Howard Schultz is an American entrepreneur and he was known as the

former CEO of Starbucks, which is the famous global coffeehouse chain. He

was born on July 19, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. Schultz joined the company
in 1982 and he played a pivotal role in shaping Starbucks into the iconic brand
today. After a trip to Italy, he wanted to introduce espresso beverages to
Starbucks and change Starbucks to not only be a place to sell coffee beans, but
also a place to enjoy a premium coffee experience in a comfortable and inviting
atmosphere.
Starbucks expanded quickly under Schultz's direction, both nationally and
globally. The brand gained recognition for its dedication to providing
consumers with a special "third place" between home and work, ethical
sourcing methods, and high-quality coffee. Although Schultz left his position as
CEO in 2000, he came back in 2008, when the company was going through a
difficult time. He was instrumental in reviving Starbucks and putting the
company's emphasis back on innovation and the customer experience.
Howard Schultz's leadership style that I learned about and analyzed is the
democratic leadership.
Section 1: Go for broke of Howard Schultz
In the past, Starbucks was known as a coffee bean retailer. One time when he
had a summer trip to Italy, he visited many bars serving Espresso. Right there,
the shop owner knows each customer by name and serves his customer unique
beverages such as Campuchino, Latte coffee. Like a ritual, Italians come back
to the same coffee bar everyday. At that moment, he began to deeply understand
the personal relationship between coffee and people. This is not a beverage but
also it has much more value. He began to believe that Starbucks should serve
Italy’s Espresso beverage instead of selling coffee beans. After this trip, he
came back to the company and showed his idea but no one agreed with his idea.
Therefore, he decided to establish his own company serving coffee beverages.
After he had enough finances, he purchased Starbucks outright and became a
CEO of Starbucks. At that time, America did not have coffee like latte, espresso
or cappuccino and he took that opportunity and developed it at the company he
was working for. When he did not get the approval of the founders of Starbucks,
he did something that no one expected: instead of convincing the founders, he
made his own money and purchased Starbucks' company outright and became
CEO.
Through the above ideas, I admire him for his bravery and daring to speak out
his own ideas to the founders. When we have our ideas rejected by people in
higher positions than us, we tend not to implement those ideas because they
think those ideas cannot succeed.
Section 2: Always take care of his employees’ interests
Howard Schultz is famous for taking care of his employees. He not only
rewards his employees materially, but he also cares about his employees'
interests. He created a program to pay insurance for both full-time and part-time
employees instead of paying for full - time.
Throughout his career at Starbucks, Schultz said his top priority was employee
benefits. He always buys insurance for his employees, even when working part-
time because his childhood experiences and the obsession with his father's death
without benefits made him care deeply about the lives of his employees. The
senior manager also distributed shares to his employees. In 2014, Starbucks
announced that it would pay college fees for employees. He did it because he
wanted to make personal relationships with the leader and his employees and
achieve the best results for the coffee house chain.
Schultz values employees as gods which also facilitates innovation and
development. He encourages employees to participate in the making-decision
process and propose new ideas, creating a flexible environment and
encouraging creativity. This helps the organization adapt quickly to the
changing and progressive business environment.
Section 3: Always listening his employees' opinions
After taking over as CEO, Howard Schultz asked people to write emails directly
to him to express their opinions. Immediately he received 5,000 emails. He is
willing to listen to employees' opinions because he believes that employees'
opinions are very important to understand the company's situation and come up
with appropriate strategies. Howard Schultz once asked Starbucks to stop
selling cheese sandwiches for breakfast because some employees complained
that the smell of the cake overwhelmed the aroma of coffee – which is a main
product.
Listening to the opinions of Mr. Howard Schultz's employees has helped him
achieve the following results:
- Listening to employees will create trust between leaders and followers, which
encourages everyone to give comments and share opinions with each other. At
the same time, the power distance is shortened and that makes their employees
feel valued and influential in the decisions and direction of the organization.
- Enhance the organization's creativity and innovation: To be able to survive in
an ever-changing market, it is very important to always innovate
What you have learnt from that leader
From the CEO of Starbucks, I learned a lot of lessons from him. Starting from
when he had the idea to change Starbucks from a coffee bean retailer into one of
the most famous coffee house chains in the world, I learned the courage to dare
to speak up my ideas. Moreover, he inspired me that no matter what people
reject or criticize, we should still try and let go of those judgments.
Another lesson I learned was about the importance of creating a positive
organizational culture. Schultz always encourages innovation and creativity, and
creates a flexible and motivating work environment. Schultz advocates hiring
employees from all walks of life and cultures, and allowing them to develop and
advance based on their abilities and performance, not on any other criteria. I
understand that creating a fair and diverse work environment not only creates
fairness and justice but also creates a diverse and creative workforce.
Action plan for yourself to improve your leadership (0.5)
To improve my leadership ability, I have the following plan
1. Self-discipline: I once heard a saying from singer Vu Cat Tuong that
discipline will take you to places where motivation cannot reach. Self-discipline
will help me improve my procrastination more.
2. Self-assessment: Evaluate what your strengths and weaknesses are and from
there find a clearer way to overcome them.
3. Better organization and time management: good time management will help
me do more, helping me always be ready to do something