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Pour Your Heart into It by Howard Schultz

by Parker · 141 things on NewTwos

How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
Prologue
Care more than others think wise
Risk more than others think safe
Dream more than others think practical
Expect more than others think possible
A company can provide long-term value for shareholders without sacrificing its core belief in treating its employees with respect and dignity
It’s not a zero-sum game. Treating employees benevolently shouldn’t be viewed as an added cost that cuts into profits, but as a powerful energizer that can grow the enterprise into something far greater than one leader could envision
Most people can achieve their dreams and beyond if they have the determination to keep trying
Part One: Rediscovering Coffee - The Years up to 1987
Chapter 1: Imagination, Dreams, and Humble Origins
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I willed it to happen. I took my life in my hands, learned from anyone I could, grabbed what opportunity I could, and molded my success step by step
Dream big, lay your foundations well, absorb information like a sponge, and not be afraid to defy conventional wisdom. Just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it
Every experience prepares you for the next one. You just don’t ever know what the next one is going to be
Chapter 2: A Strong Legacy Makes You Sustainable for the Future
“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received.” - Albert Einstein
If it captures your imagination, it will captivate others
Dark roast brought out the full flavors of coffee
The best coffees are all arabicas
The cheap robusta coffees are used in supermarket blends cannot be subjected to the dark roasting process, which will just burn them
Business philosophy
Every company must stand for something
Starbucks stood not only for good coffee, but specifically for the dark-roasted flavor profile
You don’t just give the customers what they ask for
If you offer them something they’re not accustomed to, something so far superior that it takes a while to develop their palates, you can create a sense of discovery and excitement and loyalty that will bond them to you
To mean something to customers, you should assume intelligence and sophistication and inform those who are eager to learn
Starbucks will always sell the highest quality fresh-roasted whole-bean coffee
Chapter 3: To Italians, Espresso Is Like an Aria
“Some men see things as they are and say “Why?” I dream things that never were, and say “Why not?” - George Bernard Shaw
If you say you never had a chance, perhaps you never took a chance
Life is a series of near misses. But a lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It’s seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It’s seeing what other people don’t see, and pursuing that vision, no matter who tells you not to
No great achievement happens by luck
Chapter 4: “Luck Is the Residue of Design”
“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” - Peter Drucker
There is no more precious commodity than the relationship of trust and confidence a company has with its employees
Part of what constitutes success is timing and chance. But most of us have to create our own opportunities and be prepared to jump when we see a big one others can’t see
It’s one thing to dream, but when the moment is right, you’ve got to be willing to leave what’s familiar and go out and find your own sound
Chapter 5: Naysayers Never Built a Great Empire
“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Raising money for a new company is very hard
Starbucks invested $150,000 into his new coffee-bar enterprise
“This is not about the ordinary. You need to elevate the expectation of the customers. Everything about the new store—the name, the setting, the presentation, the care taken to create the coffee—everything should lead the customer to expect something better.” - Gordon
People who succeed have an incredible drive to do something. They spend the energy to take the gamble. In this world, relatively few people are willing to take a large gamble
He spoke to 242 people and heard 217 nos
You’re depressed as hell, but you have to sound as fresh and confident as you were at your first meeting
The best ideas are those that create a new mindset or sense a need before others do
Investors in Il Giornale ended up earning a one hundred-to-one return on their investoment
Chapter 6: The Imprinting of the Company’s Values
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whatever your culture, your values, your guiding principles, you have to take steps to inculcate them in the organization early in its life so that they can guide every decision, every hire, every strategic objective you set
We quickly fixed a lot of the mistakes, adding chairs, varying the music. But we were careful, even early on, not to make so many compromises that we would sacrifice our style and elegance
Be bold, but fair
Treat people with respect and dignity
If a sense that a person lacks integrity or principles, I cut off any dealings with him. In the long run, it’s not worth it
The Starbucks corporation of today is actually Il Giornale. Founded in 1985, it acquired the assets of Starbucks in 1987 and changed its name to Starbucks Corporation. The company Jerry and Gordon founded was called Starbucks Coffee Company, and they sold us the rights to that name. Their company is now known as Peet’s
Underpromise, overdeliver. I’m the long run, that’s the only way to ensure security in any job
Part Two: Reinventing the Coffee Experience. The Private Years. 1987-1992
Chapter 7: Act Your Dreams with Open Eyes
If you want to build a great enterprise, you have to have the courage to dream great dreams
If you want to achieve widespread impact and lasting value, be bold
Chapter 8: If It Captured Your Imagination, It Will Captivate Others
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, … begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” - Goethe
Word of mouth is much more powerful than advertising
Chapter 9: People Are Not a Line Item
“Wealth is the means and people are the ends. All our material riches will avail us little if we do not use them to expand the opportunities of our people.” - John F. Kennedy
In a store or restaurant, the customers experience is vital: one bad encounter, and you’ve lost a customer for life
Better benefits attract good people and keep them longer
Chapter 10: A Hundred-Story Building First Needs a Strong Foundation
When you’re starting a business, whatever the size, it’s critically important to recognize that things are going to take longer and cost more money than you expect
Hiring ahead of the growth curve may seem costly at the time, but it’s a lot wiser to bring in experts before you need them than to stumble ahead with green, untested people who are prone to making avoidable mistakes
Once you’ve figured out what you want to do, find someone who has done it before
When you acknowledge your weaknesses and ask for advice, you’ll be surprised how much others will help
Chapter 11: Don’t Be Threatened by People Smarter Than You
“The best executive is the one who has the sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” - Theodore Roosevelt
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
The best minute I spend is the one I invest in people
It’s people who make the coffee
As long as it is moral, legal, and ethical we should do whatever it takes to please the customer
Send hand-signed birthday cards and starting-date anniversary cards to every Starbucks partner
Without romance and vision, a business has no soul, no spirit to motivate its people to achieve something great
Offense scores points, defense wins games
The back room is really what made Starbucks a financial success
Chapter 12: The Power of Dogmatism and Flexibility
It was our responsibility to give people a choice
Part Three: Renewing the Entrepreneurial Spirit. The Public Years, 1992-1997
Chapter 13: Wall Street Measures a Company’s Price, Not Its Value
“There are only two guidelines. One, what’s in the long-term best interests of the enterprise and its stakeholders, supplemented by the dominant concern of doing what’s right” - Robert D. Haas
Chapter 14: As Long As You’re Reinventing, How About Reinventing Yourself?
“The difference between great and average or lousy in any job is, mostly, having the imagination and zeal to re-creat yourself daily.” - Tom Peters
Chapter 15: Don’t Let The Entrepreneur Get In the Way Of The Enterprising Spirit
“No organizational regeneration, no national industrial renaissance can take place without individual acts of courage.” - Harvey Hornstein
Chapter 16: Seek To Renew Yourself Even When You’re Hitting Home Runs
“To stay ahead, always have your next ideas waiting in the wings.” - Rosabeth Moss Kanter
The world is changing. Every year, customers needs and tastes change, the competition is heating up
Any product-oriented company has to re-inventing its core product if it expects to prosper
Chapter 17: Crisis of Prices, Crisis of Values
Great companies need both a visionary leader and a skilled executive: one for the top line, and the other for the bottom
You can’t just manage for the known; you have to manage for the unknown as well
Chapter 18: The Best Way To Build A Brand Is One Person At A Time
“What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.” - Samuel Coleridge
We didn’t set out to steal customers away from Folgers or Maxwell House or Hills Brothers. We set out, rather, to educate our customers about the romance of coffee drinking
If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to a brand
The number-one factor in creating a great, enduring brand is having an appealing product. There’s no substitute
“Coffee without people is a theoretical construct. People without coffee are somewhat diminished as well.” - Dave Olsen
“We’re not in the coffee business serving people. We’re in the people business serving coffee.” - Howard Behar
Approach customers with respect, intelligence, humor, and energy
You can’t hold the attention of people today unless you treat them as you would a respected friend of the family
Chapter 19: Twenty Million New Customers Are Worth Taking a Risk For
“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.” - Hellen Keller
Nothing truly great can ever be achieved without taking risks
Whatever you do, don’t play it safe. Don’t do things the way they’ve always been done. Don’t try to fit the system
If you so what’s expected of you, you’ll never accomplish more than others expect
Chapter 20: You Can Grow Big And Stay Small
“The fundamental task is to achieve smallness within large organization.” - E. F. Schumacher
We concentrate on the customers, not the competition
Chapter 21: How Socially Responsible Can a Company Be?
“Companies do, in fact, do well by doing good.” - Norman Lear
They started CARE when they started making a profit
Chapter 22: How Not to Be a Cookie-Cutter Chain
“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.” - Mark Rothko
Chapter 23: When They Tell You To Focus, Don’t Get Myopic
“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.” - Rudyard Kipling
One of the fundamental aspects of leadership is the ability to instill confidence in others when you yourself are feeling insecure
To be an enduring, great company, you have to build a mechanism for preventing and solving problems that will long outlast any one individual leader
Success is not an entitlement, you have to earn it every day
People want guidance, not rhetoric. They need to know what the plan of action is, and how it will be implemented. They want to be given responsibility to help solve the problem and the authority to act on it
A company whose management is not planning for the distant future can never grow beyond the latest faddish concept
Chapter 24: Lead with Your Heart
“Leadership is discovering the company’s destiny and having the courage to follow it… companies that endure have a noble purpose.” - Joe Jaworski
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
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
Forrest Gumps hero was a man who, though obviously slow, proved to have more insight than anyone else because he hadn’t let the worlds negative values muddle his understanding of what really matters about life
People long to be inspired
Victory is much more meaningful when it comes not just from the efforts of one person, but from the join 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

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