Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz returned as CEO of Starbucks in 2008, after serving as Chairman for eight years. His return was precipitated by financial declines and a belief that the company had moved too far from its core values. This book describes Schultz's decision to return as CEO and Starbucks' subsequent transformation efforts. In telling Starbucks' story, Schultz addresses many common management problems. He discusses the challenges that growing organizations face in maintaining a focus on core show more values and purpose. He reiterates Starbucks' commitment to their partners (as Starbucks calls its employees), but admits difficulties in keeping them engaged throughout the transformational efforts. We see Schultz balancing his ongoing passion for Starbucks' core business while recognizing the need for change.

One of Schultz's lessons is that organizations must tell their own story, not let others tell the story for them. It's clear that this book is part of Schultz's effort to tell Starbucks' story. While Schultz is relatively open about the parts of the transformation agenda that did not work as planned, he puts a relatively positive spin on the events. Despite this one-sided perspective, Schultz tells a story that interested both the coffee aficionado and the management professor in me. show less

Howard D. Schultz served as the chairman and CEO of the Starbucks Corporation from 1986 to 2000, and then again from 2008 to 2017. USA TODAY has called him “the Bill Gates of Coffee.” This book was written in 1997, just a few years before he first stepped down from the active role of CEO of Starbucks and became its Chairman.

Schultz comes from humble origins and is a self-made billionaire courtesy his stint with Starbucks. He wasn't the creator of the coffee megabrand but took it over and show more expanded it to the worldwide scale it runs on today. The book does make you wonder where Starbucks would have been if he hadn't envisaged bigger dreams for a company he wasn't even part of.

Schultz is a marketer at his core, and hence he speaks like a marketer. He has a little bit of pomposity and comes off as very self-congratulatory. Nevertheless, the book makes for interesting reading, though it isn't the best in its genre. The level of thinking and effort that has gone into building the Starbucks brand is commendable. "Pour Your Heart Into It" reflects his beliefs about keeping the product and consumers first in mind rather than focusing on the bottomline alone.

Of course, the fact that this was written in 1997 makes the book quite incomplete. It doesn't have the information about Schultz's second term as Starbucks CEO after it lost a great deal of its brand name and stock value around the 2008 financial crisis. His second term was marked by some very controversial decisions, which may be covered in his second book, "Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul", published in 2011. I've no plans to read this sequel because it will probably be even more self-aggrandizing.

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I liked this account of the rise, stumble, and re-rise of Starbucks. Schultz is passionate, and he honestly cares about all aspects of how Starbucks effects all that it touches.

But this book bothered me and I had a hard time finishing it. I just had to plow through. Schultz is very passionate and caring, but from this book, I got the impression that he is more than a little in love with himself.

As a small business owner...
I found his approach to business interesting. I found his approach show more both inspiring and disagreeable all at the same time.

Inspiring: He really truly cares about his employees. Health care for all? Awesome. Just... awesome. Yeah, they had to downsize at one point in time, but he did not give up that position... health care for all employees. Just. Wow.

Inspiring: He cares about the growers... though it was a bit murky about how far he goes with this. They are involved with Coffee and Farmer Equity practices, which are good. Regardless, they are doing more than anyone else their size.

Disagreeable: If you are not nearly 100% as passionate about his business as Schultz is... He doesn't get it. Schultz loves what he does and it is his life. From the book, I get the impression that he expects that of everyone from manager on up.

Disagreeable: Growth Growth Growth. He is so focused on growth and then wonders why the nature of the business has changed. He often repeats that he wants to mimic the personal nature of an Italian coffee shop. If that is the case, he wouldn't have gone public and spurred growth to 10s of 1000s of shops.

Anyway... it is a good read until it becomes a tiresome read. It is worth reading just to get in the brain of a successful businessman who is also civic-minded. show less

OK, this was fun to read. It DID make me want to rush out to Starbucks and order a latte, but I suppose that was part of the point of writing the book. Howard Schultz describes coming back as ceo at Starbucks in 2008 when the company was in serious financial trouble. He talks about the spirit of his company -- integrating socially responsible business practices with a superior product line. What happens when the economy tanks and your business begins to look shaky? Do you abandon your show more principles to save your business? Howard Schultz says his business and his principles are inseparable and proves it by bringing Starbucks back from disaster. He did have to close stores and lay off people, but those employees who stayed with Starbucks kept their health insurance and the coffee growers kept the support that Starbucks is famous for. Not a brilliant book, but inspiring to learn how he fought for his company and his principles. Other reviewers have complained that the book is very repetitive and that is true, but I still enjoyed the first 70% of it. show less