Starbucks' new CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, has picked up a new skill. He can be seen making coffee and studying to become a barista. As part of his company orientation, he is learning how to make coffee at a Starbucks and working toward certification as a barista. A financial consultant named Jordan Merlino thanked the Starbucks CEO for serving handmade Irish cream cold brew, writing, "Personally, I am a big fan of the PSL, but the Irish cream cold brew handmade by Laxman Narasimhan was pretty great." Meeting a CEO I admire was a fantastic experience. Thank you for taking 2 minutes out of your day to pose with me for a photo."
Narasimhan responded to the same post by thanking the user for visiting the Starbucks location. "Thank you for coming into the Starbucks store where I was training on our holiday beverages," he wrote. They should be available in US stores later this week. I'm still working on getting my barista certification, and I'm glad you enjoyed the beverage I made. Thank you again, and we hope to see you again during the holiday season."
Narasimhan joins an expanding list of Indian-born executives at multinational corporations such as Google, Microsoft, and IBM. Indeed, he left Reckitt Benckiser (where he had previously served as CEO) following a successful turnaround. Narasimhan previously worked for PepsiCo and McKinsey. He received the majority of his education in Pune, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering. He then went on to earn an MBA from The Wharton School in the United States before joining McKinsey & Company, where he worked for nineteen years.
