By Matt Duyst
Blair Taylor (’90) served for four years as Starbucks’ chief community officer and he is an active embodiment of the Starbucks credo: “One person, one cup, one neighborhood at a time.” The slogan invokes the gradual transition from one to all, from divided to unified.
Taylor, a UCLA Anderson Inspirational 100 alumnus and former CEO of President Obama’s collaborative, cross-sectoral movement My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, returned to UCLA Anderson as a speaker in the High Impact Tea series to remind graduate students of the necessity of this metamorphosis. He underscored the progression of single to whole in an inverse manner, deconstructing the binaries of global and individual from a top-down point of view — from the vantage of a major corporation to the eyes of a single youth.
He posed an outwardly transparent question: “What drives you?” Taylor proceeded to draw a parallel between his present and past selves, returning to that leitmotif throughout the talk and reiterating the value of lifelong persistence. He shed light on the impact that service experiences, like working for a suicide hotline, have had in shaping his ethic of “doing well and giving back.”
In heartfelt words, Taylor compared corporations with the makeup of a human being: “(Giving back) is in our DNA … and it’s going to be in our company.” A business, he stressed, is not merely a corporation, but a “means of service for good to give back.”
Periodically, Taylor enlisted the audience into his talk, incorporating the personal endeavors of individuals in the room as he made observations about the fragility of the country’s social fabric — from current racial discourse to the widening class and income gap. He discussed how the 5.5 million individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 who currently suffer disadvantages that keep them from education or work will affect those who are in school and working by draining public resources. Business and service work at an individual level, he said, forming an interconnected web that stems from each of us to those around us.
Taylor concluded by telling the audience to envision themselves in the shoes of others. “Make yourself uncomfortable. Take risks and push envelopes. Be bold and never lose hope.”
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