Howard Schultz Partner Quotes

Grow with discipline. Balance intuition with rigor. Innovate around the core. Don't embrace the status quo. Find new ways to see. Never expect a silver bullet. Get your hands dirty. Listen with empathy and overcommunicate with transparency. Tell your story, refusing to let others define you. Use authentic experiences to inspire. Stick to your values, they are your foundation. Hold people accountable, but give them the tools to succeed. Make the tough choices; it's how you execute that counts. Be decisive in times of crisis. Be nimble. Find truth in trials and lessons in mistakes. Be responsible for what you see, hear, and do. Believe. ~ Howard Schultz

Sometimes the difference between winning and losing is will. The will to make it happen. ~ Howard Schultz

You must find something that you deeply love and are passionate about and are willing to sacrifice a lot to achieve. ~ Howard Schultz

Starbucks has stores in America in many, many communities that are governed by many, many different municipalities. Starbucks cannot dictate to a municipality in Cincinnati or Kansas City or Sacramento how or why or when there should be a recycling program. ~ Howard Schultz

Work should be personal. For all of us. Not just for the artist and entrepreneur. Work should have meaning for the accountant, the construction worker, the technologist, the manager and the clerk. ~ Howard Schultz

My passion. My commitment. This is the most important thing in my life other than my family. ~ Howard Schultz

Passionate conviction ... sparks romances, wins battles, and drives people to pursue dreams others wouldn't dare. Belief in ourselves and in what is right catapults us over hurdles, and our lives unfold. ~ Howard Schultz

Sports was a great equalizer. It didn't have color. It didn't matter whether you were rich or poor, black or white. It really shaped me in many ways to be able to deal with a lot of different personalities and different cultures. Sports were the common thread. ~ Howard Schultz

It's different when you're trying to turn something around, especially something that you built, at a time when so many constituents - the media, Wall Street, competitors, ex-employees - are all saying that Starbucks's best days are behind it, and that Schultz is never going to be able to bring it back. ~ Howard Schultz

And with the right mentor, don't be afraid to expose your vulnerabilities. Admit you don't know what you don't know. When you acknowledge your weaknesses and ask for advice, you'll be surprised how much others will help. ~ Howard Schultz

We would take something old and tired and common - coffee - and weave a sense of romance and community around it. We would rediscover the mystique and charm that had swirled around coffee throughout the centuries. ~ Howard Schultz

This is not his job, I thought, it's his passion. ~ Howard Schultz

We can't wait for Washington. Business leaders are going to have to galvanize their own constituencies and do everything they can to demonstrate confidence in the economy, and I think that can be contagious. ~ Howard Schultz

When you're in a hole, quit digging! ~ Howard Schultz

Starbucks represents something beyond a cup of coffee. ~ Howard Schultz

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 ~ Howard Schultz

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 ~ Howard Schultz

Pouring espresso is an art, one that requires the barista to care about the quality of the beverage. ~ Howard Schultz

As Americans, there are very few things we have confidence in. ~ Howard Schultz

We live in an age where everything is based on the short term. ~ Howard Schultz

Our history is based on extending the brand to categories within the guardrails of Starbucks. ~ Howard Schultz

People around the world, they want the authentic Starbucks experience. ~ Howard Schultz

In many places where coffee is grown, deforestation is a major issue. With Starbucks' position in the marketplace and the respect and relationships we have, we can - and have, in some cases - been able to educate and influence people. ~ Howard Schultz

I could not allow us, or myself, to drift into a sea of mediocrity after so many years of hard work ~ Howard Schultz

I am concerned about any attrition in customer traffic at Starbucks, but I don't want to use the economy, commodity prices or consumer confidence as an excuse. We must maintain a value proposition to our customers as well as differentiate the Starbucks Experience. That is the key. ~ Howard Schultz

If you can raise profits by shaving costs on your main product and 90 percent of your customers wouldn't even notice, why not just do it? Because we can tell the difference. ~ Howard Schultz

Customers have different need states and life experiences. ~ Howard Schultz

I'm optimistic about the country; I'm optimistic about the American people. ~ Howard Schultz

Companies should not have a singular view of profitability. There needs to be a balance between commerce and social responsibility ... The companies that are authentic about it will wind up as the companies that make more money. ~ Howard Schultz

We need to reinvent food at Starbucks. Less could be more. ~ Howard Schultz

You walk into a retail store, whatever it is, and if there's a sense of entertainment and excitement and electricity, you wanna be there. ~ Howard Schultz

Care more than others think wise. ~ Howard Schultz

A founder's perspective is unique.

Entrepreneurs are builders, and the lens through which I view Starbucks and the marketplace is somewhat different from what it would be if I were a professionally schooled manager. ~ Howard Schultz

I never took classic business classes in college, so I don't have the background that any of the people running large companies have. ~ Howard Schultz

There are moments in our lives when we summon the courage to make choices that go against reason, against common sense and the wise counsel of people we trust. But we lean forward nonetheless because, despite all risks and rational argument, we believe that the path we are choosing is the right and best thing to do. We refuse to be bystanders, even if we do not know exactly where our actions will lead.
This is the kind of passionate conviction that sparks romances, wins battles, and drives people to pursue dreams others wouldn't dare. Belief in ourselves and in what is right catapults us over hurdles, and our lives unfold.
"Life is a sum of all your choices," wrote Albert Camus. Large or small, our actions forge our futures and hopefully inspire others along the way. ~ Howard Schultz

I'm not as interested in what you make as I am in what you're passionate about. What business are you really in? ~ Howard Schultz

I look at Starbucks, Howard Schultz has made many brilliant decisions, and one of the things that they did was they invented the third space. It's not work, it's not home. That's one of the engines of its spread. But at the same time he was doing that, he bet the farm to open more and more stores in any given town, and making it ubiquitous made it much easier to say to your friend, I'll meet you at Starbucks. ~ Seth Godin