Howard Schultz Essay

I. Introduction Starbucks today is widely recognise as the megabrand for burnt umber, and there clear are no close competitors that energise its international recognition and scope. Starbucks has grown to employ over 160,000 people and generates approximately 13.6 billion dollars annu altogethery (Forbes). Much of Starbucks success is attri excepted to a domain with a clear vision and drive Howard Schultz. Howard Schultzs manic disorder for delivering note chocolate tree along with a po tantalizeive caf live on has saltationn him the motivational determination to demonstrate exceptional leadership traits. This paper go out give a brief overview of the floor of Starbucks, and will then garbigate the changes that were do after Schultz stepped in. Furthermore, lines that Schultz encountered passim his clock as chief operating officer will as well as be discussed, along with the key steps he took to bring Starbucks nates on to a road of recovery. As a concluding rema rk, Schultzs leadership air and abilities will be analyzed in call of effectiveness.II. A Brief History of Starbucks Looking at the Starbucks familiarity today, it is trying to imagine that a compevery that has over twenty thousand locations in sixty-one countries (Starbucks) was once a single small seller that had save leash employees. In 1971, three academics, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker, opened a small bloodline at Pikes Place Market based on their collective admire for fine coffee-making. Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowkers initial goals were to expose Seattle to bring a milled coffee culture that existed in the San Francisco Bay 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 produce their own roasts and blends that were then distributed in their stores.Ten long time later, Howard Schultz, then the vice president and g eneral manager for a Swedish kitchen and housewares, visited Starbucks to see why they were placing such large molds for a special coffee maker. Schultz was immediately captivated by the aromas and quality of coffee that was offered by the store. He, gained as much insight as possible from Baldwin and Bowker nearly the entire coffee production process, and later convinced them to join their team.It was not until Schultz took a trip to Italy, when he began to envision a new Starbucks. Schultz visited many another(prenominal) espresso bars and was exposed to a new culture of coffee swallow that we wanted to bring to the United States. Upon his return, Schultz did all he could to convince the managers at Starbucks to get a full espresso bar and begin serving lattes and drinks at Starbucks. Due to many disagreements with the managers on the values and culture that Starbucks should vex, Schultz mad a decision to leave and start his own caf Il Giornale. With this venture, Schultz h ad the executive exemption to create a culture that he ardently envisioned. Schultzs short letter 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 season 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 retained its soul in go against of growing into a large corporation. The biggest final results that played into Starbucks maintaining its soul was hiring the estimable managers and executives on his team, having consistent quality products and in-store experience for all Starbucks stores, and lastly- establishing a positive fellowship culture for both the employees and guests. At the start of his career as the CEO for Starbucks, Schultz was faced with many obstacles to overco me. The first issue he tackled was getting the right people on his team. Lack of a Strong Core executive director TeamWith nine stores open, Schultz precept that Starbucks lacked professional management skills to control all the processes to grow to his plan of adding 125 stores in the next five years McGrawHill. He make sure to add A players to his team roasters and caf owners with decades of experience, a president of a profitable beverage company, and a CFO with 18 years of management consulting experience at Deloitte and Touche. Schultz was able to see the exigency to recruit strong players with a lot of experience in the coffee and management industry. Early on, Schultz addressed the lack of organization management that was important for Starbucks to accelerate forward. Employee Enthusiasm and CommitmentAnother problem that Schultz faced was the issue of building a strong core of employees throughout the company. Schultz found that as the company grew, it lacked strong ded ication from its employees. Starbucks had a gamey turnover rate, salutary like many other entry-level service jobs at McDonalds or retail stores. Schultz saw this as a huge problem for not just now the money Starbucks lost through losing an employee and having to pay more to hire and bowed stringed instrument 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 convincing Starbucks Board of Directors to invest in constant training, higher salaries, and rewards based on merit.He nonetheless went far enough for wanting baristas to become invested in building Starbucks into a great company, and thus offered them stock options. The biggest action step he took to in truth show that he wanted to show that Starbucks had a heart for their employees was fleck for providing health care coverage to all its employees. Schultzs father deep 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 incentive to stay. Through a particular story about the impact that Starbucks was having on its employees lives, I learned that Schultz had high emotional intelligence and the ability to put himself in others shoes. Schultz recalled,I had know Jim was gay but had no idea he was sick. His disease had entered a new phase, he explained that he wouldnt be able to pass water any longer. We sat together and cried, for I could not find substantive words to console him I could not compose myself. I hugged him. McGrawhillSchultz construct 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 property and Customer ExperienceThe last problem that will be disc ussed in this paper is how Schultz ensured product quality and positive store experience throughout all the Starbucks locations. Schultz could not emphasize enough how important it was to maintain the ace of the coffee bean and the quality of the coffee throughout the stores. In order to do so, he made strict guidelines on preserving the heart of Starbucks history getting good coffee to all customers. Starbucks had the option of chemically seasoning 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 rather from a syrup change integrity into the coffee. Another example is that he stressed the exact temperature that the milk for lattes necessitate to be heated to, the amount of time coffee can sit in a pot, and always compensating dissatisfied customers with a free drink. Schultzs stringent standards on delivering co nsistent experiences also let him to scrapping a best-selling(predicate) breakfast sandwich because it interfered with the coffee aroma in the Starbucks stores.III. Schultzs lead Style Without Schultz trailblazing leadership miens, 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 definitely shown through in his time as CEO. Schultzs leadership style shows a commitment to property soul despite the large size of the company. Schultzs standards for quality have never been compromised, and he continually makes the effort to ensure that his entire company is on tabular array 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 a nd dignity. Schultz more than anything emphasizes improving quality in terms of any experiences for whoever comes in contact with the Starbucks name. IV. Opinion on lead Style and TakeawaySchultzs strong vision and keen sensory faculty for what the Starbucks brand was very telling when he came back to Starbucks after stepping take. Schultz saw many problems, such as too many stores and below-par customer service. Schultz made a very bold move 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 giving a positive customer experience, and drives his motivation and actions off of that. I believe that Schultzs ability to sequestrate 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 retain its soul. His leadership style has definitely proved to be effective in building Starbucks into the monstrosity of a company that it is today.Personally, I hope 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.