When you start a company, it's a singular focus. You have the wind at your back.
Interpretation
Starting a company requires intense focus and energy, especially when you have initial momentum.
This quote by Howard Schultz emphasizes the importance of dedication and concentration when launching a new business. It suggests that in the early stages of building a company, entrepreneurs experience a unique motivation and support that propels their efforts forward, akin to having the wind at their back, driving them towards success.
In practice
During a startup pitch meeting to inspire investors.
The rules of engagement around building a brand have changed significantly over the past 10 to 15 years. Where companies at one time could spread their message through traditional marketing, consumers now seek an enduring emotional connection with the companies they patronize. The foundation of that connection is the most important characteristic of building a world-class brand: trust. Trust with your people and trust with your customers.
The future of America is not an entitlement. We have been given a treasure chest of gifts and opportunities, but some people are being left behind, and success is not sustainable unless it is shared.
Starbucks is not an advertiser; people think we are a great marketing company, but in fact we spend very little money on marketing and more money on training our people than advertising.
While their service is ending, our responsibility is just beginning!
In life, you can blame a lot of people and you can wallow in self-pity or you can pick yourself up and say listen, I have to be responsible for myself.
When I first discovered in the early 1980s the Italian espresso bars in my trip to Italy, the vision was to re-create that for America - a third place that had not existed before. Starbucks re-created that in America in our own image; a place to go other than home or work. We also created an industry that did not exist: specialty coffee.
There are two ways to extend a business. Take inventory of what you're good at and extend out from your skills. Or determine what your customers need and work backward, even if it requires learning new skills. Kindle is an example of working backward.
Not adding value is the same as taking it away.
Competition should not be for a share of the market-but to expand the market.
As long as you keep doing the right thing and have the best product, you can beat the bigger company.
In the Machine Age, the company itself became a machine - a machine for making money.
China is very entrepreneurial but has no rule of law. Europe has rule of law but isn't entrepreneurial. Combine rule of law, entrepreneurialism and a generally pro-business policy, and you have Apple.
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