Anytime the multi-billion-dollar coffee behemoth that is Starbucks has faced trials and tribulations, Howard Schultz has been the man they’ve turned to for salvation. Schultz has long been a name synonymous with the beloved coffee brand, with his involvement dating all the way back to 1987.
But as Schultz puts it, he was often far from certain with regards to some of the harder decisions to be made, which is why he turned to Apple founder Steve Jobs for advice. It turns out that Jobs told Schultz exactly how to run things in the harshest of terms, “screaming” in Schultz’s face and laying bare several lessons that he would ultimately learn himself the hard way.
1987 was the year that Schultz and local Seattle investors purchased the brand and began the large-scale reappraisal and marketing ventures that would lead to it becoming one of the most successful businesses in America. Schultz stayed on as CEO until 2000, when he took on the title of chief strategist of global expansion. However, Schultz would ultimately return to the role of CEO both in 2008, as the company grappled with the financial fallout of the recession, and in 2022, as the company struggled to get back on its feet following the pandemic.
Returning in 2008, Schultz stepped back into a role that he knew all too well but was surrounded by a team that he was largely unfamiliar with. To get his bearings, Schultz turned to legendary Apple founder Steve Jobs for advice.
As Schultz described it on the Acquired podcast, “[Jobs] had a whole thing about walking. He would go out and would walk around… And so I went down there, and basically, we took a walk. I just told him all my problems—everything that was going on. He just stopped me and said, ‘This is what you need to do.’ He looked at me and said, ‘You go back to Seattle, and you fire everyone on your leadership team.’ I thought he was joking.”
When Schultz incredulously pushed back against Jobs’ harsh words, he simply responded with, “Fire all those people—that’s what I would do. I promise you, in six months, maybe nine, they’ll all be gone.”
Ultimately, Schultz resisted Jobs’ advice, declining to fire anyone, but he was ultimately proven right. Every member of the board except for one had left within the timeframe Jobs predicted. Schultz goes on to say, “I talked to him since then. We were on stage together at an event, and I told him, ‘They’re all gone.’ He said, ‘Well, you’re six months, nine months late. Think about all the things you could’ve done.’”
Ultimately, Jobs’ cold and objective take on Schultz’s problem was a harsh but honest assessment that he regrets not listening to. Schultz goes on to equate the wasted time and effort of the period with another failing: his failure to copyright the phrase ‘caffe latte.’
“We introduced caffe latte to America. We didn’t trademark it… I wasn’t thinking,” Schultz concludes.
