Schultz, Howard, and Joanne Gordon. Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul. New York, NY: Rodale, 2011. Amazon. Web. 28 Jan. 2012.
Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul describes a great corporate comeback from America’s recent recession. Howard Schultz, Starbucks founder and CEO, co-wrote the book with Joanne Gordon. Onward begins with a situation most businesses wouldn’t consider. On a Tuesday in February 2008, Starbucks closed all locations for an employee training program, which helped Starbucks perfect its product and customer experience. From this point, Schultz backtracks and describes the history of the organization, from its founding to the present turmoil.
Schultz resigned from his CEO position in 2000 but was still involved as Starbucks’s chairman of the board. During this time, the company established itself as a premier coffeehouse and focused its efforts on growth. The company opened thousands of new locations worldwide within just a few years. This emphasis on growth and comps illustrates why Starbucks began to fail: the company sacrificed its core principles for increased profits.
When Schultz returned as CEO in 2008, he returned to a failing company. He attempted to revitalize the company, helping Starbucks executives and employees find passion in their jobs. Schultz describes the challenges he faced and how he and his team overcame each one by implementing change without compromising their respect for people and the environment. Starbucks crafted a seven-point transformation agenda, helping to realign the company with its initial values, and created a new mission statement in an effort to become successful again. Ultimately, this book explains Starbucks’s effort to rebuild a company that “inspires and nurtures the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”
Reading Onward, it’s not difficult to see why Starbucks became successful under Schultz’s leadership. His intuition guides his decision making and frequently proves his instincts correct. During the restructuring, he made tough choice that were often unpopular, like giving consumers an outlet to critique Starbucks at mystarbucksidea.com. However, the website gave the company ideas that contributed to its comeback. Schultz states he doesn’t believe in one recipe for success. However, he says, “I do think effective leaders share two intertwined attributes: an unbridled level of confidence about where their organizations are headed, and the ability to bring people along.”
I firmly agree with Shultz’s approach to management. His refusal to reduce the employee healthcare plan is reminiscent of class discussions on ethics. As the CEO of Maiden Mills recognized, some of a company’s most valuable assets are its employees. Schultz shows he values Starbucks employees by refusing to reduce their health plan, which includes coverage for part-time employees. He also showed his commitment to the company’s stakeholders by retraining management and baristas instead of just issuing layoffs. Shultz made an effort to fix the problem, not just find a temporary solution.
Leaders should also have vision. Because of Schultz’s vision, Starbucks reclaimed success, which is akin to Steve Jobs’s return to Apple. To return to the vision Shultz originally established for Starbucks, he organized a company-wide volunteer effort to assist New Orleans after Katrina hit. He fostered additional socially responsible initiatives, like purchasing Fair Trade coffee and building green stores, to emphasize the company’s commitment to its supporters and not just to its profit margins.
Onward is a great read for PR students, especially those interested in corporate social responsibility. Within these 350 pages, Schultz discusses crisis communication, business planning and other communications issues. In many ways, this book represents an abbreviated case study. More importantly, the book highlights responsible management and sustainable business practices, demonstrating how companies can succeed without devaluing employees and global resources.
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