BusinessWeek (4.21.08) featured a great writeup on the philosophies of Howard Schulz, who is leading the revival of the Starbucks brand across the globe. In the article, Schultz made a great comment that I wanted to share because it is has applications for all organizations aspiring to offer exceptional customer service for their fans:

"The job of every retailer and every merchant is to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and ask yourself: Are you exceeding their expectations? That's what you have to do as a business." - Howard Schultz, Starbucks