Howard Schultz's Leadership & Important Contributions

He is a people-oriented leader who personally coaches his employees and is very open towards them. Upon taking the post, Schultz invited people to email him directly -- and soon received 5,000 emails. He also made personal phone calls to stores across the nation to see how things were going.

Schultz embraces change and reacts to external forcesof change. In view of technology advancements, he appointed a chief technology officer, Chris Bruzzo from Amazon.com to update Starbucks' website and improved its overall social media presence. Under Schultz's directive, the company also replaced all of its outdated cash registers and computers. The company estimates the new system is saving 700,000 wait-in-line hours. In response to external competition, Schultz studied other corporate turnarounds in order to pull off his own. Also for the first time ever, Starbucks invested in a major national advertising campaign, in response to changing market forces.

He also made use of internal forces of change, in the form of reinvention and reengineering. For the first time in company history, Schultz looked to outside consultants for ideas on how to revive the company. In 2008, Schultz also completely reorganized supply chain operations -- getting products to stores more efficiently and improving inventory. As a result, 9 out of 10 orders were delivered perfectly to stores, up from 3 out of 10 before. Finally, heeding advice that losing customers in a down economy is much more expensive than investing in them, Schultz created a customer rewards card to keep customers loyal. All these internal changes made greatly helped Starbucks to keep afloat back then, and going on to make it successful.

Howard Schultz: Quotes Showing Leadership Styles & Personality

In a 2009 interview with CBS, Schultz said of Starbucks' mission, "We're not in the business of filling bellies, we're in the business of filling souls."

(On inculcating culture)

“Whether you are the CEO or a lower level employee, the single most important thing you do at work each day is communicate your values to others”.

(creating the Starbucks culture)

“There is a word that comes to my mind when I think about our company and our people. That word is ‘love’. I love Starbucks because everything we’ve tried to do is steeped in humanity”

(actively and purposely creating a brand and company narrative that he felt would attract customers)

“We take something ordinary and infuse it with emotion and meaning, and then we tell its story over and over and over again, often without saying a word”

(Early on, making Starbucks' mission his own.)

"I saw something. Not only the romance of coffee, but ... a sense of community. And the connection that people had to coffee—the place and one another. And after a week in Italy, I was so convinced with such unbridled enthusiasm that I couldn't wait to get back to Seattle to talk about the fact that I had seen the future."

The above quotes by Schultz all point towards him having loads of enthusiasm, as well as a charismatic leadership style, where he infuses eagerness into all his employees to work. This might also be used as a Power tactic of inspirational appeal, bring up employees' commitment through stirring enthusiasm. He also emphasises the importance of having consistent behaviour with company values and culture.
 

(describing the feeling of “the Starbucks Experience ")

“the Starbucks Experience [based on] personal connection – is an affordable necessity. We are all hungry for community". The importance is built around connecting with others and reconnecting with oneself

Here, Schultz displays a people-oriented side of him, and believing in the importance of developing esprit de corps.

(In response to a shareholder complained that Starbucks had lost sales due its support for gay marriage)

"Not every decision is an economic decision. Despite the fact that you recite statistics that are narrow in time, we did provide a 38 percent shareholder return over the last year. I don't know how many things you invest in, but I would suspect not many things, companies, products, investments have returned 38 percent over the last 12 months.

Having said that, it is not an economic decision to me. The lens in which we are making that decision is through the lens of our people. We employ over 200,000 people in this company, and we want to embrace diversity. Of all kinds."

"If you feel, respectfully, that you can get a higher return than the 38 percent you got last year, it's a free country. You can sell your shares in Starbucks and buy shares in another company. Thank you very much."

This shows him in action taking the managerial role of a negotiator, disturbance handler, and resolving conflicts. He is firm and bold in taking a stand against the shareholder, showing that he is very deeply rooted in his beliefs. though it may displease the shareholder, all his employees will respect him for standing up for the company.


Not only are there quotes from Schultz that reveal aspects about himself, there are also quotes from others who worked with him, such as co-founder Zev Siegl. He recounts:

"My impression of Howard at that time was that he was a fabulous communicator. One to one, he still is."
Being a good communicator is an important trait for any leader in leading people.

Biography of Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee

In 1982, Howard Schultz was hired as director of retail operations in Starbucks. He was impressed with the concept and feelings from Starbucks, however, he was disappointed with the leadership of the original owners, and left in 1985. He opened his own coffee chain, Il Giornale, which became very successful. 2 years later, Schultz purchased Starbucks and merged it with Il Giornale. Subsequently, he became CEO and chairman of the Starbucks. He stepped down as CEO in 2000, but returned again in 2008.

Starbucks has achieved financial success for two reasons. First, the company excels at building relationships with customers and other stakeholders through language and symbols. Second, Starbucks uses language and symbols to exercise power, create a community based on aspirations. Consumers yearn to live a Starbucks lifestyle.