Authors: Howard Schultz

Pour Your Heart Into It (46 page)

BOOK: Pour Your Heart Into It

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But our plans go far beyond the numbers. The underlying foundation of this company is not about growth. It is about the passionate, soulful connection we have with our people, our customers, and our shareholders.

No matter now many avenues Starbucks pursues, and no matter how much we grow, our fundamental core values and purpose won’t change. I want Starbucks to be admired not only for
what
we have achieved but for
how
we achieved it. 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.

I’m convinced, more than ever, that we can both do well and do good. We can be extremely profitable and competitive, with a highly regarded brand, and also be respected for treating our people well. In the end, it’s not only possible to do both, but you can’t really do one without the other.

We have to lead with our hearts. 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. For me, it’s not profits, or sales, or number of stores, but the passion, commitment, and enthusiasm of a dedicated group of people. It’s not about money, it’s about pursuing a dream others think you can’t achieve and finding a way to give something back, to the employees, to the customers, to the community. I would hope that if you examine Starbucks, every time you focus on any part of the image, instead of a fracturing of values you get a close-up of the guiding principles of the company. As you look deeper, what you see is honest and authentic and respectful and dignified.

In their book
Built to Last
, authors James Collins and Jerry Porras talk of “Big Hairy Audacious Goals.” For Starbucks, our ambitious long-term goal is to become an enduring great company with the most recognized and respected brand in the world, known for inspiring and nurturing the human spirit.

The Starbucks of today falls short of these high aspirations. We make a lot of mistakes. No company can ever be a utopia. But if you don’t aim high, if you aim for only “good enough” or “above average,” that’s precisely what you’ll get. If you reach for excellence, you’ll inspire your team to work for a higher goal. When you encounter difficulties and shortcomings, you should deal with them in a way that is forthright and consistent with doing better in the future. Your people will be more forgiving if they understand the common mission you are working together to achieve.

The problems that Starbucks has faced in recent years—the flak we’ve gotten about our ubiquity, volatile coffee prices, disappointing Christmas sales, complaints and protests —haven’t blinded us to the larger picture, the long-term value we’ve created. No enterprise can be built, no dream achieved, without confronting challenges, surprises, disappointments along the way. The more heartfelt our commitment, the more these setbacks will hurt, but the more we’ll be capable of devising solutions that reflect our values.

Starbucks still fights hard to succeed, and we will face many hurdles in the future, some far more serious than any we’ve overcome to date. We can’t keep increasing our revenues and earnings at a rate of 50 percent a year indefinitely. All great companies have passed through bad years that forced soul-searching and rethinking of priorities. How we deal with them will be the litmus test. I hope we in management have learned enough from our small troubles to manage through the bigger ones to come.

I suspect that many of the extraordinary ideas that will shape Starbucks’ future will percolate up from within. By emphasizing a strong commitment to reinvention and self-renewal, by keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive, we’re doing all we can to foster an atmosphere that encourages innovation.

K
EEP
L
ISTENING FOR THE
M
USIC

The music of the Beatles resonates with me, as with many members of my generation, because it reminds me of people and places and times when I was growing up. So I was eager to watch the Beatles anthology special on TV and hear the Beatles themselves talk about the history of the band. In an interview during one of the programs, Paul McCartney said something that really hit home with me.

It was after they had drawn a crowd of “only” 50,000 at Shea Stadium, and they were getting fed up with touring. Their final tour ended at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29, 1966.

On the TV program, Paul, George, and Ringo were sitting around a table, recalling the reasons they had decided to quit touring. “We were getting worse and worse as a band while all those people were screaming,” Paul said. “It was lovely that they liked us, but we couldn’t hear to play.”

That one quote struck me as profoundly relevant. They could no longer hear the music. When that happened, they lost their meaning. They had to go back to the studio to find their sound again.

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.

I would be devastated if, twenty years from now, Starbucks achieved the penetration, the presence, and the recognition we aim for at the expense of our core values. If we lose our sensitivity and our responsibility, if we start thinking it’s acceptable to leave people behind on our climb to the top, I will feel we’ve somehow failed.

No matter how much clamor surrounds us, we have to make sure we can still hear the music. As one of my favorite authors, Noah benShea, wrote in
Jacob the Baker
, “It is the silence in between the notes that makes the music.” Sometimes we have to stop and listen for it.

Some newer partners at Starbucks hear us talk about the numbers and don’t yet appreciate the foundation of values and principles that mean so much to those of us who built the company. For them and for our customers, we need to make it human and personal. We need to speak with our own voice and show our personality, so others don’t misjudge us based on lack of knowledge.

We need to make Starbucks into a global enterprise while maintaining the culture, the heart, and the soul of a small company in Seattle, Washington.

W
HAT
’
S
H
OPE
G
OT TO
D
O WITH
I
T
?

My kind of unfettered idealism is, I realize, out of sync with the cynicism of the 1990s. Skepticism has come to be synonymous with sophistication, and glibness is mistaken for intelligence. The pundits regard idealists as either naive or calculating. And 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.

In such an atmosphere, why bother aiming high?

Far too many people don’t. So mediocrity is far too common in America and throughout the world. As we approach the end of the millennium, we find ourselves confronting an ever deepening fracturing of values.

Over the last few years, as my two children have been growing up, I’ve tried to guide them and make sure they mature into responsible and caring adults. I want to pass on to them the values that I’ve found meaningful in my life.

One night we rented the movie
Forrest Gump
and watched it as a family. My kids loved it, and for a week they kept quoting the line, “Life is like a box of chocolates.” I began to think about why that film, which wasn't especially profound, produced such a powerful, emotional effect on so many people. Its hero was a man who, though obviously slow, proved to have more insight than anyone else because he hadn't let the world's negative values muddle his understanding of what really matters about life.

A few weeks later, I took my son to see
Hoop Dreams.
That film had a similar effect on him, for he shares my love for basketball. Here was a lengthy documentary set in the inner city, center of despair, yet its subjects were relentlessly shooting hoops in an effort to beat the odds.

What struck me about both movies was that they inspired strong feelings of hope. We're all so hungry for a hero, for a story that rings true, that everyone can relate to. We're all eager for something upbeat, something honest, something authentic.

That heartfelt need again became apparent a few weeks later, when Cal Ripken broke the all-time record for number of baseball games played. As my son and I watched Ripken deliver his speech on television, my eyes misted. Standing near him, in his shadow, was a teary-eyed Joe DiMaggio, hero of all heroes for the last fifty years, a guy who had actually played with Lou Gehrig. Then Cal Ripken says, "I can't even say my name in the same breath as Lou Gehrig." You could see Ripken's mother and father and his wife and his kids, ordinary people, caught in an inspiring moment.

Why were so many fans so invested in Cal Ripken's success? It was not simply about cheering him on for breaking the record, but a genuine response to his humbleness. Day in and day out, as he said, all he's done is his job, but he's done it selflessly and better than anyone else. In an era when half a season of baseball can be canceled because of a strike over money, our hearts go out to a player who just gets out and plays ball, again and again, and ends up breaking an all-time record.

In the ethical vacuum of this era, people long to be inspired. Even if it's just a movie, or a TV program, or a great cup of coffee, they want a break from the negative noise that inundates us all. When you step into a theater or pick up a good novel, you just need some time out.

When five million people a week seek out a Starbucks store and wait in line for an espresso drink, when customers return several times each week, they’re not just coming for the coffee. They’re coming for the feeling they get when they’re there. And that feeling is directly related to the fact that we refuse to do things the way others do. We won’t give up hope that there’s a better way.

W
HEN
Y
OU
G
ET TO THE
F
INISH
L
INE
,

B
E
S
URROUNDED BY
W
INNERS

As a kid in Brooklyn, I was afraid to look into the crystal ball. After half a lifetime, I have come to realize that we all have it in our power to shape the image we see in that ball. If we envision it, plan it, are smart about acting on it, we can will amazing feats to happen. But we need to make sure it’s a vision worth bringing to life. If it has a noble purpose, the rewards are far greater.

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.

Business can teach us a lot about what people can achieve when they work together. One person can do only so much. But if he gathers a company of people around him who are committed to the same goals, if he galvanizes them and inspires them and taps into their inner drive, they can perform miracles together.

It takes courage. A lot of people will try to tell you it’s impractical or impossible. They’ll tell you to lower your sights. They’ll tell you business can’t be benevolent.

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.

Index

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