Long Term Vision

Early on Schultz realized that the key to his success was to recruit well-educated people who were eager to communicate their passion for coffee. This, he felt, would be his competitive advantage in an industry where turnover was 300 percent a year.

To hire the best people, he also knew he must be willing to pay them more than the going wage and offer health benefits that weren't available elsewhere. He saw that part-time people made up two-thirds of his employee base and no one in the industry offered benefits to part-timers.

Schultz went to work in an effort to encourage his board of directors to increase expenses while most restaurant executives in the 1980's were looking for ways to cut costs. Initially Schultz's pleas to investors and the board fell on deaf ears because Starbucks was still losing money.

But Schultz was persistent. He was looking long term and was committed to growing the business with passionate people. He won, and he said many times afterward that this decision was one of the most important decisions, if not the most important, that he made at Starbucks.

His employee retention rate was about five times the industry average, but more importantly, he could attract people with great attitudes who made their customers feel welcome and at home.

As a leader, Schultz realized early on that Starbucks wasn't a coffee business serving people...they were a people business serving coffee. This simple but powerful insight was the foundation upon which his long term vision was built.

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