Professors at the Boston College Carroll School of Management have offered up insightful quotations in interviews with a number of high-profile media outlets, as well as in articles of their own. A quip from Professor Ran Duchin even ended up as The New York Times鈥檚 featured quote for the day.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e buying a narrative. You鈥檙e not just buying the coffee.鈥�
鈥� Ran Duchin, New York Times Quotation of the Day, August 22
Duchin, the Coughlin Family Professor in the Seidner Department of Finance, was by the Times about Starbucks鈥檚 hiring of Brian Niccol as its top executive. Niccol lives in Southern California and will commute to Starbucks鈥檚 Seattle headquarters aboard the corporate jet. Duchin, who鈥檚 studied remote CEOs, said Niccol鈥檚 carbon-intensive commute 鈥渋s an implicit stand on issues like sustainability.鈥� And Starbucks does hold itself out as a sustainability leader, offering evidence on its website of its environmental bona fides. Hence Duchin鈥檚 quote about people buying the narrative (of sustainability), not just the cold brew or the apple crisp oat milk macchiato.
But bad optics may end up being the least of the coffee chain鈥檚 problems. Duchin鈥檚 shows that many remote CEOs don鈥檛 work out鈥攖heir companies underperform on a number of measures鈥攁nd many firms that try them end up returning to a local leader. In a follow-up interview, Duchin added that Starbucks, with caf茅s on six continents, could be an exception, since its CEO likely spends much of his time traveling. He said too that companies aren鈥檛 being irrational by betting on an itinerant boss. They鈥檙e taking a risk to snag a better-qualified CEO than they might鈥檝e otherwise hired. Niccol, for example, previously ran Chipotle and Taco Bell.