My guest today is not a beer manufacturer. He doesn’t distribute beer and likely hasn’t ever carried a half barrel keg up a flight of stairs. He does drink it but that’s not why I’ve asked him to sit down with us today.

See, I’ve always felt that if lessons are principles then they have to be universal. And they’re only universal if they can be applied across multiple disciplines and industries. If the 10 mistakes I wrote about in my book are worth the paper they are printed on, then I would be able to discuss them with someone far from beer and still have it make sense. I’ve also always believed that you can learn valuable insights by seeing how owners in other industries tackle their challenges.

So I asked Josh Cunningham if he’d sit down with us and talk about how my mistakes applied to his career. He is a detail-driven coffee guy who until last year was also a coffee shop owner.

Josh got interested in coffee through everyone’s favorite gateway drug, weed. If you’ve ever been to a coffee shop in Amsterdam, that wouldn’t sound weird at all.

Josh started working in coffee as a kid and actually got some artisanal training. But it was really just a job and he never quite appreciated the art of the thing until he got a job in college.

At fucking Starbucks of all places…….