Howard Schultz Essay

I. origin Starbucks today is widely recognized as the megabrand for deep brown, and there clearly ar no close competitors that shit its international recognition and scope. Starbucks has gr make to prosecute everywhere 160,000 people and generates about 13.6 billion dollars annu wholey (Forbes). Much of Starbucks success is attributed to a man with a clear vision and lease Howard Schultz. Howard Schultzs passion for delivering caliber coffee along with a corroborative caf experience has given him the motivational determination to demonstrate exceptional lead traits. This paper result give a brief overview of the history of Starbucks, and will then investigate the changes that were made after Schultz stepped in. Further more than, hassles that Schultz encountered throughout his clip as chief operating officer will excessively be discussed, along with the key locomote he as wellk to bring Starbucks back on to a road of recovery. As a concluding remark, Schultzs leadersh ip mode and abilities will be analyzed in terms of tellingness.II. A Brief History of Starbucks tone at the Starbucks caller-up today, it is difficult to imagine that a company that has over twenty thousand locations in sixty-one countries (Starbucks) was once a whizz sm any retailer that had only three employees. In 1971, three academics, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker, candid a sm either store at Pikes Place Market found on their collective love for fine coffee-making. Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowkers initial goals were to demote Seattle to bring a refined coffee culture that existed in the San Francisco embayment Area. The three looked to Alfred Peet, an expert coffee roaster from Berkeley, CA, who taught them the art of dark-coffee roasting. Baldwin, Seagel, and Bowker took on that knowledge to bring forth their own roasts and blends that were then distributed in their stores.Ten years afterwards, Howard Schultz, then the misdeed president and general manage r for a Swedish kitchen and housewares, visited Starbucks to see wherefore they were placing such large orders for a particular coffee maker. Schultz was immediately catch by the perfumes and quality of coffee that was offered by the store. He, come throughed as much incursion as possible from Baldwin and Bowker about the entire coffee production process, and later convinced them to join their group.It was non until Schultz took a trip to Italy, when he began to design a vernal Starbucks. Schultz visited umpteen espresso criterions and was exposed to a new culture of coffee drinking that we wanted to bring to the United States. Upon his return, Schultz did entirely he could to convince the managers at Starbucks to larn a full espresso bar and begin serving lattes and drinks at Starbucks. Due to many disagreements with the managers on the determine and culture that Starbucks should have, Schultz mad a finding to leave and get cracking his own caf Il Giornale. With thi s venture, Schultz had the executive freedom to create a culture that he passionately envisioned. Schultzs business plan was widely successful, and within two years, he opened up three cafes that generated 1.5 million dollars annually (McGrawhill). With his success, Schultz acquired Starbucks to gain wider reach and growth.III. New Era for Starbucks and Problems Arising Now as the new CEO of Starbucks, Schultz faced many difficulties and challenges. The biggest problem that Schultz faced was making sure that Starbucks bear its soul in spite of growing into a large corporation. The biggest regainings that play into Starbucks maintaining its soul was hiring the right managers and executives on his team, having consistent quality products and in-store experience for all Starbucks stores, and lastly- establishing a authoritative company culture for both the employees and customers. At the start of his career as the CEO for Starbucks, Schultz was faced with many obstacles to overcome . The first issue he tackled was getting the right people on his team. Lack of a Strong Core Executive TeamWith nine stores open, Schultz saw that Starbucks droped superior management skills to control all the processes to grow to his plan of supplying 125 stores in the next five years McGrawHill. He made sure to fetch A players to his team roasters and caf owners with decades of experience, a president of a profitable deglutition company, and a CFO with eighteen years of management consulting experience at Deloitte and Touche. Schultz was able to see the need to recruit wet players with a bay window of experience in the coffee and management industry. Early on, Schultz addressed the lack of organization management that was crucial for Starbucks to accelerate forward. Employee Enthusiasm and Commitmentanother(prenominal) problem that Schultz faced was the issue of building a strong amount of money of employees throughout the company. Schultz found that as the company grew, i t lacked strong dedication from its employees. Starbucks had a high turnover rate, just like many other entry-level gain jobs at McDonalds or retail stores. Schultz saw this as a huge problem for not only the money Starbucks lost through losing an employee and having to profit more to hire and train new ones, but also losing team members. Schultz wanted to create an environment for Starbucks employees in which they would want to stay in. Schultz had difficulties convert Starbucks Board of Directors to invest in constant training, higher salaries, and rewards ground on merit.He even went far lavish for wanting baristas to bend invested in building Starbucks into a great company, and thus offered them stock options. The biggest run step he took to really evince that he wanted to show that Starbucks had a heart for their employees was fighting for providing health care coverage to all its employees. Schultzs father recently battled cancer, and he knew that it would not only add tremendous value to the lives of Starbucks employees, but also allow them to have an bonus to stay. Through a particular story about the impact that Starbucks was having on its employees lives, I learned that Schultz had high stirred up intelligence and the top executive to regulate himself in others shoes. Schultz recalled,I had known Jim was gay but had no image he was sick. His disease had entered a new phase, he explained that he wouldnt be able to work any longer. We sat together and cried, for I could not find meaningful words to console him I could not compose myself. I hugged him. McGrawhillSchultz built his career from the bottom up from nothing, and his ability to demonstrate sympathy to others clearly showed great leadership skills. Having adept emotional skills is incredibly valuable for a leader because it gains the trust and approval of many people. Maintaining Consistent Product Quality and Customer ExperienceThe last problem that will be discussed in this paper i s how Schultz ensured product quality and positive store experience throughout all the Starbucks locations. Schultz could not empha size of it enough how primary(prenominal) it was to maintain the integrity of the coffee bean and the quality of the coffee throughout the stores. In order to do so, he made severe guidelines on preserving the heart of Starbucks history getting good coffee to all customers. Starbucks had the option of chemically flavoring the beans, but Schultz made the executive decision to never add any chemicals to their core products. If customers wanted flavoring in their coffee, the source of additional flavoring could not come from the bean, but kinda from a syrup mixed into the coffee. Another example is that he emphasise the exact temperature that the milk for lattes needed to be heated to, the amount of time coffee can sit in a pot, and always compensating displease customers with a free drink. Schultzs stringent standards on delivering consistent experie nces also let him to scrapping a popular breakfast sandwich because it interfered with the coffee aroma in the Starbucks stores.III. Schultzs Leadership Style Without Schultz trailblazing leadership styles, Starbucks would not have nearly achieved the success that it has today. The passion that Schultz exudes in terms of implementing the true Italian coffee house experience on an international scale has unimpeachably shown through in his time as CEO. Schultzs leadership style shows a commitment to keeping soul despite the large size of the company. Schultzs standards for quality have never been compromised, and he continually makes the exertion to ensure that his entire company is on board with delivering his goals. Aside from delivering quality to customers, Schultzs leadership style also emphasizes treating all of his employees with respect and individuality. He guarantees that when working at Starbucks, an employee will be treated with fairness and dignity. Schultz more than an ything emphasizes improving quality in terms of any experiences for whoever comes in cutaneous senses with the Starbucks name. IV. Opinion on Leadership Style and TakeawaySchultzs strong vision and keen awareness for what the Starbucks brand was very telling when he came back to Starbucks after stepping down. Schultz saw many problems, such as too many stores and below-par customer service. Schultz made a very bold impinge on to close down Starbucks stores for three hours for mandatory training that cost the company millions of dollars. Schultz also closed down many locations. Schultz is very serious when it comes to big(p) a positive customer experience, and drives his motivation and actions off of that. I bank that Schultzs ability to isolate and deliver the needs of Starbucks customers is his strong point. He has always been convincing Starbucks partners and board of directors to also see his standards for quality and having Starbucks make its soul. His leadership style has definitely proved to be effective in building Starbucks into the behemoth of a company that it is today.Personally, I want to be as passionate about delivering something to consumers when I take on a leadership position. To be cognizant of what exactly needs to get done to deliver a quality experience without losing focus is an important trait that can be learned through Howard Schultzs leadership style.