Quotes from Howard Schultz

Do I take criticism of Starbucks personally? Of course I do.

When you're surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.

Starbucks is in my blood. It is such a part of me that letting it unravel simply was not an option.

Success is the by-product when you work toward the target.

I really believe that you cannot use the stock market as a proxy for the economy.

I think people will walk into the Starbucks store and overnight recognize the significant difference between what Starbucks represents day-in and day-out and all the other coffee companies that have been serving coffee in India for so many years.

We have a big opportunity in China. We think the number of stores here can rival the number in North America.

Starbucks has stores in America in many, many communities that are governed by many, many different municipalities. Starbucks cannot dictate to a municipality in Cincinnati or Kansas City or Sacramento how or why or when there should be a recycling program.

California, in a sense, is almost Starbucks' largest country, with almost 3,000 stores.

Europe has always represented a major strategic opportunity to achieve our goal of creating and building an enduring global brand.

As Americans, there are very few things we have confidence in.

My biggest concern is that America is drifting towards mediocrity and that people don't recognize - and by people I'm meaning Washington - don't recognize the sense of urgency and the fact that I don't think this is a crisis anymore. I think it's an emergency.

When we began Starbucks, what I wanted to try to do was to create a set of values, guiding principles, and culture.

If you pour your heart into your work, or into any worthy enterprise, you can achieve dreams others may think impossible.

People ask me what's the most important function when you're starting an organization or setting up the kind of culture and values that are going to endure. The discipline I believe so strongly in is H.R., and its the last discipline that gets funded.

Often, organizations need bold, grand gestures to galvanize people towards a new mission or refocus their attention.

If Vancouver did not succeed as Starbucks from '87 on, our entire international business, which is now thousands of stores and a significant amount of growth and profit, may not have existed.

My son is trying to be a sports writer, and my daughter is a college student. She wants to be a comedy writer, and she's at film school. I discouraged both of them early on from getting involved in Starbucks. I didn't think it would be fair; plus, they didn't have any interest anyway.

We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee.

Grow with discipline. Balance intuition with rigor. Innovate around the core. Don't embrace the status quo.

I never took classic business classes in college, so I don't have the background that any of the people running large companies have.

Managing a business, small or large, today requires an extremely disciplined, thoughtful approach with regard to the pressure that people are under.

Grow with discipline. Balance intuition with rigor. Innovate around the core. Don't embrace the status quo.

I believe life is a series of near misses. A lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It's seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It's seeing what other people don't see And pursuing that vision.