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I tried to make the message I sent to them—and by extension, to the entire company—as unequivocal as possible: “I hired you because you’re smarter than I am. Now go and prove it.”
Thou shalt not stand idly by.
When you’re in a hole, quit digging! Think like a person of action; act like a person of thought.
Without romance and vision, a business has no soul, no spirit to motivate its people to achieve something great. But a successful company can’t sustain itself on exhilarating ideas alone. Many business visionaries have failed as leaders because they could not execute. Processes and systems, discipline and efficiency are needed to create a foundation before creative ideas can be implemented and entrepreneurial vision can be realized.
In business, the front room is what the world sees: in our case, the coffee, the stores, the style, the brand. But the back room is where we win.
The difference between great and average or lousy in any job is, mostly, having the imagination and zeal to re-create yourself daily.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S BIGGEST CHALLENGE: REINVENTING YOURSELF
I started off as a dreamer. That was the thirty-two-year-old who knocked on every investor’s door in Seattle looking for money to realize his business plan. Then I moved to entrepreneur, first founding Il Giornale and then taking over Starbucks and re-creating it as a fast-growth company. Then I had to become a professional manager, as the company grew larger and I needed to delegate more and more decisions. Today, my role is to be Starbucks’ leader, its visionary, cheerleader, and keeper of the flame.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’m now convinced that one of the greatest responsibilities of an entrepreneur is to imprint his or her values on the organization. It’s like raising children. You start with love and empathy, and if you’ve imprinted the right values on them, you can trust them to make reasonable decisions when they become teenagers and young adults. Sometimes they will disappoint you, and sometimes they will make mistakes. But if they have absorbed good values, they will have a center line to return to.
To stay vigorous, a company needs to provide a stimulating and challenging environment for all these types: the dreamer, the entrepreneur, the professional manager, and the leader.
Many entrepreneurs fall into a trap: They are so captivated by their own vision that when an employee comes up with an idea, especially one that doesn’t seem to fit the original vision, they are tempted to quash it.
To stay ahead, always have your next idea waiting in the wings.
It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
Great companies need both a visionary leader and a skilled executive: one for the top line, the other for the bottom line.
What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.
Our Frappuccino bottles evoke the milk bottles of yesteryear, but are decorated with a pattern of stars and swirls that promises an unexpected taste.
Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
There’s a metaphor Vincent Eades likes to use: “If you examine a butterfly according to the laws of aerodynamics, it shouldn’t be able to fly. But the butterfly doesn’t know that, so it flies.” At Starbucks, we likewise do things we don’t know we’re not supposed to be able to do.
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; . . . If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
One of the fundamental aspects of leadership, I realized more and more, is the ability to instill confidence in others when you yourself are feeling insecure.
I believe we can defy conventional wisdom by maintaining our passion, style, entrepreneurial drive, and personal connection even as we become a global company. It’s imperative that Starbucks people at all levels share in the success of the company, in terms of both pride and financial rewards. And if by our conduct and principles we could inspire individuals and leaders of other companies to aim higher, that would be cause for rejoicing.
In business, as in life, we each should have an internal compass that guides our decisions, an instinctive understanding of what matters most in this world.
At Starbucks—as in any business, in any life—there are so many hectic moments during the day when we are simply trying to do the job, trying to put out the fires, trying to solve any number of small problems, that we often lose sight of what it is we’re really here to do.
even if someone is doing right 90 percent of the time, the critics will inevitably focus on the other 10 percent. If a company sets high standards, it’s easier to judge it as wanting.
Success should not be measured in dollars: It’s about how you conduct the journey, and how big your heart is at the end of it.
Remember: You’ll be left with an empty feeling if you hit the finish line alone. When you run a race as a team, though, you’ll discover that much of the reward comes from hitting the tape together. You want to be surrounded not just by cheering onlookers but by a crowd of winners, celebrating as one. Victory is much more meaningful when it comes not just from the efforts of one person, but from the joint achievements of many. The euphoria is lasting when all participants lead with their hearts, winning not just for themselves but for one another. Success is sweetest when it’s shared.
