The Starbucks Experience

1. Make It Your Own - Starbucks goes to great lengths to educate their employees on their products. They also allow their employees (or "partners" as their called) to do whatever it takes to ensure a positive experience by the customer of the company. Each employee is encouraged to take action as if the company were his own.
2. Everything Matters - Starbucks employees are trained to pay attention to the smallest details. Within this principle the author makes a distinction between "above deck" and "below deck" activities. The "below-deck" activities are those which the customer does not see. Great care is taken at Starbucks to pay attention to the "below-deck" activities. 
3. Surprise and Delight - Cote actually addressed this principle fairly well in a recent posting where he talks about how companies can "unexpectedly delight him" by doing things he wouldn't expect but are useful to him, the customer.
4. Embrace Resistance - This principle is all about accepting feedback, both positive and negative - and using the negative feedback to feed into the business to find lessons to improve. The company finds all feedback important. 
5. Leave Your Mark - The final Starbucks principle is built around being involved and contributing to the communities in which it resides. Starbucks has a strong commitment to contributing to the community around them.