The lost art of authenticity

If you had to choose between an 18 hour drive and a 3 hour flight to reach the same destination what would you choose? That’s the decision that the newly-announced boss of Starbucks, Brian Niccol, has come under fire for.

He commuted almost 1,000 miles (1,600km) from his family home in Newport Beach, California to the firm's headquarters in Seattle on a corporate jet.

Initially, I struggled to see what was particularly newsworthy about Niccol’s actions. Who wouldn’t pick the shorter commute given the choice? However, I began to appreciate that the issue people have is with the perceived discrepancy between the company's public stance on green issues and the lifestyles of its top executives.