There's an energy and excitement when you're building a company. You have so much tail wind. You're planting new seeds. But it's also scary, because there's no safety net.
Interpretation
Building a company is both exhilarating and risky, offering opportunities and uncertainties.
In this quote, Howard Schultz captures the dual nature of entrepreneurship. While there is a thrilling momentum and the opportunity to innovate and grow when starting a company, there is also an inherent risk due to the lack of guaranteed security or safety nets. This combination of excitement and fear is what characterizes the entrepreneurial journey.
In practice
During a business seminar on entrepreneurship, this quote can inspire budding entrepreneurs to embrace both the excitement and challenges of building their ventures.
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.
Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.
I didn't even start playing the piano until I was about 13 or 14. I guess I must have had a little talent or whatever-you-call-it, but I practised regularly, and that's what counts.
Complexity is the enemy of execution!
To succeed in business it is necessary to make others see things as you see them.
Itβs okay. Let your ego push you to be the initiator. But tell your ego that the best way to get something shipped is to let other people take the credit. The real win for you (and your ego) is seeing something get shipped, not in getting the credit when it does.
The surest path to success is to surround yourself with brilliant women
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