We all love StarBucks, don’t we? And, the famous café has been consistent in serving quality caffeine and beverages.
But, what may come up as a surprise is the entire story behind this multi-national food chain.
The founder and former CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz was born and bought up in a society for poor and disabled at Brooklyn, New York.
But, (literally) the grass on the other side of (Howard’s) fence much-much greener. Because just beside his poor society was the multi million dollar apartments where he could see all sorts of rich people going or coming every then and now.
WHEN Growing up, I always felt like I was living on the other side of the tracks. I knew the people on the other side had more resources, more money, happier families. And for some reason, I don’t know why or how I wanted to climb over that fence and achieve something beyond what people were saying was possible.
So, Howard was always fascinated by the idea of a rich and luxurious lifestyle. His poor and underdeveloped livelihood added to his desperation to become wealthy.
Looking at those rich people was like a rag rat looking at cat’s milk.
Eventually, Howard found his escape in football and basketball. He ended up receiving a sports scholarship by winning a football tournament. He went to complete his higher education at the University of Northen Michigan.
During his graduation days, he started figuring out his way to climb his childhood dream. Being rich was now synonymous with being successful to Howards.
He planned and took a job at Xerox. He worked there for 2 years, saving whatever he could and purchased an old coffee shop called The StarBucks.
Howards Schultz became its CEO in 1987.
At that time, that café had only 60 outlets of it in total, the majority of them within the state. Howard jumped aggressively into the market and grew Starbucks with over 1600 outlets in various parts of the world.
Soon, Starbucks became the common man’s coffee bar and every writer’s favorite garage. It gathered a huge returning customer base due to its superior quality of beverages and peaceful ambiance inside.
As of today, Howard’s net worth is 3.1 billion USD.
He recently resigned from his post of CEO to become the Executive Chairman and has also been an active member of the Democratic, a major political party in the USA.
Howard has taught us how firm vision and sharp planning can lead us to our dreams. More importantly, he believes in being a good and hard working person. He now says-
Being IMPORTANT is definitely good but being good is more important. A twelve years old kid didn’t know what it takes to become rich… the pathway to all that money and luxury etc. But, today I am in a position to say that I may have a suit and tie ON now, but I know where I’m from and I know what it’s like.
