There’s an interesting leadership lesson unfolding at Starbucks that has very little to do with coffee.

When Brian Niccol took over as CEO, he inherited a company that had drifted from some of what made Starbucks distinctive. Service had become inconsistent. Stores felt less inviting. Employees needed more support. And customers had fewer reasons to stick around.

Niccol’s answer wasn’t some complicated management strategy. It was getting back to what made Starbucks Starbucks.

Two years into his “Back to Starbucks” strategy, Niccol says the company has focused on making coffeehouses warmer, service more consistent, operations simpler, and frontline employees—whom Starbucks calls partners—better supported.

There are signs the approach is working. Starbucks has reported four consecutive quarters of positive global comparable-store sales growth, including strong gains in U.S. sales and transactions.

Being that I write on leadership, I believe the bigger lesson isn’t found in the numbers. It’s in how Starbucks got there.

When companies struggle, leaders often add more initiatives and strategies. Niccol went the other direction. His early assessment was that Starbucks had “drifted from our core.” The turnaround centered on a few fundamentals: better coffee, faster service, more welcoming stores, and a stronger experience for employees and customers.

That sounds obvious. But obvious things are often the first things organizations stop doing well. I’ve seen this happen with leadership teams. When performance drops, managers assume they need another system or program. Sometimes what they really need is to return to basic leadership behaviors.

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