Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul

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 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 show more 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 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 show more 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

I'm not really sure why I decided to read this book. I mean, I drink Starbucks coffee (who doesn't?) but I've never been particularly interested in business or the theory behind it. Which probably means that I'm not ideally placed to review it. However, for what it's worth, I started off fascinated and quickly descended into boredom.

To qualify - I really did find it interesting to learn about the small origins of the world's biggest coffee company, and to find out about the combination of good luck and good management that lead to its growth. I also really felt Schultz's personal connection to all his stores and staff - he writes about them as parents would write about their children - and I, against my instincts, warmed to him over show more the course of the book. However, the book quickly became repetitive (I mean, how much is there really to say about a chain of coffee shops?) and as Schultz repeated his business mantras over and over again, I became rather turned off. show less

First, I need to own that this book is not a natural fit for me. I don't drink coffee, and I rarely go into Starbucks. Nevertheless, it was a very interesting listen. Fundamentally it is about the creation of, and then recreation of the Starbucks brand. It is a a fundamental primer on the culture of Starbucks. about a culture that is notable for it's humanity (at least according to the founder)

Schultz is also a sensitive observer of culture and the role of the merchant and the role of intangibles in a brand. Observations on the role of the specialty merchant. Since I don't often read the business literature, I found this very interesting. The psychology of a "founder," as he tells the story of his reaction when Starbucks added show more breakfast sandwiches to the menu, and his intuitive response that this was a bad idea. A whole catalog of what he feels was going wrong. Some definite views on why successful companies eventually fail. The mechanics of the transition as he made the decision to take back the CEO spot.

Navigating the economic downturn. "Stick to the core." "Get down and the mud and get very very dirty." A defense of the tough choices that were made.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, particularly for those who are interested in the psychology of thriving as a merchant in this economy. In some ways it has encouraged me to look at my own career, and think about approaching it as an entrepreneur. show less

I was really excited to read this book when LibraryThing sent it to me on a ten disc CD which was listened to between business trips and an apartment location in Chicago. Howard Schultz's passion and vision is evident and his direction is Onward considering the very difficult period in our economic history that he faced. Finishing this book, my thought was that I could have listened to the final disc and reached the same conclusion. Onward is self indulgent with the readers time. I really wanted to come away moved but became impatient with name dropping and other indulgences. I still admire his vision, ethics, and environmental choices. It takes a tremendous ego to build an empire but it requires heart to take it Onward..

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 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 show more 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

This book was an excellent insight into the inner workings of Starbucks as a corporation. It was also an intimate look at how and why Howard Schultz made the decisions he did. Many management books and books by CEOs are pretty darn boring, but Schultz managed to keep this interesting. There are some great insights into leadership during change and some excellent stuff on how to determine what your customers want. Schultz has definitely drunk the Kool-Aid and thinks Starbucks is the best thing to happen to beverages, but all in all, this book *increased* my respect for the company, and made me more likely to patronize them than I would have been otherwise.

NB... I hate ripping audiobooks from CD so that I can listen to them on my iPod.