????財富五百強企業的首席執行官被解雇后還能贏得雇主贊許的情況非常少見。然而，星巴克（Starbucks）創始人霍華德?舒爾茨解聘了吉姆?唐納德，親自出山、重新擔任首席執行官一職后就出現了這樣的情形。“他是世界上最寬容善良的人，”舒爾茨在他所著的關于星巴克轉型的《前進》（Onward）一書中對唐納德大加贊賞。“他善于跟組織內部各層級的人建立良好關系，在這方面他是個天才。”舒爾茨寫道，這些品質，再加上“心地、良知和情商”，讓唐納德即使是在銷售額下滑、投資者希望公司做出改變的情況下仍然受到了星巴克公司上下的一致擁戴。

????事實證明，舒爾茨于2008年決定重返首席執行官職位是明智之舉【《財富》雜志將其評為2011年度商業人物（2011 Businessperson of the Year）】。然而，對于唐納德來說，他似乎注定要迎接另一個挑戰。過去四年中，我一直與他保持著聯系。他雖然處于公眾視線之外，但一直忙于教學和咨詢，并且先后執掌了太平洋西北連鎖食品雜貨公司（Pacific Northwest）和食品連鎖品牌Haggen。他剛剛被任命為公寓式酒店連鎖公司Extended Stay Hotels的首席執行官。這家連鎖酒店公司年收益10億美元，擁有9,100名員工，2010年剛剛擺脫破產保護的陰影。公司目前由私募基金中橋合伙公司（Centerbridge Partners）、保爾森基金公司（Paulson & Co.）和黑石集團（Blackstone Group）所有。

????對唐納德來說，酒店業是一個全新的領域，因為他一直以來從事的是食品零售業。【他曾經受雇于沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart）創始人山姆?沃爾頓，是沃爾瑪超級購物中心發展壯大的先鋒人物。】現在他正在進行新的嘗試。上個月他對我說，在斟酌不同工作機會的同時，他還堅持每天寫一個小故事來磨練自己的創造力。他說，2012年到現在為止，今年他已經寫了13,000字，大多數故事是關于如何用愛心領導他人。他如此總結自己的管理哲學：“人們期望知道自己的表現如何，如果你告訴他們，他們可能會更加賣力。”

????唐納德認為，99%的人“都會盡力去做正確的事情，要對他們給予肯定。”下文是他寫的一個小故事，關于一月份某天他前往Extended Stay Hotels公司總部、也就是他現在的東家面試時，在夏洛特國際機場（Charlotte International Airport）的親身經歷。

愛的外賣

作者：Extended Stay Hotels公司首席執行官吉姆?唐納德

????去吧，不要吝嗇自己的愛心。因為贈人玫瑰，手有余香……

????我從機場的“哈德遜新聞”便利店（Hudson News）拿了份《華爾街日報》（the Wall Street Journal）和《今日美國》（USA Today），結賬時，店員塔奎娜對我說：“請您嘗嘗這種巧克力脆餅吧。”

????我回答：“謝謝，不用了。”

????她仍然堅持：“嘗嘗吧，您會喜歡的。”我勉強嘗了一口，一邊嚼一邊含糊地說：“味道還不賴，但我得再吃點伯強格斯（Bojangles）的炸雞才能咽得下去。”可巧的是，結賬通道對面就是這家炸雞店。

????塔奎娜說：“帶上我們一塊去吧。”

????“好啊，大伙兒把店關了，我們一起去！”我朝店里所有的六名店員喊了一嗓子（其實我知道他們是不可能當真）。

????走到通道的對面，我回頭看了一眼，發現我剛才的話在店內激起一陣興奮的騷動。隨后我開始排隊買晚餐，打算要一只雞翅和一塊雞胸。

????突然，我的良心跳出來質問我：“你怎么回事啊？這么多年來，你總是告訴人們‘要贊美別人為了讓這個世界變得更美好所做的每一件小事’。塔奎娜可能是頭一次出來推銷，她不厭其煩地向你推銷巧克力脆餅，而你不僅沒掏錢還戲弄她。”

????It's a rare case when a Fortune 500 CEO gets ousted, and then the guy wearing the boot divvies out praise. But this is what happened after Howard Schultz fired Jim Donald as CEO of Starbucks (SBUX) and replaced him with himself. "You cannot meet a kinder human being," says Schultz about Donald in his book, Onward, about Starbucks' turnaround. "A natural talent for building relationships at every level of an organization"--plus "heart, conscience, and emotional intelligence," according to Schultz--made Donald a popular chief inside Starbucks, even as sales flagged and investors wanted change.

????Turns out, Schultz was wise to reclaim Starbucks' reins in 2008 (Fortune named him 2011 Businessperson of the Year), but Donald, whom I've kept in touch with, seemed destined for another challenge. After four years below the radar--teaching, consulting, heading a Pacific Northwest grocery chain, Haggen--he was just named CEO of Extended Stay Hotels, a $1 billion-a-year, 9,100-employee chain that emerged from bankruptcy in 2010. The company is now owned by private equity firms Centerbridge Partners, Paulson & Co. and Blackstone Group (BX).

????Hotels represent new territory for Donald, whose career has been in food retailing. (Hired by Sam Walton, he once spearheaded Wal-Mart's (WMT) early foray into superstores.) Now Donald is in stretch mode. Last month, as he was weighing various job options, he told me that he was testing his creative muscle by writing a story a day. He's written 13,000 words so far in 2012, he reports; most are about leading with love. "People want to know how they're doing," he says, summing up his philosophy. "If you let them know, then they might do more."

????Donald believes that 99% of people "try to do the right thing. Recognize them for it." Here's his story about an encounter at Charlotte International Airport one January day when he was interviewing at Extended Stay's headquarters--now his corporate home.

Buy Some Love by Jim Donald, CEO, Extended Stay Hotels

????Go ahead. Buy some love and make someone's day. It might even make your own day...

????"Try the brownie brittle," Taquana told me as I checked out of Hudson News with the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

????"No thanks," I replied.

????"You'll like it," she repeated. Giving in, I mumbled as I crunched, "Not bad. But I need to wash it down with some Bojangles fried chicken." Coincidentally, a Bojangles was across the terminal hallway.

????"Take all of us with you," Taquana replied.

????"Let's go. Lock this place down," I yelled to all six of the Hudson News employees (knowing it would not/could not happen).

????As I walked across the hallway, I looked back at the excitement that I stirred up and got in line to place my order for a two-piece dinner--a wing and a breast.

????All of a sudden, my conscience popped up on my right shoulder: "What the ???" she said to me. "All your working life, you tell people to 'celebrate the little things that people do to try and make a difference.' Taquana, probably in her first retail gig, went out of her way to sell you brownie brittle, and you not only stiffed her, you teased her as well."

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