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.
I've said it for four decades - work 'on' your business, not just 'in' your business!
If your customer base is aging with you, then eventually you are going to become obsolete or irrelevant. You need to be constantly figuring out who are your new customers and what are you doing to stay forever young.
I think one of the things people don't understand is we can build more shareholder value by lowering product prices than we can by trying to raise margins. It's a more patient approach, but we think it leads to a stronger, healthier company. It also serves customers much, much better.
Positive and engaged brains are a company's greatest assets. More than time and even more than productivity, people must be happy.
If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not, you're putting yourself out of business.
When you are in business for a long time, you go through good times and bad times. When you go through bad times, you learn to control costs, satisfy customers better, satisfy employees better and become more transparent. Therefore, you build character in the company.
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