One to One with Bill Goodman:
Michael Gates Gill
premiered April 13, 2008
On location at a Starbucks in Lexington, Bill Goodman sits down for a cup of coffee with author Michael Gates Gill on this edition of One to One to discuss Gill’s book How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns To Live Like Everyone Else.
The son of a wealthy family, Gill graduated from Yale and was enjoying a successful career when he lost it all at the age of 60. He was downsized from his job as a top New York ad executive, saw his marriage disintegrate, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. At 63, desperate for work and without health insurance, he found a renewed sense of purpose where he least expected it—behind the counter as a rookie barista at Starbucks.
Gill discusses his path to Starbucks and the life lessons he learned there, including the value of respect for oneself and others and of living to fulfill his own happiness instead of others’ expectations. He also talks about the upcoming movie based on How Starbucks Saved My Life, which will star Tom Hanks. And he reveals his connection to Kentucky: a memorable meeting with the Commonwealth’s hardest-hitting poet, Muhammad Ali.
