Former Starbucks President Howard Behar’s new book is a parable for business leaders

Howard Behar, renown business leader, philanthropist, mentor and author, is out with his second book, “The Magic Cup: A Business Parable about a Leader, a Team and the Power of Putting People and Values First.” It will be available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble March 29.

He describes it as a children’s book for adult business leaders.

Behar, the former president of Starbucks Coffee Company North America and Starbucks Coffee International for more than two decades, calls this book his life’s work.

“I want to change how we lead,” he says. “How we lead ourselves first. How we figure out our values and live them, and how that turns into a healthy organization that cares about and helps people, an organization that is also profitable and achieves its goals.”

The inspirational book is written as a modern-day fable.

“The events it relates may be make-believe,” he says, “but the story it conveys is real. I’ve lived it.”

The story’s protagonist is named Steadfast, the CEO at Verity Glassworks. The psycho villain is Hoggit, one of many names with meaning, like the female leader Nora Northstar, Crystal Modello and Joe, the window washer who makes the world clearer every time he does his work.

It’s a page turner that lays out 11 values he says are vital to a successful business: responsibility, curiosity, cooperation, trust, truth, hope, forgiveness, focus, stewardship, courage and connection – all attributes to put in the magic cup.

“These are all linked,” he says. “Life is one big circle, and all these things matter as a whole.”

“I want people to question how they are living their lives and think about what goes into their proverbial cup. Is it growing in size, or is the cup shrinking because of greed and self interest?” he says. “Look at guys like Kerry Killinger (Killinger was head of Washington Mutual at the time it became the largest bank failure in history). Do you think he’s happy now? Were his values in the right place? Whose cup was he filling?”

Behar came up with the magic cup idea and concept four years ago. The cup knows what is being put into it.

“It fills and overflows with good, but it shrinks and shrivels when we put greed and blind ambition in. What you put into life, you get out of it, especially in the business world,”says Behar.

He says that success comes when we believe in something bigger than ourselves.

Some of the leaders he admires most are Costco co-founders Jeff Brotman and Jim Sinegal.

“They made money, and they had courage and stewardship,” he says, “and were thinking about long term and doing things right.”

Among others he points to as great leaders are former Ford Chief Alan Mulally, Kip Tindell, chairman and CEO of The Container Store; United States Secretary of Labor Tom Perez; former Starbucks COO Troy Alstead– “an incredible human being.”

And Behar brings politics into the values mix.

“This election should be based on a values decision. Policy follows values. Values don’t follow policy,” he says. “If you can look at your candidate and say that this person has values I want my kids to follow or my company to emulate, that’s your person.”