The Bonus Was Mine. The Win Was Ours.

Starbucks announced today that baristas will now earn up to $1,200 a year in performance bonuses. $300 a quarter when their store hits its goals.

I did this 21 years ago. Not as a policy. As a belief.

When I got my bonus, I put part of it in the tip jar for my team to split. Because I knew something then that I still know now: I was only successful if they were bought in. We were all working toward the same goal. The bonus was mine on paper. The win was ours.

That’s the difference between compliance and commitment. Compliance shows up. Commitment fights for something.

You can feel it the moment you walk into a store. Into a restaurant. Into a coffee shop. When a team is committed, really committed, you see it in the busy moments especially. People communicating, connecting, covering each other. There’s a joy about it that no training manual produces. It comes from belonging to something worth belonging to.

I’ve seen the other side too. Baristas who described themselves as janitors. Managers who didn’t cover open shifts, so the floor ran short. People who came in excited to do great work and got quietly depleted because nobody brought them into the circle. Nobody said: you matter here. This is what we’re building.

They left. And some of them left embarrassed. Not because they failed, but because they never got the chance to do their best work. Because nobody cared enough to build the environment that would have let them.

Stop blaming a generation for a leadership failure.

I see people who want to be great, who came in ready, and got handed compliance instead of commitment.

They deserve better. They deserve leaders and managers who believe the environment is the work. Who understand that developing people, giving them ownership, bringing them into the mission — that’s not a perk. That’s the job.

This next generation is ready to shine.

Give them something worth showing up for.