1.

This is a story about dreams and responsibility.

In the memory of Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, he will never forget that night in 1961.

It was a cold winter night in New York City. When he was only 7 years old, he learned the bad news after school: his father had broken his ankle while working.

His father was an ordinary blue-collar worker, a truck driver who delivered diapers. After his father's company learned the news, he was fired in disguise.

Howard's father is the breadwinner of the family. Suddenly he had no income, no workers' compensation or medical insurance, and was sent home in a cast.

Howard still clearly remembered that he bowed his head silently while eating, listening to his parents sighing and discussing about borrowing money and dealing with overdue bills.

He also remembered his father's decadent appearance, wrapped in a plaster, leaning on the sofa and unable to go out to work, being thrown into the bottom rung of society.

Howard has always respected his father. He is a hard-working and honest man who sometimes works several jobs just to put food on the family table. He also loves his three children very much and often plays basketball with them on weekends.

However, due to his father's accident, the financial situation of this already poor family became even more difficult.

Howard, who grew up in government housing in a poor area, still cannot forget these difficult years.

In January 1988, Howard's father died of lung cancer.

This was the saddest day in Howard's life. He felt that his father, who had worked hard all his life, had never gained the dignity and meaning of life from his work.

So he silently vowed in his heart that if one day he became the boss of the company, he would not let the tragedy of his father's life happen again.

2.

Years later, Howard's family and friends will never understand what kind of magic this small company called "Starbucks" had that made him quit his job. I had a stable, high-paying and decent job in New York and went to a small coffee shop in Seattle with only 5 chain stores.

But in Howard's eyes, Starbucks was much more than what it looked like back then.

The high-quality fresh coffee sold and roasted by Starbucks, as well as the romantic Italian espresso-making art, deeply attracted him.

This career ignited his passion and his greater ambition.

He wants to rejuvenate the ancient commodity of coffee and bring the best coffee and consumption experience to consumers around the world, even if it means taking risks and giving up a comfortable and stable life.

In 1987, Howard became the CEO of Starbucks through his outstanding work performance and leadership. At that time, Starbucks only had 11 branches and a mere 100 employees.

Today, 30 years later, under his leadership, Starbucks has developed into a multinational company with 25,000 branches in 75 countries around the world, 330,000 employees and a market value of 80 billion.

Since entering China in 1999, Starbucks has opened 2,700 branches in the blink of an eye, and plans to use China as a key expansion market in the future and open more new stores.

However, these impressive achievements are not the records that make Howard most proud and proud. For him, Starbucks is a dream and a mission.

Starbucks is completely different from any company his father has ever worked for. It has proved a concept with its business success:

A company that is responsibility-oriented and works together with its employees. Companies that grow and share success can still achieve long-term profitability and gain recognition and respect from society.

Today, Starbucks has been integrated into many cities around the world and has become a part of people's lives.

Starbucks coffee shops can be seen everywhere on the streets, the green Sirens logo, and the Starbucks coffee cups held by passers-by have all become familiar scenery.

When you walk into any Starbucks store, you will find warm and friendly employees, a comfortable and romantic atmosphere, the aroma of ground coffee beans and soft music.

People rest or read here, or meet up with friends and laugh. It seems to be the best gathering place for people outside of work and family.

Starbucks is no longer just a company selling coffee, it has been integrated into people's lives.

3.

Putting aside all of Starbucks’ commercial success, Howard’s proudest achievement is that he fulfilled his childhood promise:

He founded We have built a company that is truly people-oriented and puts the value and interests of its employees first.

This is not an empty talk: Starbucks is one of the few companies in the retail industry that provides comprehensive medical insurance to all employees, and provides company stocks and options to employees, both full-time and part-time. share.

In China, after face-to-face communication with many employees, Howard made an exception and included the parents of Chinese Starbucks employees in the company's medical insurance system.

He deeply understands and respects China's national conditions and family culture. He believes that a more comprehensive insurance system will allow employees to work with greater peace of mind.

He doesn’t want his father’s tragedy to happen to other families again.

In addition, Starbucks, as a multinational company, has made great efforts around the world to protect the interests of coffee bean suppliers, protect the environment, eliminate racial discrimination and fund employee education. contribution.

Howard hopes that no matter how big Starbucks develops in the future, its basic values ??and ultimate goals will not change.

He wants Starbucks to be respected not just for its success, but for the way it succeeds.

For him, not every company's business decision is based on economic interests. This is obviously contrary to traditional business philosophy.

General companies put the interests of shareholders at the top of the list, and regard employees as screws on the assembly line. They use various methods to reduce human resource expenses and improve profits and shareholder interests.

However, Starbucks insists on putting the interests of employees at the top of the pyramid, with customers in the middle and shareholders at the bottom.

In Howard's philosophy, "employees" are a company's most important asset.

If you want to build a great sustainable company, management must closely link the company's values ??to its employees.

At Starbucks, every employee is called a "Partner", and everyone can share the benefits and pride brought by the company's business success.

When a person invests their emotions and dreams in their work, they will put their heart into it, do a better job, and constantly meet and exceed customer expectations.

Once employees have confidence and dignity, they will contribute more: to their families, to society, and to the world.

4.

Howard’s childhood experience enabled him to develop a character of empathy, compassion and respect for others, and this character of his is deeply It has influenced Starbucks’ corporate culture.

He firmly believes that a person must follow his heart (Follow your heart).

Everyone has an inner direction. We all have a series of standards from our inner instincts about what is most important, and we use these standards as a guide to make life choices.

For Howard and Starbucks, this criterion is neither profit, nor sales, nor the number of stores opened, but the corporate responsibility and mission: to find a way to give back to employees, customers and society.

Every time he held a shareholder meeting, he would imagine two chairs in his mind, one with Starbucks employees sitting on it, and the other with Starbucks customers sitting on it.

For every business decision, he will ask himself, will the company's decision make employees and customers proud?

If the answer is no, he will think again and look for better possibilities until he finds a positive answer.

There are some words that appear frequently in Howard's words:

These words have never appeared in business school textbooks, but he has integrated these spirits into the culture of Starbucks and established The company's core values, and at the same time achieved great commercial success.

Howard's corporate definition of Starbucks is:

"We are a performance-driven company based on humanistic spirit and care."

Through his unique "humanistic spirit" and corporate culture, he brought Starbucks to an unprecedented new height.

5.

Howard once told a story in his speech at Tsinghua University.

When Starbucks opened its first store in South Africa, he had face-to-face conversations with local employees. Many employees come from very poor local families. Their situation is pitiful, but they are full of hope for the future.

In his conversations with them, Howard repeatedly heard an African word he had never heard before: "Ubuntu." He curiously asked what the word meant.

The local employee couldn’t wait to tell him that “Ubuntu” is a word often used by South Africa’s national hero Nelson Mandela, which means:

It illustrates a universal truth:

We can have everything we have now because of the selfless help of many people.

Without the presence of others, we would never be who we are.

This idea touched Howard very much and caused a lot of screams.

He hopes that we can all firmly remember the meaning behind this word, know how to be grateful, repay your family, company, society and country, and continue to pass on this value.

Starbucks led by Howard did it. He used his unique values ??and code of conduct to build a great company that gives back to employees, customers, society and the world.

6.

Howard has written two corporate and personal biographies about Starbucks:

"Pour your Heard Into It" and "Pour your Heard Into It" Onwards.

These two books are not only wonderful business books, but also chicken soup for the soul full of wisdom and positive energy.

He hopes to convey two messages through his book:

First of all, each of us should cheer up and bravely chase our dreams.

Howard was born in a poor family without any family background or social connections, but he had a bold American dream and turned it into reality through personal efforts.

His story explains the true meaning of the American Dream: a person's origin does not determine his future, and everyone can create a better life through personal efforts.

Follow your heart and move forward to pursue your dreams. Don’t be easily knocked down by the difficulties and failures on the way to pursuing your dreams, persevere, and always maintain curiosity and a sense of responsibility.

If you devote yourself wholeheartedly to your work and career and pour your heart into it, you will be able to realize dreams that others think are impossible, and life will become more meaningful because of it.

Secondly, we should all set more meaningful goals for ourselves.

The best success is not the success of one person, but the success of the team and the success shared with each other.

If all you are doing now is just to make money and gain more wealth for yourself, your heart will be full of emptiness.

And when you think about giving back to others and working hard with others to achieve success as a member of a team, the joy and sense of accomplishment you gain will be much greater.

Just like Howard wrote in the book: If victory does not just come from the efforts of one person, but is the result of many people working together, it becomes more meaningful.

When we reach the end of victory, we should not only be surrounded by people cheering for you, but should be surrounded by people cheering with you. Sharing success with others is an extremely joyful feeling.

I hope we can all pursue our dreams bravely and learn to share the fruits of success with others: