A great business has to have a conscience. You have to know who you are and who you are not.
Interpretation
A successful business must operate with integrity and self-awareness.
Howard Schultz emphasizes the importance of ethical values and self-identity in business. He argues that a great business should have a conscience, understanding its core principles and the impact of its actions on society, which ultimately guides its decision-making and fosters trust with customers and employees alike.
In practice
In a seminar about ethical business practices, one could cite this quote to highlight the value of conscience in company operations.
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.
The antidote to inequality is equality. The question is how do you achieve equality? I believe that, for business, which is where I can speak, we have to shift from shareholder maximization to stakeholder maximization.
The idea that business is strictly a numbers affair has always struck me as preposterous. For one thing, I've never been particularly good at numbers, but I think I've done a reasonable job with feelings. And I'm convinced that it is feelings - and feelings alone - that account for the success of the Virgin brand in all of its myriad forms.
Market leaders inevitably slip into decline when they tell the people what they want instead of giving the people what they want.
You have family-owned businesses that have been around for 500 years. You cannot name a corporation that survives intact for even a few decades.
Customer service shouldn't just be A department, it should be the entire company.
The best client is a scared millionaire.
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