Page |1

Arizona State University

OGL375: Corporate Leadership Starbucks

Kayla McGuffey

August 24, 2021

 Page |2

“Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title
or position.” (Brian Tracy) As I think back over all that I have accomplished in my life, I feel like
this is the best quote that suits me now. I can't honestly say, every time I put my heart into a
venture, I was always able to get people to follow.

I was born on August 30th, 1983 as the oldest child and grandchild on both sides.
Through my school years I went to public school, private school and graduated from home
school. I learned the best in public school, but my introvert self enjoyed home schooling. While
growing up we moved around a lot. I was born in Texas, moved to Colorado, Maine then moved
back to Texas.

My dad was the pastor of a church in South Texas, and I was one of the oldest young
people in the group. I was the one all the other kids looked up to and whatever I suggested was
usually what we ended up doing. At first it was because I had the only car, but it eventually grew
into more. When I was 20, I decided to take over the Sunday school department. I sat down and
planned everything I wanted to do in the department. Once I had a plan all written down, I
approached my dad about taking over and growing the Sunday school. Within a few months, we
went from 10 Sunday school kids to almost 50. We were busing them in every morning and
providing them with food and fun.

About the same time, I started working at HEB. I started as a bagger, carrying
groceries, and cleaning the bathrooms. I worked at HEB for four years total and by the time I
had left, I have worked in almost every department in the store. Bagger, cashier, bakery,
customer service, gas station, grocery, deli and a little bit in the produce. The only place I did
not work at was in the meat department. They did ask me to train there, but I turned them down
because I was not interested in working with raw meat.

During this time, I learned something very important about myself. I was working in
customer service and was in charge of cashing checks, counting tills, wiring money through
Western Union and counting down the safe. From the very first day, I struggled counting down
the safe. Once the numbers got over around 1000 dollars or so I began to struggle. Several
times I would be there 4 hours after closing, trying to make all the numbers match. Then one
day, a man came in to get his check cashed. His check was $357 but I gave him $753. He took
the money and ran out the door not saying anything. Once I counted down my till at the end of
the night, I realized I was extremely short. I got written up and was no longer able to work with
money for a year. It was during this time I realized I was dyslexic and when I got tired my
 Page |3

numbers would get mixed up. I decided right then and there, I would never work with large
amounts of money again. Banking was not for me.

At the age of 24 I got married and moved to Washington state. Shortly after I moved, I
began to lead different things in the church. I took over the Sunday school department and
began to lead in every other part of the church. After three years my husband decided we were
going to start a church from the ground up.

We decided that Marysville Washington was the place we wanted to be. We sold our
house and both of our cars and went down to one car. We rented a cheap house and began to
make plans. We found a 300 square foot room with a very small bathroom that was affordable.
We ask friends and family to help us and bought chairs and everything else that is required for a
church. This room was in the downtown area next to a dog grooming business and a massage
therapy. Many times, during church you could smell dogs and incense.

Within a year we had grown to a congregation of about 15 people and were starting to
get crowded. We found a storefront location that was about 1200 square feet with a bathroom, a
kitchen and a small room we used for a office. This is where we spent the next two years
growing our church and Sunday school. We ended up having to move Sunday school to a time
all on its own and having church directly after, because the small kitchen was not large enough
for the many kids we had coming. By the time we decided to leave Marysville the Sunday school
had about 25 kids and the church had about 30 people.

There was an elder minister who had Alzheimer's that lived about 30 minutes away from
us. We decided to take his church and give up the church in Marysville. There was about 10
people in the church. We began by living in the basement of that church then after almost a year
we moved out and got our own house. This is where I learned taking over the difference
between starting something yourself and taking over something that is already established.
When you start something, you can do it the way you want but when you take something over
you cannot immediately start changing things because you have not built the trust up with the
people who are already there.

When communicating with someone, who I thought very highly of, they told me that I
needed to ask someone to help and if that person didn't do it right or didn't do it at all, then I just
needed to do it myself. I ran these two churches this way. I was doing everything myself and not
letting others help me or showing them how to be leaders. I quickly found that I was
 Page |4

overwhelmed with doing everything and continued to say that I needed help. I had a lot of
depression and frustration and I could not do it all, so things started getting done halfheartedly.

During this time, I took a job at Holiday Inn Express. It was an overnight position working
in the laundry department. Within the first month they had me trained to also do the janitorial
work. By the third month they asked me to take a position as a night auditor. I sat at the front
desk and checked people in or out and ran all the audits for the entire day. I did not work with a
lot of people during this time, but I did come to realize that others saw something in me that
made them trust me and believe in me. Something that I did not see in myself.

I came to a point in my life that I decided I wanted to go back to college. I had spent two
years of college in my early 20s but had never actually got a degree. So, I investigated colleges
and realized that I didn't want to go into debt. I had heard of the Starbucks scholarship program
so decided that this would be the best option for me. I began as a barista in September of 2018
and begin the ASU scholarship program as soon as I was able to.

Starbucks has taught me a lot. The first year I was a barista was just learning the basics
of coffee and how to come out of my shell and really make connections with others. It was
extremely difficult at first, as I would rather have kept my head down and worked hard, then to
look up, make eye contact and carry on a conversation with a random stranger. Three years
later, I have very little problem with carrying a conversation. I find myself being able to talk to
any person on the street or around me.

After a year as a barista my family and I moved 2 San Antonio, Texas and I promoted to
as a shift supervisor. When I was having a conversation with my district manager about moving
up, he asked me where I saw myself in three years. I told him I wanted to take his position.
Mostly, what I was saying is I wanted to move up in the company. I agree with a lot of what
Starbucks pushes, as far as the connections with people and I have discovered a slight
addiction to caffeine.

My store manager in San Antonio was a breath of fresh air for me. She worked with me
a lot on not doing the job myself, but coaching others. We had many conversations about this
as I still tended to think that if I just did it myself it would get done right and faster. I am still
working on this to this day. But she really helped me with this and to learn how to have tough
conversations.
 Page |5

I expressed my desire to move up in the company and was told I needed to get
experience at another store. This resulted in me moving to a store in south San Antonio. This
store was having a lot of problems and I was told it was because of COVID, as the pandemic
had hit a month or so earlier. I moved to the store and quickly realized there was a lot bigger
problem than just COVID. I found myself crying and upset because the store manager was not
treating the employees with empathy, kindness or even fairness. There was a lot that happened
over the next year, but the “straw that broke the camel’s back” was when I approached him
about someone who was sexually harassing me. I approached him three times asking him
please to talk to the other guy. He said he would, but pretty much didn’t care and laughed me
off.

I decided I needed to talk to someone at a higher level. I called my district manager and
had a two-hour long conversation that was followed by a investigation and several other
conversations over the course of the next few weeks. The result was the store manager left the
company and many other employees followed him out.

Through all this, I realized then I had been the one that people began to come to when
they needed someone to talk to. I was the one who was the leader, even though I did not have
an official title as a manager. People came to me for help with many things and I realized I didn't
have to have all the answers, but I knew how to find the answers. Over the course of the last
few months many of my fellow employees have told me I would be a great store manager.

I have now had two interviews to be a store manager. My first one went very well, but
the second one went horrible. My district manager has a lot of confidence in me, confidence
that I do not have in myself. He offered to set another interview for in a month and to let me
shadow my current store manager and gained some more self-confidence and learn more about
the position so it’s not such a scarry prospect for me.

I'm a little nervous about taking six courses this semester as I have three sons, a
husband of 14 years and a part time job, but really wanted to take this Starbucks class to help
with my confidence in myself and learn more about how the leadership works.

Over the last 38 I have had many ups and downs I have learned a lot and have come a
long way. I do not have all the answers but have come to realize that many people look up to
me as a leader. I hope that I can have the self-confidence to lead and become what I know is
possible. I really hope that this Starbucks leadership class helps me and I'm really looking
forward to what I will learn in the next few months.