what's next in the competitive coffee industry? Consumers have been inspired by new blends, new concoctions, new packaging, new coffee-brewing conveniences for the home or office, new kinds of advertising, and a thriving new coffee culture.

The growing number of coffee machine designs in production, even mind-reading coffee makers, has flourished because of demand. Companies have used innovative advertising and branding to inspire growing global demand. Coffee companies add value to their own companies by adding value to the customers they serve.

In terms of raising the potential of managers in any organization, innovation itself acts like coffee as a stimulant. Leaders must contribute to and build environments to generate and carry through new ideas that will transform challenges into valuable new ways, new customers, new employee excitement, new solutions, or new revenue.

A coffee bean is actually a seed, and whether the coffee bean is roasted and ground for brewing or planted is a conscious choice. Leaders must make similar decisions about whether to focus on output, for example, or on retooling the way that output is achieved to improve the process and future results. New discoveries that positively affect quality, output, cost, or time first require leaders to be open to different perspectives.

In folklore, people allegedly have believed that the bubbles on the surface of a cup of coffee can predict whether they will prosper or ...