What Starbucks and Howard Schultz Can Teach You About Business
Recently, Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, announced that he will be replaced by Kevin Johnson. Johnson has served on Starbucks’ board for the last seven years and has acted as the Chief Operations Officer since 2015. Here’s what Starbucks and Howard Schultz can teach you about business.
It’s All About Your Presence in the Market
Starbucks has 22,000 locations throughout the world. In addition to their physical locations, you can buy Starbucks coffee to make in your home or office. Let’s not forget the premade beverages that are also found in most gas stations in grocery stores. Even if you don’t like their coffee or tea, you can get access to it without much effort.
The existence and expansion of Starbucks teaches that it’s all about your presence in the market. Are you present in enough places online and offline to reach your target market? It can take a lot of time to build up your presence and to build a positive brand image, but it’s an absolute necessity.
Investing in Your Team Members
One of the unique features that attracts people to working for Starbucks is the benefits that they provide for their team members. They provide health benefits. They have an initiative in place to actively recruit veterans of the armed forces. Starbucks also assists their team members with college tuition.
The benefits that Starbucks provides to their employees may seem costly especially if you’re a small business. Yet, it does teach that investing in the well-being of your team members creates a better work environment that people want to be part of. If you can’t afford to provide reimbursement for college tuition, look for other alternatives. Even small perks can go a long way to show your employees that you appreciate them.
Doing What’s Best for the Company
If we were to devote the entire post to Howard Schultz, we could point out numerous things that all business owners could learn. Yet, the most important one is that Schultz does what is best for the company. Schultz isn’t leaving Starbucks corporate headquarters. He’s simply moving to another position and allowing another person who is well qualified to lead the charge into the future.
Schultz has now served as CEO twice for the company. He left his position as CEO in 2000 and returned when the company faced a financial crisis in 2008. Now he is stepping down as CEO, but will play what some see as a more important part of the company: social impact. This includes developing new technologies. Schultz believes that the current management team of Starbucks is better prepared to move forward with the company than the previous team of management that existed when he helped the company navigate through financial uncertainty almost nine years ago.
All business owners understand the importance of doing what is best for the company. Without smart decisions made in the company’s best interest, companies suffer from financial setback and some are even forced to shut down. Howard Schultz reminds us all that our decisions should be made in the best interest of business.
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