Hey, He Has a Goal. Kind of Strange, But He Has a Goal

Saturday's WSJ features the story of a 37-year-old man named "Winter" who for the last twelve years has been in pursuit of a personal goal: to visit every Starbucks store in the world. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124301100481847767.html#mod=djemITP

So far he has been to over 9,000 stores around the world (98.9% of North America's), and a focus of the article is the bit of a panic he finds himself in due to the recent announcements by Starbucks that hundreds of stores will soon be closing. You can even go to his website http://www.starbuckseverywhere.net/ and check to see if Winter has visited the Starbucks you frequent. He has visited "mine" (pictured above) in Gulf Breeze.

Winter's story first made me laugh, then made me think about what would possess a 37-year-old man to give his life to pursue this? He admits he is "mildly obsessive-compulsive." OK.

What I did admire in our age of short attention spans was his focus on his goal . A strange goal, but a goal. Most people have long-since strayed from their New Year's resolutions by the Super Bowl, and my corporate clients often confess that they have difficulty sticking to a goal, and their goals are certainly more important and meaningful than Winter's, I would think.

So what can we learn from Winter? What does it take to be so invested in a goal that one would devote 12 years of life to seeing it through?

One thing is obvious: if leaders could tap into this kind of passion, energy, effort, and commitment with those they lead, some great things could be accomplished.

Oh, and another thing -- the London Fog Tea Latte is really, really good.