Как чашка за чашкой строилась Starbucks

by Howard Schultz, Говард Шульц, Dori Jones Yang

Говард Шульц стал генеральным директором Starbucks в 1987 году и за последующие годы превратил Starbucks из небольшой фирмы с шестью кофейными магазинами в интернациональный бизнес, работающий в 50 странах мира. Но история Starbucks — не просто success story. Это история о команде страстно влюбленных в кофе людей, построивших огромную компанию на основе таких ценностей и принципов, которые редко встречаются в корпоративном мире, и сохранивших при этом индивидуальный подход к каждому сотруднику и каждому клиенту.

Genres: Business, Biography, Nonfiction, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Memoir, Management

286 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Schultz is an author and businessman. He was born on July 19th of 1953. He is mostly known for owning Starbucks; he is also the CEO and chairman of that company.
He graduated Northern Michigan University with a bachelor's degree in Communication.
Schultz authored the book Pour Your Heart Into It How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time with Dori Jones Yang in 1997. His second book Onward How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul with Joanne Gordon, was published in 2011.

Reviews

[Bibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wonder what's in the water in Seattle because that's where Amazon is also located!

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Supposed to be inspirational for starting a business, but actually rather the opposite. This guy is so ambitious, so confident, so determined, so certain, so driven. I'm feeling much the opposite these days. If that stuff is what it takes, I have no business starting a business.

...

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, which was kind of a corporate adventure story about starting Starbucks from about three local stores and a mail-order catalog. It was exhilarating reading about all the challenges they faced in their ridiculously ambitious early years of kudzu-style growth. But by the last hundred pages or so, Starbucks is already ridiculously huge, so all there is to talk about is variations on the theme. We've got the coffee shop thing down, so we're branching into ice cream, partnering with United to do coffee on planes, installing tiny Starbucks in bookstores, blah blah blah. Worse, once they become a monolith, everybody stops rooting for them as the underdog and starts treating them like any other giant corporation. Despite all the good they try to do and how hard it is to stick to their principles, people misunderstand, falsely accuse, and criticize Starbucks. Well, I understand--it does suck when people do that to you--but after awhile it's difficult to sympathize with poor widdle Starbucks, all rich and huge and successful beyond most people's wildest dreams. Boo hoo, they're being treated like a huge and powerful corporation, when they're actually... a huge and powerful corporation. Lots of defensiveness and whining here. The book is getting so tedious, the only thing that's keeping me from tossing it aside is how close I am to the end. I like to finish things.

...

Finally done. Maybe I'm being unfair in assigning only two stars--I really enjoyed the first 2/3 or so of this book, but the last 100 pages were so tedious, whiny, and self-congratulatory, they dragged the average way down.

[Devika · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a nutshell this book is Schultz’s memoir, a major part of which obviously includes Starbucks. It’s very well written, in fact quite poetic at times. It shares his struggles of having acquired and built Starbucks from the ground up while everyone else thought investing in a technology venture made more sense. He has been swimming against the tide his whole life—growing up in the Projects, having an ailing father who inevitably passed away due to cancer, acquiring a coffee company that everyone advised him against, knocking on over 200 doors for funding, and eventually building a company that is so fast-paced that it has a tough time keeping up with itself.

It’s ironic that although Starbucks was built on the core values of personalised service, it has become associated with the image of impersonal multinational corporations. In fact now people, at least the ones I know, find Starbucks quite pretentious. I wonder if Schultz knows that this is the upcoming perception at least in India.

Schultz, nevertheless, is very inspiring and this book is surely worth a read.

[Jason Navallo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest "business" biographies I have ever read!

Liked it so much that I actually used it as a source in my book, Thrive: 30 Inspirational Rags-to-Riches Stories.

[Mariam Mord'Sith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This success story is not just about coffee but a romantic affair, a quixotic experience, a story about passion and persistence, people and leadership, commitment and responsibility, love and imagination.

Howard Schultz certainly poured his heart into every single page as he narrates his amazing and compelling business adventures - chronicling his roller coaster ride of building up a small coffee shop into a worldwide phenomenon whilst gracefully and delightfully capturing the heart and soul of the entrepreneurial journey.

The passion Schultz and his team have for what they do radiates very clearly throughout the book particularly illuminating the soul of what can make any venture successful – “Pour Your Heart Into It.” In other words: Find your passion and give it your all.

"If you pour your heart into your work, or into any worthy enterprise, you can achieve dreams others may think impossible." ~ Howard Schultz

The insights in this book will help those who are building a business or simply pursuing a life's dream. As a start-up entrepreneur, it resonates so well with me. It is packed with priceless wisdom, powerful information and profound business precepts; giving me an extra oomph and the kick in the butt I didn’t realize I needed. Everyone could benefit from and be inspired by the stories and insights behind Starbucks' success. However, for entrepreneurs, this book should be extremely useful; for aspiring entrepreneurs, it should prove invaluable.

If I had the slightest idea of the energy and get-up-and-'go packed in this book, I wouldn’t have left it on the bottom of a shelf unread and untouched for over two years.

[Petr Didenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read book ;-) Есть на русском.

[Jimmy Scharpf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love coffee, can't start my morning without it. I was a big fan of Starbucks as well up until they started to take over the world. This book by founder Howard Schultz explains how Starbucks went from a specialty shop that only sold whole, roasted coffee beans to the drive thru coffee franchise we know today. Very interesting and insightful read, good for anyone interested in business or who has a love for $6 coffees. I read this book on a plane and had about 4 cups of coffee while reading it because I thought what could go better with this book than a nice cup of joe.

[Matt Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pour Your Heart into It : How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time (1999), Howard Schultz

An absolutely amazing book and here's why. Whether you like inspiring tales, historical stories, business how-to or lessons on leadership, this is your book. Howard Schultz gives his firsthand account of realizing a vision and taking audacious leaps all the while exuding discipline and patience. Obviously, this book will mean more to people familiar with Starbucks and having experience its rapid growth in years past. Anyone with dreams of starting a business no matter what size will find this one of the most inspiring and educational biographies written.

[Khánh Trình · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trong cái thời đại thiếu hụt niềm tin vào giá trị sống như hiện nay, một quyển sách truyền cảm hứng như "Dốc hết trái tim" thực sự rất cần thiết, giúp tôi có được niềm tin rằng "thành công không phải đánh đổi bằng những giá trị tốt đẹp mà một doanh nghiệp đã từng gầy dựng".

Điều thu hút nhất khi tôi đọc, là cách mà Howard kể về giai đoạn Starbucks còn non trẻ, cách mà anh lèo lái cả công ty của mình. Rất thật, Rất rõ ràng! Howard khiến tôi tin nếu bất kì ai hành động bằng niềm tin vào giá trị và cả con tim mình, họ không những đạt được cái mà họ muốn mà họ còn đạt được sự trường tồn cho thành công của chính mình.

[James Scholz · Rating 3 out of 5]

lil generic and corny

[Алексей Тишков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книга хорошая, есть чему научиться в построении долгоиграющего бизнеса и стремлению брать высшую планку. Правда в этой категории книг, "Продавец обуви" Фила Найта и Pixar Лоуренса Леви смотрится мощнее и несут более глубокий смысл, нежели просто описание бизнеса. В своей книге Говард Шульц уж очень переборщил с расхваливанием сотрудников и компаньонов, которые все были просто "отличные ребята".

[Nyamka Ganni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before: Starbucks is just fancy, pricey coffee chain. There is nothing special about it whatsoever. Even coffee tastes meh!

After: I fell in love with Starbucks! It's official. I come to love almost everything about this special company. Starbucks' management should be role model for every company. And I even started to enjoy cup of coffee while thinking about its story and amazing management styles.


"Success is best when shared."

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read quite a few books on Starbucks already, including Schultz’s second book, Howard Behar’s book, and two by Joseph Michelli (and I’m not even counting Michael Gates Gill’s books). These are all about how Starbucks operates, how it is a somewhat unique creature among big companies in how they approach their employees, their customers, and their business. Schultz’s second Starbucks book, “Onward” is very similar to this one in that it covers events and decisions made in the operation of Starbucks. However, of all these Starbucks books, “Pour Your Heart Into It” covers the initial creation and growth of the company, when those important first, bet-the-company decisions were being made. Many of these decisions are similar to many other companies in retail and other industries that are rapidly growing from a very small base, such as how to treat your employees, how to focus your growth, how to deal with that first expensive problem, how to get mentors and investors, how to hire beyond your current size, and more. So here you don’t get unique problems, but you get some unique solutions. In comparison, “Onward” covered the second era of Schultz’s reign at Starbucks, when it was an older company. Many of the stories in “Onward” were more unique, covering those decisions that the larger, more corporate, more worldly Starbucks dealt with. I enjoyed the stories in “Onward” for their big company issues combined with unique circumstances, like investing in “new age” marketing on platforms like “World of Warcraft”, but each of these Schultz books have their place and purpose.

Also like in the later Schultz book, here Schultz starts off sounding a bit pompous. Certainly he’s excited about his opportunities in a young Starbucks, but he starts this book off on the wrong foot. I’m glad to say that my initial concern about this gradually went away while reading the rest of this book, and Schultz comes across on reflection as a (sometimes too) serious business builder with new ideas that he wants to propound and sell. You could also read it like he wants to ensure he gets credit for many of the good points of Starbucks, and based on this book he surely deserves much credit.

This book has quite a few pages about the “scientific” (as opposed to marketing) research done early on in “decanting” the essence of a liquid’s taste and using it for bottled Frappuccino’s and other things. This is a quite interesting explanation of research in retail. His second book describes the buyout of the makers of Clover coffee brewing machines, somewhat along the same lines. Being a bit of a geek myself, I really quite enjoyed these bits. I hope in his next Starbucks book, Schultz can take us behind the scenes at Starbucks R&D.

[Tim Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Schultz seems to be almost the antithesis to Steve Jobs. This book provides a fascinating look not only at Schultz himself but the birth and growth of Starbucks as a company. I started reading this because of an article I read listing the 10 best part-time jobs. If Schultz is sincere, and I think he is, I greatly appreciate the values he has helped build into the Starbucks corporation and the reasoning behind those decisions.

It is clearly evident that Schultz is especially nostalgic about his earliest days with Starbucks. His description of his first visit to the Pike Place store and his first sip of Starbucks is guaranteed to make you want a cup of good dark roasted coffee no matter what time of day it is. The same is true for his depiction of the discovery of the espresso bars in Italy and the romance they evoke.

The story is value enough but the book is full of lessons equally applicable to both business and life. Just look at the chapter titles: people are not a line item, a hundred story building first needs a strong foundation, don't be threatened by people smarter than you. Every chapter features a valuable message.

I am tempted to go to work for Starbucks for the bean stock alone. . .

[Dhiraj Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never expected any CEO to write a book about his company in such a lucid and flawless manner.
Howard Shultz left his high paying job at Xerox and joined Starbucks, opened El Giornale, took over Starbucks, sought venture capitalists in the market, opended stores outside Seattle and then all over US, brought in professionals into the business while at the same time retaining two very important core values, "Employees" and "The taste of Coffee".

Starbucks whole journey from humble beginings in a small Seattle Store to world leader in coffee is brought forth in this book. They faced pitfalls, market issues, financial problems but overcame all of this.
The values for which the compnay stands for are mentioned several times throughout the book.

A must have for anybody intent on becoming an enterpreneaur and taking his business forward in a professional way.

Before I pen off let me add a word of caution....this book will start you itching to have a taste of Starbucks Coffee...they have recently opened operations in India but are presently confined to metros like Mumbai and Delhi

Coffee being my favourite drink....I can hardly wait for a sip of Starbucks.

[Đức Nhân Lê · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lần đầu tiên tôi uống cà phê là năm lớp 7 - lúc đó người ta vẫn còn hay quảng cáo vinacafe với sữa ngôi sao Phương Nam. Mẹ tôi vẫn thường hay mắng tôi "Con nít mà cà phê cà pháo, đua đòi". Nhưng với tôi lúc đó mùi hương của 1 tách cà phê vừa châm nước nóng luôn có một sức hấp dẫn lạ kì, và có nhiều lần tôi pha ra chỉ để được hít hà cái hương vị đó. Ban đầu tôi chỉ lén lén lấy của ba tôi uống ké, sau này là xin tiền mẹ để mua cà phê uống với lý do thức học bài, mà phàm cái gì liên quan đến học hành là đều vòi được hết. Từ đó tôi thử nhiều loại cà phê hơn, Vinacafe thì hơi ngọt, G7 thì lại nhạt hơn kiểu late giờ, NET rất thơm, hương vị cũng có nhiều sự lựa chọn, cà phê Việt thì có vị lợ lợ, còn cà phê rang xay pha phin uống thì lại hơi chua, và tùy chỗ rang nó lại có mùi vị khác nhau nhưng đây lại là thứ tôi uống nhiều nhất. Có lần vì máu thể hiện tôi đã thử uống đậm đặc không đường không sữa - giọt cà phê thấm vị chua, đắng, mặn từ đầu lưỡi xuống cổ và khiến nhịp tim tăng cao đột ngột, một cảm giác rất nhớ đời nhưng mà thật tình là không dễ chịu.

Lên Sài Gòn tôi không còn thói quen uống cafe nhiều nữa. Tôi cũng không biết tại sao và từ lúc nào. Ly cà phê ở thành phố này khi tôi còn chập chững đặt những bước chân đầu tiên tỏ ra quá đắt đỏ. Cà phê mang đi trong ly nhựa thì lại quá nhạt, không có hương thơm trọn vẹn. Cách pha cà phê của người Sài Gòn cũng khác với thói quen của tôi, một ly cà phê trong này quá nhiều đá, và giọt cà phê rất loãng, nó giống như một thứ gì đó đơn thuần là người ta đi qua cầm lấy rồi uống vội vàng bù giấc ngủ cho kịp giờ làm mà thôi. Nhưng bù lại, tôi rất thích các quán cà phê ở đây. Đó là nơi người ta gặp gỡ, tạo dựng những điều mới mẻ, cũng là nơi ngưng đọng những giọt của cuộc sống trong cái hối hả, tấp nập ở Sài Gòn. Có lẽ vì vậy mà người Sài Gòn có thể uống cà phê bất cứ lúc nào trong ngày.

Với bản thân tôi, cà phê không đơn thuần chỉ là một loại đồ uống. Đó là một nét văn hóa, là thối quen, là một phần của cuộc sống hiện đại. Cuốn sách này giúp tôi nhìn nhận rất nhiều điều mà Starbucks muốn gởi gắm thông qua từng giọt cà phê của mình. Nó cũng dạy tôi nhiều bài học về ước mơ, về đam mê và cách con người ta có thể vượt qua những lằn ranh giới của mình.

Và cuối cùng: "Điêu gì xuất phát từ trái tim sẽ đến được trái tim".

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Howard Schultz is confused. He can't decide whether he's writing a memoir, a business manifesto, an ad, or a political campaign. He doesn't know whether he's writing as a Starbucks visionary, an aspiring politician or as Starbucks itself. And he can't figure out whether he's writing for taxpayers, Starbucks enthusiasts or entrepreneurs.

He flickers between genres and pretends it's okay by splitting the book into parts. What he doesn't realize is that by attempting to cater to everyone, he caters to no one at all. He is unflinchingly un-honest, skims over all the bad days as if afraid of exposing some misdemeanour, and presents a disappointingly polished version of what could have been a good story.

He writes not about the journey Starbucks took, but what he wishes Starbucks had taken. The book is a reflection of the detached past, not an account of the raw, emotional present. It is refined, cultivated and selective in what it chooses to show, much like Starbucks itself. In a company, this is acceptable. But in this book, it was disappointing.

The book opens up well enough into a memoir-style backstory of where Howard Schultz came from, his early life, his background. It moves onto Starbucks' backstory about the initial founders, the starting days. And then they clash, and it all comes together.

Here, it shifts.

It becomes a business manual about why Starbucks was so successful. As a reader, the shift was hard to make, but once I got into it, I fairly enjoyed this segment, and it contributed to the majority of the three-stars. It had a lot of interesting points to make and I found myself highlighting virtually every other line for later reference. When you read in the moment, it's an enjoyable read, minus the constant eye-rolling to his holier-than-thou approach.

But it doesn't stop here. In an attempt to clap back at Starbucks haters, Howard Schultz finally launches into a long-winding whine-fest about how Starbucks is being misunderstood and villainized. This doesn't work. Schultz gets a little too defensive. We get it: it must be hard to be misunderstood like that, but this segment reads like a dreadfully-written advertising campaign and it gets old, fast.

At one point, I looked at the book, and all I could see was the word 'value' popping up at least every two lines for about 150 pages.

I get it: What they really care about is value and what they've always stood for is value and they're a value-oriented company that cares more about value than any of the haters and in the end, it all comes down to valuing value because value is what makes people value the company and providing value will always be the central value of Starbucks.

If Howard wanted to give Starbucks a face by writing this, he failed, miserably. His story is way too polished to be candid. The phantom threat of his politics hovers over every single line: he edges around the story as if afraid of inadvertently exposing some misbehaviour which would have adverse consequences on his political life. The book is sickly sweet and completely unrelatable. Even worse, it's cheap.

Is he truly trying to convince his readers that throughout the entirety of his career, he has never made a single mistake that he is ashamed of? Has his morals and values always been rock-solid? Was there never a learning curve? I find that hard to believe.

I wanted to hear about how Starbucks stumbled and how they got over it. I wanted to hear about the mistakes Howard Schultz made and what he learnt from them. I want to hear about the bad days, the days where they thought Starbucks wouldn't make it, the days where they knew they were going under. It seems as though Starbucks never had any bad days. It's sickening

This stands out in stark contrast to Phil Knight's book on Nike. Phil Knight is overwhelmingly honest. He openly admits to stealing documents from his supplier. His book has a brazen quality to it, a 'take-it-or-leave-it', which might have been repulsive to some, but it was also undeniably admirable. He didn't pretend that Nike was perfect from the start. He didn't pretend that he was perfect from the start.

After reading Knight's book, I feel especially resentful of Starbucks for refusing to let down its guard. It fails to inspire the hope Schultz talks so passionately about in the last page.

And it definitely seems as though all this was is one huge ad for Starbucks and one huge political campaign for Schultz.

In the last few pages, Schultz writes: We're all so hungry for a hero, for a story that rings true, that everyone can relate to. We're all eager for something upbeat, something honest, something authentic.

Absolutely right. I only wish he understood this himself.

Disappointing.

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[the broken rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

tựu trung, tớ rất ngưỡng mộ những người dám đứng lên dựng cờ khởi nghiệp, họ là những doanh nhân đáng được tôn trọng. tớ cũng có nhiều đứa bạn, tụi nó cũng khởi nghiệp, có đứa thành công, có đứa chưa, cũng có đứa bỏ luôn đi làm công chức, nhưng tất cả đều đáng trân trọng. trong Dốc hết trái tim có những đoạn viết thật cảm xúc, đến nỗi tớ có thể cảm thấy cái điều mà ổng cảm thấy luôn. phải công nhận là bác Võ Công Hùng dịch tốt quá, không ngạc nhiên khi Dốc hết trái tim được đón nhận rộng rãi và đã tái bản đến lần thứ tám.

tự truyện thì thường sẽ có nhiều mục đích, như là truyền cảm hứng này, tự sự này, để đưa ra ánh sáng những ý tưởng, suy nghĩ, tâm tư tình cảm ‘chưa bao giờ’ bộc lộ trước công chúng này, bao gồm cả chuyện đánh bóng hình ảnh cá nhân lẫn thương hiệu. tớ không có ý nói những điều ghi trong tự truyện toàn là bịa đặt, mà thực ra…ý tớ cũng gần gần như vậy, ai chẳng muốn mình tốt đẹp khi ra trước công chúng, lại là đại diện cho một đế chế cà-phê hùng mạnh nhất Thế giới nữa chứ. sau khi đọc Những kẻ xuất chúng – Outliers của Malcolm Gladwell, tớ đã được thấy một góc nhìn khác đối với ‘những người thành đạt’, và nó hình thành thói quen tò mò hơn và tự chất vấn về mọi thứ tớ tiếp nhận, thực ra cũng thú vị khi mà mình tự hỏi được như vậy.

liệu Howard Schultz có thực sự là con người trong Dốc hết trái tim? tớ không biết. tớ không phải là fan của cà-phê Starbucks, và tớ cũng không nghĩ cà-phê Starbucks là loại cà-phê ngon nhất thế giới, tớ thử rồi, nhiều lần, quá ngọt, nhưng nhất định tớ sẽ thử espresso và latte ở đây khi có dịp:). nhưng quả thật, Dốc hết trái tim đã để lại nhiều cảm hứng, suy nghĩ, rất tích cực nơi tớ. chẳng hạn như suy nghĩ như một ‘kẻ yếu thế’, kẻ yếu thế chẳng có gì, cho nên hắn bước vào cuộc đấu với tinh thần ‘không có gì để mất’ và đó trở thành nguồn sức mạnh khổng lồ nhất của hắn. ý tưởng ‘cùng nhau về đích’ và ‘công bằng với mọi người’ của Howard Schultz thực ra không mới, nhưng cách mà ông thể hiện qua chính sách nhân sự, thật đáng trân trọng. tớ cũng thấy điều này trong Tỷ phú bán giày – Delivering happiness của Tony Hsieh , CEO Zappos.com.

[Yigit Yilmaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starbucks günümüzde her ne kadar popüler kültürün bir temsilcisi olarak konumlansa da aslında o bütün dünyada kahveyi bir kültür hâline getirmiş sıra dışı bir şirket. Sahip olduğu pazarlama stratejileri, müşteri ilişkileri, büyüme atılımlarını ilginç bulduğum için bu kitabı okumak istedim ve kitap boyunca kendimi bir serüvenin içerisinde buldum.

Şirketin bu günlere gelene kadar geçirmiş olduğu zorlukları, kritik kararları, fark yaratan kampanyalarını ve kendilerinle özdeşleşen birçok inovasyonu Starbucks'ın 1987'den beri CEO'su olan Howard Schultz'un ağzından okuma fırsatı buluyorsunuz.

[Chris Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since I read 'Shoe Dog' by Phil Knight I've been searching for a similar book. This is the closest I have found. Super fun book about building Starbucks from a store that only sells coffee beans to crafting the coffee shop/espresso bar industry in America to what it is today. While it is chronicling the rise of Starbucks, Howard Schultz repeatedly comes back to the values of a strong leader and the maintenance of a respected brand's public image.

[Hachi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Đọc hơi mệt vì tác giả hơi tâng bốc bản thân quá, các sự kiện không được kể theo trình tự mà theo từng topic nên khá khó hình dung trong năm đó công ty xảy ra những sự kiện nào và cũng không hình dung ra được sự khó khăn khi giải quyết. Nhưng thực sự là “dốc hết trái tim” đó, một con người hết sức vì lý tưởng chung và riêng, hết sức ngưỡng mộ
Dù gì trước giờ là fan starbuck, đọc xong chắc phải thường xuyên ghé hơn nữa

[Mourisham Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoyed Shoe Dog, Sam Walton: Made in America, Ali Baba, The Facebook Effect.... you ought to read this as well. Among the quote i like in the book is "success should not be measured in dollars. It is about how you conduct the journey, and how big your heart is at the end of it".

[Mahima · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.5 but 4 for the first half. Super interesting to read about the history of Starbucks but the second part felt like a bit too much HR for the company stock so had to skim and skip, though I understand there must be challenges of writing about the journey/challenges of a publicly traded co. The parts with the story of Howard Schultz trying to make it though makes it worth a read.

[Elise Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since my husband is a Starbucks connoisseur, it’s only fair I read the book about their start…. My appreciation of coffee has grown! ☕️

[Paul Botterill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howard Schultz is an inspiration.He clearly shows how a commitment to his passion and clear vision can push you to achieve amazing things. Another key theme is treating your people with value and respect.

[Jack Trump · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howard Schultz is a surprisingly strong author. I came across this on accident in searching for a more recent book of his, and I really enjoyed this brief intro into the background of Starbucks and how he came to buy and scale the company.

[Parita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why would I read this book?

It starts off well with the history of how Starbucks came about and about the challenges of growing a small business but it often got redundant, especially with the term "romance of coffee" thrown around so much that it was hard to think that the author actually believed in the romanticism he is writing about. The business aspect was definitely the best part of the book and yet, it was quite lacking because it rarely went into the setbacks, challenges, or anything that could make Starbucks liable. Even as he kept mentioning that the Chicago branch was not taking off over years, the explanation of the problems and their solutions didn't seem to do justice to it.
Overall, definitely learned some lessons the author meant to share like - seeking mentors with experience, prioritizing basic employee benefits like healthcare, creating an environment where ideas can flow bottom-up, being able to hire and rely on more experienced colleagues - among others.
Though I can't say I learned something unique from it - most of these are principles that you would think are obvious.

Why would I not read this book?

I found it redundant and got extremely tired of how the author tried to force romanticism into the story. It did not feel natural and did not make sense a lot of times. Additionally, almost every story seemed like a PR stunt where he wanted Starbucks to appear as the nice guy which also gets tiring.
Overall, both the above things make the book seem dishonest which just reduces the credibility of the book for me.

Would I recommend it?

Probably not.

[Wuttipol✨ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hey, Howard. Do you remember when your company was screwing over your employees and acting as though you were doing them a favor?

[Ronit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. The last quarter just sounded defensive and while the history and story is interesting, I think it would have come across better had Howard waited and let someone else write such a flattering biography of him.

[Trang Ngo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another blah blah book told by an American about how wonderful he is.