Howard Schultz Biography

After graduating, Schultz worked as a salesman for Xerox Corporation and was quickly promoted to a full sales representative. In 1979 he became a general manager for Swedish drip coffee maker manufacturer, Hammarplast, where he became responsible for their U.S. operations with a staff of twenty. In 1981, Schultz visited a client of Hammarplast, a fledgling coffee-bean shop called Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle, curious as to why it ordered so many plastic cone filters. He was impressed with the company's knowledge of coffee and kept in contact over the next year, expressing interest in working with them. A year later, he joined Starbucks as the Director of Marketing. On a buying trip to Milan, Italy, for Starbucks, Schultz noted that coffee bars existed on practically every street. He learned that they not only served excellent espresso, they also served as meeting places or public squares; the 200,000 cafés in the country were an important element of Italian culture and society. On his return, he tried to persuade the owners (including Jerry Baldwin) to offer traditional espresso beverages in addition to the whole bean coffee, leaf teas and spices they had long offered. After a successful pilot of the cafe concept, the owners refused to roll it out company-wide, saying they did not want to get into the restaurant business. Frustrated, Schultz decided to leave Starbucks in 1985. He needed $400,000 to open the first store and start the business. He simply did not have the money and his wife was pregnant with their first baby. Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker offered to help. Schultz also received $100,000 from a doctor who was impressed by Schultz's energy to "take a gamble." By 1986, he raised all the money he needed to open the first store, "Il Giornale," named after the Milanese newspaper of the same name. The store offered ice cream in addition to coffee, had little seating, and played opera music in the background to portray an Italian experience. Two years later, the original Starbucks management decided to focus on Peet's Coffee & Tea and sold its Starbucks retail unit to Schultz and Il Giornale for US$3.8 million. Schultz renamed Il Giornale with the Starbucks name, and aggressively expanded its reach across the United States. Schultz's keen insight in real estate and his hard-line focus on growth drove him to expand the company rapidly. Schultz did not believe in franchising, and made a point of having Starbucks retain ownership of every domestic outlet.

In Pour Your Heart Into It, former CEO and now chairman emeritus Howard Schultz illustrates the principles that have shaped the Starbucks phenomenon, sharing the wisdom he has gained from his quest to make great coffee part of the American experience. The success of Starbucks Coffee Company is one of the most amazing business stories in decades. What started as a single store on Seattle's waterfront has grown into the largest coffee chain on the planet. Just as remarkable as this incredible growth is the fact that Starbucks has managed to maintain its renowned commitment to product excellence and employee satisfaction. Marketers, managers, and aspiring entrepreneurs will discover how to turn passion into profit in this definitive chronicle of the company that "has changed everything... from our tastes to our language to the face of Main Street" (Fortune).

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, the CEO of Starbucks recounts the story and leadership lessons behind the global coffee company's comeback and continued success. In 2008, Howard Schultz decided to return as the CEO of Starbucks to help restore its financial health and bring the company back to its core values. In Onward, he shares this remarkable story, revealing how, during one of the most tumultuous economic periods in American history, Starbucks again achieved profitability and sustainability without sacrificing humanity. Offering you a snapshot of the recession that left no company unscathed, the book shows in riveting detail how one company struggled and recreated itself in the midst of it all. In addition, you’ll get an inside look into Schultz's central leadership philosophy: It's not about winning, it’s about the right way to win. Onward is a compelling, candid narrative documenting the maturing of a brand as well as a businessman. Ultimately, Schultz gives you a sense of hope that, no matter how tough times get, the future can be more successful than the past.

Poor and destitute, he grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the 1960s. His father sustained an injury at work and was laid off without health insurance. Getting by during his darkest days, he managed to get a basketball scholarship to Northern Michigan University. Driven to perform and harboring a talent for showmanship, he moved to Seattle and began selling coffee beans for Starbucks Coffee. It was not long after that he bought the company and the rest is history. This is the story of Howard Schultz. He transformed an entire industry. After his trip to Italy, he had a revelation, and following his vision made Starbucks part of the American culture where people went to do more than just have coffee. Now, people go there to meet friends, read a book in an ambient enviroment, get work done, or just relax. But behind the glitz and glamour, there is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. At one point, Howard Schultz had to sell his blood just to pay his university fees. Come meet the man who defied the odds and even went against the advice of "experts" to create an enviable coffee brand that we love and admire Here's a preview of what you'll discover in this book: Howard Schultz's early childhood, family life, and education From Brooklyn to Seattle, and experiencing a moment of epiphany His trip to Italy as formative to develop his business vision Leading with passion and the opportunity to buy the company Pioneering the development of a company as a corporate citizen Entering the unknown and expanding overseas Starbucks Coffee and the continuation of the modern-day zeitgeist Going strong and the next chapter in Schultz's life ..... And much more! Howard Schultz not only changed people's perception of thinking about coffee, but he also changed life for his employees for the better. Starbucks participates in ethical trade and does not exploit coffee growers and could be seen serving coffee to customers when he was CEO of the company. From developing coffee-ordering lingo to creating refreshing flavors to unifying the coffee experience, Schultz has created a unique and enduring legacy built on the foundation of love and respect for each other. This one-of-a-kind book will help you better understand the man behind the business and the cultural revolution that it spawned. So, scroll up and click the "Buy now with 1-click" button and find out more!

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the longtime CEO and chairman of Starbucks, a bold, dramatic work about the new responsibilities that leaders, businesses, and citizens share in American society today—as viewed through the intimate lens of one man’s life and work. What do we owe one another? How do we channel our drive, ingenuity, even our pain, into something more meaningful than individual success? And what is our duty in the places where we live, work, and play? These questions are at the heart of the American journey. They are also ones that Howard Schultz has grappled with personally since growing up in the Brooklyn housing projects and while building Starbucks from eleven stores into one of the world’s most iconic brands. In From the Ground Up, Schultz looks for answers in two interwoven narratives. One story shows how his conflicted boyhood—including experiences he has never before revealed—motivated Schultz to become the first in his family to graduate from college, then to build the kind of company his father, a working-class laborer, never had a chance to work for: a business that tries to balance profit and human dignity. A parallel story offers a behind-the-scenes look at Schultz’s unconventional efforts to challenge old notions about the role of business in society. From health insurance and free college tuition for part-time baristas to controversial initiatives about race and refugees, Schultz and his team tackled societal issues with the same creativity and rigor they applied to changing how the world consumes coffee. Throughout the book, Schultz introduces a cross-section of Americans transforming common struggles into shared successes. In these pages, lost youth find first jobs, aspiring college students overcome the yoke of debt, post-9/11 warriors replace lost limbs with indomitable spirit, former coal miners and opioid addicts pave fresh paths, entrepreneurs jump-start dreams, and better angels emerge from all corners of the country. From the Ground Up is part candid memoir, part uplifting blueprint of mutual responsibility, and part proof that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. At its heart, it’s an optimistic, inspiring account of what happens when we stand up, speak out, and come together for purposes bigger than ourselves. Here is a new vision of what can be when we try our best to lead lives through the lens of humanity. “Howard Schultz’s story is a clear reminder that success is not achieved through individual determination alone, but through partnership and community. Howard’s commitment to both have helped him build one of the world’s most recognized brands. It will be exciting to see what he accomplishes next.”—Bill Gates

A Starbucks executive reveals how to draw on the successful coffee-house chain's examples in order to promote business success, sharing inside stories about key turning points in Starbucks' history to illustrate how the company came to embrace its philosophy about putting people ahead of profits.

Praise for Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace "James Wallace offers many tales of . . . temper tantrums, antitrust tussles with the Justice Department, and general dirty tricks Microsoft has allegedly played on its competitors." -The New York Times Book Review Praise for James Wallace's Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire "A stupendous success story. This is the most informative book yet on Bill Gates and Microsoft." -the Washington Post "Remarkable . . . This book will make you wonder why you didn't buy Microsoft stock when it went public." -The Wall Street Journal "An engaging, almost classic tale of a boy who finds power in gadgets and then won't let go." -Los Angeles Times

Howard Schultz was born and raised in the Canarsie Housing Projects in Brooklyn, New York, the child of a fractured family--his father a bitter truck driver put out of work by an injury, his mother an optimist with dark secrets. Howard hid in the concrete stairwells at night, while his parents turned their apartment into a den of illegal activity, serving the local population of gambler and drinkers. By day he learned the hard lessons of the project playgrounds, as well as the consolations of a working-class community's spirit. He also learned what it meant to be on the wrong side of the American dream--and his own dream was to create a company that would take care of workers like his father, instead of discarding them, and bring people together instead of profiting from their isolation. But soon his ambitions grew even beyond that. This is the story of how Schultz did it, from the business trip to Milan as a young salesman that set him on fire with the idea of creating an American third place, to the struggles and reversals that marked the early, uncertain days of Starbucks, to Howard's encounters with baristas, managers, and customers around the country that transformed his sense of what Starbucks needed to become. He also tells the dramatic stories of a succession of major Starbucks initiatives that arose from this vision: the company's early, controversial expansion of benefits to same-sex couples; their push to create a fund to support small, local entrepreneurs during the depths of the recession; hiring programs for veterans and refugees; support for workers with undocumented relatives; initiatives around race and police violence; programs to raise starting wages, offer benefits to part-time employees, and provide free college to all staff. Throughout these compelling stories is a manifesto about the ethical obligations of powerful businesses in a time of radical inequality and dysfunctional government--and the responsibility we all have to prioritize our shared humanity over the destructive, mindless, and heartless incentives of capitalism.