let me begin by by saying something that
perhaps is not generally talked about in
business and it’s a word that I use to
categorize one of the chapters in the
book it’s not a word that generally is
used in business schools or in business
classes and it’s love I’ve been at
Starbucks almost 30 years and I came
back to the company in January of o8
because of unbridled enthusiasm and love
and affection for the company and
200,000 people who wear the green apron
and my deep responsibilities to them and
their families to restore the company
back to its rightful place and other
than my family I can honestly say that
there isn’t anything that I would not do
to defend this company and certainly
enhance its standing in the marketplace
Starbucks Coffee Company in a very
unique way not better than any other
company a set out to build a different
type of business model and that business
model was based on core values that
specifically was designed to achieve the
fragile balance between profitability
and a social conscience it’s important
that you understand that the foundation
of the company was created in a very
unique way and and that uniqueness in in
in in a very in a way that is hard to
understand but I’ll trying to explain it
is linked to me not because of my ego or
my strength of conviction but what I
experienced as a young child I grew up
in Brooklyn New York and for those of
you on the East Coast you would be
familiar with the term the projects for
those of you on the west coast it’s
federally subsidized housing
and my dad never made more than $20,000
a year we were a blue-collar lower-class
family the rent when I was a kid that my
parents were paying was 96 dollars a
month for a one-bedroom apartment and it
was a tough childhood when I was 7 years
old I came home from school 1960 and I
walked in and my father was spread on a
couch with a cast from his waist to his
ankle he had a terrible he had a series
of really bad jaws but this one
particular job was probably the worst
he was a diaper delivery man before the
invention of pampers you can imagine and
he fell on a sheet of ice and broke his
hip and an ankle and in 1960 if you were
a blue-collar worker and you got hurt on
the job you were basically dismissed
there was no workmen’s compensation
there was no health insurance and we
were just I was witnessing at the age of
7 literally the fracturing of the
American dream
and and I witnessed what my parents went
through in terms of my father’s
self-esteem and just what it was like to
be left behind now I never imagined my
wildest dreams at a kid from Brooklyn on
the other side of the tracks would one
day be in a position to be part of a
great company or certainly be in a
position to build a great company but
once I was I realized that that
imprinting moment at the age of 7 in
1960 needed to be linked to something
for the future of our company and in a
way I wanted to try and build the kind
of company that my father never got a
chance to work for so almost 26 years
ago
Starbucks became the first company in
America to provide comprehensive health
insurance and equity in the form of
stock options to every single employee
including part-time workers that was a
huge huge commitment on our part and we
did that when we were a private company
still losing money fast forward that
benefit today will cost Starbucks this
year 256
million dollars our largest single line
item on our income statement other than
the price and other than green coffee
for the whole corporation
perhaps is not generally talked about in
business and it’s a word that I use to
categorize one of the chapters in the
book it’s not a word that generally is
used in business schools or in business
classes and it’s love I’ve been at
Starbucks almost 30 years and I came
back to the company in January of o8
because of unbridled enthusiasm and love
and affection for the company and
200,000 people who wear the green apron
and my deep responsibilities to them and
their families to restore the company
back to its rightful place and other
than my family I can honestly say that
there isn’t anything that I would not do
to defend this company and certainly
enhance its standing in the marketplace
Starbucks Coffee Company in a very
unique way not better than any other
company a set out to build a different
type of business model and that business
model was based on core values that
specifically was designed to achieve the
fragile balance between profitability
and a social conscience it’s important
that you understand that the foundation
of the company was created in a very
unique way and and that uniqueness in in
in in a very in a way that is hard to
understand but I’ll trying to explain it
is linked to me not because of my ego or
my strength of conviction but what I
experienced as a young child I grew up
in Brooklyn New York and for those of
you on the East Coast you would be
familiar with the term the projects for
those of you on the west coast it’s
federally subsidized housing
and my dad never made more than $20,000
a year we were a blue-collar lower-class
family the rent when I was a kid that my
parents were paying was 96 dollars a
month for a one-bedroom apartment and it
was a tough childhood when I was 7 years
old I came home from school 1960 and I
walked in and my father was spread on a
couch with a cast from his waist to his
ankle he had a terrible he had a series
of really bad jaws but this one
particular job was probably the worst
he was a diaper delivery man before the
invention of pampers you can imagine and
he fell on a sheet of ice and broke his
hip and an ankle and in 1960 if you were
a blue-collar worker and you got hurt on
the job you were basically dismissed
there was no workmen’s compensation
there was no health insurance and we
were just I was witnessing at the age of
7 literally the fracturing of the
American dream
and and I witnessed what my parents went
through in terms of my father’s
self-esteem and just what it was like to
be left behind now I never imagined my
wildest dreams at a kid from Brooklyn on
the other side of the tracks would one
day be in a position to be part of a
great company or certainly be in a
position to build a great company but
once I was I realized that that
imprinting moment at the age of 7 in
1960 needed to be linked to something
for the future of our company and in a
way I wanted to try and build the kind
of company that my father never got a
chance to work for so almost 26 years
ago
Starbucks became the first company in
America to provide comprehensive health
insurance and equity in the form of
stock options to every single employee
including part-time workers that was a
huge huge commitment on our part and we
did that when we were a private company
still losing money fast forward that
benefit today will cost Starbucks this
year 256
million dollars our largest single line
item on our income statement other than
the price and other than green coffee
for the whole corporation
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