Running head: CORE ASSIGNMENT 3 1

Core Assignment 3

Vida Fisher

Arizona State University

OGL 375

September 25, 2021

Purpose Statement

One thing I have learned about myself over the years, more specifically in the last year was that I

am passionate about uncovering the greatness of other people, in this case, my partners at

Starbucks. Every day after I get off the floor, I schedule a time to sit with my partners. I leave

this timeslot every day and has become a routine for me. One of the things I learned about

myself was that I look forward to these conversations. The stories that were shared, the emotions

that were felt, and the truths that were revealed, have helped me realize what my purpose was. I,

Vida Fisher, cherish those intimate, honest, and invigorating moments with people. This purpose

truly came to light after reading Onward, by Howard Schultz. Starbucks is in the people business

serving coffee. As a partner, I have always felt that Starbucks is more than just a job. Starbucks

has helped me realized that helping people discover their passion, amplify their strengths, and

support their growth was my true calling, my personal purpose.

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Guiding Values

1. Compassion- I started as a barista in 1999. I learned a lot about my role through making

mistakes. There were many times I went into work without speaking one word to anyone

except to the customers. One day, a co-worker came to work looking very sad and

seemed to have been crying for a while. Her eyes were swollen, and her face was red. I

approached her with a nod, she nodded back, and immediately, I gave her a hug. From

that day on, I learned that showing someone that you care could be as simple as a hello

greeting or a hug. That moment changed my life because I realized that it was fine to care

for someone at work. 

2. Kindness- I have always thought that being motherly and nurturing to my partners was

because of my own children. I realized that I was not motherly to them, but I was just

showing kindness to my younger partners. As I got to know my partners, I discovered

that they were also just learning about themselves. My role as a store manager did not

stop at teaching and training my team. My absolute responsibility was to ensure that my

team would feel safe, welcomed, and included in our store. Starbucks taught me that.

3. Motivation- I think about how relentless I am in my pursuit to help my team grow in their

roles at Starbucks and in their lives outside of Starbucks. As I hear their personal story

and the struggles they deal with daily, I am motivated to learn more about being

courageous, understanding and empathic to their needs and struggles. I went back to

school through ASU to learn more about my role as a store manager. Yet one of my
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biggest awakening moments was that leadership starts with me and it can only be

effective once I understand that it is me that will define leadership for me.

4. Integrity- The roles and responsibilities of a store manager are challenging, and arduous.

It requires planning, organizing, and executing the plans and strategies I have created for

my partners and my store. There were moments that I felt I needed to take shortcuts to get

the work done quickly but I couldn’t do it. I have always believed in doing the right thing

even if it’s difficult, unpopular, and time-consuming. My radical candor is not well-

received by some but those who understand my candor like my partners, they appreciate

it because they know that I will be honest and will say things that might not be what they

want to hear but it will be the truth. 

5. Commitment- One of the things I value about myself is my commitment to helping others

succeed. I am dedicated to developing my team and other leaders at Starbucks. I also

know that being in ASU, learning something new every day, helps me understand and be

more involved with my team. My commitment to my job, to my family, and to my

personal growth has allowed me to achieve success in meeting my metrics at work,

dedicated more time with family, as well as immersing myself in learning more every day

through ASU. 

Big Moves

1. Commitment to giving back to my community.

2. Create an environment that is inclusive, and welcoming to my partners and my family

3. Be relentless in my pursuit to learn more about helping others.

4. Spend quality time with my family.

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5. Travel abroad to learn more about the world.

My Big Moves’ list came together at the beginning of 2021. Before the pandemic, I thought my

Big Moves’ list was finalized but then the pandemic hit, and my life changed. I saw how lives

were affected because of the pandemic and that change for me was truly eye-opening. Life is

short and these big moves’ list will give me an opportunity to seek, grow, and accomplish things

I never thought would be possible.

Long Term Strategy

Commitment to giving back to my community-

I was a regular volunteer at a local food pantry, Lunches of Love, in my county for four years. I

visited the food pantry every Wednesday to bag lunch for the children in our community. The

food pantry’s mission was to end hunger in our county and their mission has changed the lives of

many children. I brought Starbucks partners with me to volunteer as well. During Global Month

of Service at Starbucks, we hosted events at the food pantry and collected food donations from

our Starbucks stores. But this all stopped in March of 2020. The pandemic hit and the food

pantry closed. They reopened in the summer of 2020 with only a handful of volunteers. This had

made it impossible for me to volunteer there and I just didn’t know how to start again. But

another door opened for me. There are many ways to help the community without being present

in their facility. I learned that with this food pantry, Lunches of Love, they need decorated paper

bags to sack the lunches. The bags will have beautiful, colorful, and meaningful drawings and

messages created by volunteers. They use over 1000 bags a day. My goal is to collect the paper
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bags through Starbucks and will seek volunteers from our district and customers who are willing

to spend some time decorating these paper bags. These bags will be the first thing the child sees

when they open their sack. I will have set times and days where customers and partners can come

to my store to decorate. We will have designated stations for drawing and writing messages.

Create an environment that is inclusive and welcoming to my partners and my family- 

Starbucks has helped me truly understand why inclusion, diversity, and equity are important in

the workplace. My big move is to be able to create this environment at home, too. My two

children are twenty and twelve years old, and I am realizing that they are still finding their

identity. One of the things I will do is to learn more about inclusion, more particularly. As I

watch my children grow, and my partners evolve, there is much to be learned about being

inclusive. One way to learn more about inclusion is to participate in open dialogue about

different cultures and backgrounds. I will join networks at Starbucks that I am unfamiliar with

like the Disability Network and the Refugee Alliance Network. As an Asian-American female in

America, I have a huge responsibility to my community to learn and understand the stories and

struggles of others.

Be relentless in my pursuit to learn more about helping others.

I want to continue to learn about helping my partners, my family members, and friends who are

struggling. Every day, I hear stories from my partners about their struggles with mental health

and that they lack help from their homes because mental health was not taken seriously. Mental

health is a serious issue that I know I need to learn to better understand my partners and the

people in my life. My goal is to read books that are positive and encouraging like Brene Brown’s
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Daring Greatly or the Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. These books taught me a lot about myself and

the importance of taking chances, dreaming big, and pursue those dreams. My strategy is in

helping others is to do the same. I want to read more books about helping others, listen to a

podcast about leadership, courage, and mental health. I will spend more time listening to my

team, my own children, and my family. I will help them seek answers that they couldn’t find on

their own. My goal is to keep learning so I can continue to help others.

Spend quality time with my family.

I have been working nonstop since I was fifteen years old. For the past twenty-two years, I have

worked full-time at Starbucks. I was always busy with work. This past year and a half, I have

also been going to school full time. I am married with two kids, and I know that I don’t spend

enough time with them. My daughter, Larkyne, is growing so fast and I barely recognize the

young lady that she is becoming. My son, Julian, at twenty years old, also working at Starbucks,

is learning how to be a mature and responsible adult. My goal is to spend quality time with them.

I want to take my daughter out to do what she wants to do, whatever it is. I want to get to know

the things that she likes and loves. With my son, I want to go out on dates with him as we used to

when he was younger. My goal is to get to know my son as an adult and learn about the kind of

man he has become. Lastly, I want to spend quality time with my husband. After being married

for many years, it has felt like I have taken our time together for granted. I want to spend

evenings with him while enjoying a glass of wine without television or using our mobile devices.

I want to learn about the things he enjoys doing like woodwork and riding motorcycles. I want to

spend the next few years getting to know my family all over again.
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Travel abroad to learn more about the world.

I have always loved traveling. I have enjoyed learning about other cultures and traditions. I loved

meeting new people. This time, I want to travel to Europe, South America, Asia, and the United

States. As I learn more about my partners and their story, I want to learn about people I don’t

know anything about. I want to meet people who have little in common with my Asian roots. My

goal is to plan my travels a year in advance so I can start saving my money for it. I’ll create

travel finance goals to pay for my trips. More importantly, my goal is to just immerse myself in

my travels. I am planning on not planning on what to do when I get there. I want to be able to

explore it through meeting the local people, reading about their traditions and culture, and eating

their local cuisine. I have always been fascinated by trying different cuisines and my goal is to

get to know other people through their foods.

The 1-2 Year Plan

In the next year or two, I will focus my plans and goals on spending quality time with my family,

and in pursuit of helping others. The reason why I chose these two was that they are the most

important parts of my life, my family, and the people in my life such as my partners at Starbucks.

Spending Quality time with my family-

Goal- To learn a few of my family’s interests such as riding motorcycles, anime books, and

professional boxing by reading about them and doing them.

Fall 2021-

1. To learn how to ride a motorcycle with husband

a. List safety measures in riding motorcycle prior to riding.

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b. Watch Youtube videos on women riding motorcycles.

c. Take a motorcycle safety course.

d. Buy motorcycle gear at my husband’s favorite gear store.

e. Learn the basics from my husband as he shows me how to ride a motorcycle

safely.

2. To know more about anime, Japanese comics.

a. Set time and place to talk anime.

b. Talk with my daughter about her favorite anime books.

c. Read her favorite book with her.

d. Share what we like about the book.

e. Plan for the next book reading.

3. To understand my son’s love for boxing.

a. Set time to watch my son’s favorite boxing fight.

b. Listen to my son’s feedback about the fight.

c. Share my feedback about the fight.

d. Ask questions about boxing.

e. Learn to understand the rules.

f. Learn about famous fighters, training, best fights, and weight classes.

Winter 2021-

1. Learn more about motorcycles

a. How to ride in the cold, wintry months in Texas

b. Understand differences between all kinds of motorcycles.

c. Motorcycle maintenance in the winter.

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d. Learn how to ride in a group.

2. Learn different anime drawing styles.

a. Browse different anime comic books in bookstores.

b. Attend an anime convention in Houston or a virtual convention.

c. What is cosplay and its relevance to anime?

3. Boxing genres

a. Learn about different boxing styles from favorite boxers.

b. Go to a boxing gym and learn basic boxing moves.

c. Watch my son box and cheer for him.

d. Schedule time to go to gym together maybe even spar together.

Spring 2022/Summer 2022-

1. Riding motorcycle with husband

a. Rent a motorcycle I can practice in.

b. Practice riding at areas with no traffic.

c. Join a motorcycle gang to meet friends.

d. Have fun.

2. Draw with my daughter

a. Learning how to draw basic anime characters

b. Use a sketch pad and pencil to draw.

c. Have my daughter teach me the basic drawing styles.

d. Display my work to recognize my daughter’s teaching skills.

e. Draw together.
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f. Have fun.

3. Boxing with my son.

a. Get boxing lessons for me and my son at the local boxing gym.

b. Get boxing gear for both of us.

c. Practice boxing at home with husband and daughter as audience.

d. Have fun.

Be relentless in my pursuit to learn more about helping others.

In Fall of 2021

1. My store partners- to spend an hour to an hour and a half having an open dialogue about

school, life, and anything they wish to share.

a. Partner development conversations- I will use this time seek information about what

partners want to develop in their roles.

b. Partner development conversations- This time will be spent creating a development

plan for the partners and will schedule future dates to follow up and recognize

accomplishments.

c. Unscheduled conversations- This time will be used for any partners who want to

address, and share any issues, or concerns they may have.

2. Myself- I will be spending time finding ways to learn how to help my team and other

partners at Starbucks

a. Through ASU- my key learnings from OGL classes will be shared with my team. For

example, sharing with my team about the Transformation Agenda that Howard
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Schultz and his team relentlessly pursued to bring back Starbucks to what it was

before 2007.

b. Read one leadership or motivational book a month. This book will inspire the types of

conversations I will have my team. For example, I will read, It Starts with Why by

Simon Sinek, this book mentioned Starbucks numerous times.

Winter of 2021

1. With my partners

a. I will revisit and follow up with my team about their partner development plans.

b. We will check and adjust or even change what was in their development plan based

on feedback.

2. With myself

a. Stress Management- This time of the year can be highly stressful at Starbucks and at

home due to increase in business as well as the stress of the holidays.

1. Meditation- continue to find ways to stay centered more specifically on

anticipated busy days.

2. Find time to take time off and recharge.

Spring/Summer of 2022

1. With my partners

a. Celebrate success in their development plans.

b. Revise the development based on learning from previous plan.

c. Update their personal and professional goals using their development plan as a guide.

2. With myself
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a. Graduate from ASU will help pursue other goals in my career. My goal is to always

seek ways to help others through my learnings at ASU.

b. Continue to involve my shift management team in my own learning. I will solicit

feedback from my team to further develop myself. Fostering an open and transparent

environment with my team will not only help build relationships but it will strengthen

it.