Lessons From The Ground Up

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

The dynamics, politics, and richness of knowledge production in social movements and social activist contexts are often overlooked. This book contends that some of the most radical critiques and understandings about dominant ideologies and power structures, and visions of social change, have emerged from those spaces.

When Jeanne Nolan, a teenager in search of a less materialistic, more authentic existence, left Chicago in 1987 to join a communal farm, she had no idea that her decades-long journey would lead her to the heart of a movement that is currently changing our nation's relationship to food. Now a leader in the sustainable food movement, Nolan shares her story in From the Ground Up, helping us understand the benefits of organic gardening-- or the environment, our health, our wallets, our families, and our communities.

Amy Stewart had a simple dream. She yearned for a garden filled with colorful jumbles of vegetables and flowers. After she and her husband finished graduate school, they pulled up their Texas roots and headed west to Santa Cruz, California. With little money in their pockets, they rented a modest seaside bungalow with a small backyard. It wasn't much--a twelve-hundred-square-foot patch of land with a couple of fruit trees, and a lot of dirt. A good place to start. From the Ground Up is Stewart's quirky, humorous chronicle of the blossoms and weeds in her first garden and the lessons she's learned the hard way. From planting seeds her great-grandmother sends to battling snails, gophers, and aphids, Stewart takes us on a tour of four seasons in her coastal garden. Confessing her sins and delighting in small triumphs, she dishes the dirt for both the novice and the experienced gardener. Along the way, she brings her quintessential California beach town to life--complete with harbor seals, monarch butterfly migrations, and an old-fashioned seaside amusement park just down the street. Each chapter includes helpful tips alongside the engaging story of a young woman's determination to create a garden in which the plants struggle to live up to the gardener's vision.

Take your career to the next level, realize your greatest dreams, and embrace your God-given talents with this practical game plan for your professional and personal life. Too often we remain in jobs that stifle our souls and leave us on the runway of opportunity with the engine of our deepest passion stalled, watching others make their personal vision a reality and build a legacy for their children. But it's never too late to get your dreams off the ground -- God sees great things in your future! If you long to amplify your unique abilities, if you strive to balance personal fulfillment and professional satisfaction, if you dream of fulfilling God's destiny for you, then you are ready to Soar! In Soar! T.D. Jakes reveals how to transform your own unique vision into a powerful contribution to the world. Blending a CEO's practical business acumen with a life coach's dynamic inspiration, Soar! will stir your imagination into action, challenge you to embrace your God-given purpose, and align your character and creativity with your career. Bridging both the corporate and nonprofit worlds, Soar! is a practical and easy-to-follow flight plan for launching the entrepreneurial drive inside of you. You'll learn how to adopt the mindset of people who don't wait to see what will happen but strategically build the wings that will take them to new heights. So buckle your seat belt and prepare for liftoff -- you have been cleared to fly beyond your fears, to absolutely soar!

This report makes the case for policies and programmes that promote local-level natural resource management in Africa. Synthesizing various analyses of community resource management, the authors identify key determinants to successful local self-help initiatives.

Modern industrial agriculture is in crisis. The dream of global abundance promised by chemical and biological technology is becoming a nightmare of health risks, degraded land and ailing communities. There is mounting public distrust of conventional agricultural practices. From the Ground Up explores the fundamental principles which underlie the growth- at-any-cost thinking of modern society and highlights some of the most promising alternative ways of producing environmentally healthy food.

Focuses on mastering the fundmentals of the grip, stance, footwork, rotation, alignment, and ball position. Also addresses the cause of the slice and how to cure it. Includes drills and exercises.