Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul – Bargain Price Author: Visit Amazon's Howard Schultz Page | Language: English | ISBN:
B005X48XN4 | Format: PDF
Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul – Bargain Price Description
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2011:
Onward is not a puff piece. In just under 400 brisk pages, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz details the multitude of factors--the recession, new consumer behavior, overexpansion--that led to the company's downturn during 2007-2008. Obviously, Schultz was successful, and his book has plenty of valuable lessons about management and leadership--standard features for most business books. But the most interesting thing about
Onward is Schultz's honesty about the whole process, from his determination to make difficult personnel changes to his admission that he considers it a personal failure when he sees someone with a competitor's cup of coffee. Schultz even makes the chapters about his agonies over the company's breakfast sandwiches a fascinating study in the minute decisions that go into running a multibillion-dollar company. Conflicts, raw emotions, high stakes:
Onward is a business book that goes beyond feel-good maxims and actually has a story to tell.
--Darryl Campbell From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In 2000, Starbuck's founder and CEO Schultz (Pour Your Heart into It) stepped down from daily oversight of the company and assumed the role of chairman. Eight years later, in the midst of the recession and a period of decline unprecedented in the company's recent history, Schultz-feeling that the soul of his brand was at risk-returned to the CEO post. In this personal, suspenseful, and surprisingly open account, Schultz traces his own journey to help Starbucks reclaim its original customer-centric values and mission while aggressively innovating and embracing the changing landscape of technology. From the famous leaked memo that exposed his criticisms of Starbucks to new product strategies and rollouts, Schultz bares all about the painful yet often exhilarating steps he had to take to turn the company around. Peppered with stories from his childhood in tough Canarsie, N.Y., neighborhoods, his sequel to the founding of Starbucks is grittier, more gripping, and dramatic, and his voice is winning and authentic. This is a must-read for anyone interested in leadership, management, or the quest to connect a brand with the consumer. (Mar.)
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- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Rodale Books (March 29, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1119977231
- ISBN-13: 978-1119977230
- ASIN: B005X48XN4
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Author, Jim Collins got it right when he said "Good-to-Great transformations don't happen without level 5 leaders at the helm, they just don't". Howard Schultz demonstrates his level 5 skills, which are a paradoxical combination of personal humility and professional will. Throughout the transformation outlined in this book, Starbucks seemed to methodically and systematically align all the elements required to not only reinvigorate the Starbucks experience, but to also plan on how to make long term changes that would significantly reduce costs and improve customer service making the company a fierce competitor once again. All of this while focusing on finding Starbucks Soul.
It has been fun to watch the company change direction and remember what made the company so great and learn how they have been able to embrace the qualities needed to rebuild their enduring greatness. The recipe seems so simple, but Howard Schultz shows us how difficult it can be to change with the times and embrace challenges such as environmental issues, political divides, and economic uncertainties all adding to the looming recession we were all about to experience. Their savvy strategies to recruit past partners who had the passion and skills to innovate and improve the in-store experience were brilliant! This was the shortest path to the customer and Howard Schultz was smart enough to surround himself with experienced passionate partners who knew how to execute with precision.
I was a former partner at Starbucks and have incredibly fond memories of the people and experiences that I feel so fortunate to have been a part of. Starbucks was and is a great company and Howard Schultz does a great job of sharing his personal journey and sharing what it means to be an entrepreneur.
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