“Turning down Frappuccino was the best mistake I never made.” After losing customers to smaller coffee shops who offered cold coffee drinks, several California Starbucks partners embarked on their own experiment to create a blended cold drink that could stand up to their competitors. Despite his initial reluctance — fearing that this new drink would “dilute the integrity of what [Starbucks] stood for — leader Howard Schultz let his partners in California continue their experiment, giving birth to the company’s most popular product to date. Read full article here
Culture
The Priest in the Arena
The phrase “man in the arena” has been popularized in recent years, but a lesser known, more dangerous archetype is the “priest in the arena”. This figure is responsible for a process called theocratic capture, where an institution surrenders to a cult demanding unaccountable authority, fueled by claims to privileged knowledge. These cults often target powerful institutions and attempt to monopolize conversations with scaremongering tactics and hostile treatment of allies. It is important to identify and stop theocratic capture before it can gain control. Read full article here
Merv
May 29, 2023
