In the winter of 1961, 7 year-old Howard Schultz, founder and Chairman of Starbucks, was throwing snowballs with friends outside his family's apartment building in the federally subsidized Bayview Housing Projects in Brooklyn. "Howard, come inside," his mother yelled down from their 7th floor apartment. "Dad had an accident." What followed would shape him for the rest of his life. He found his father in a full-leg cast, after falling on a sheet of ice and breaking his ankle. As a result, he lost his job-and the family's medical benefits. Schultz's mother couldn't go to work because she was 7 month pregnant.
"I was surrounded by people who were working hand-to-mouth trying to pay the bills, who felt like there was no hope and they just couldn't get a break. That's something that never leaves you-never." His past influenced his whole approach to shaping, and leading a company. "I wanted to build the kind of company my father never had a chance to work for." Today, Starbucks employs 145,000 people, all of whom earn more than minimum wage, receive stock options, and get health-care benefits. Can you look back to one particular incident that inspires change?
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Day 22 of PURPOSE – use your ‘story’
Posted by iEvolution at 12:59 AM
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The book "The Success Principles" by Jack Canfield addresses this problem. His mentor, W. Clement Stone, said "Instead of seeing every difficult or challenging event as a negative, he saw it for what it could be- something that was meant to enrich him, empower him, or advance his causes."
Another quote by Napoleon Hill followed " Every negative event contains within it the seed of an equal or greater benefit."
I know Schultz renamed Il Giornale with the Starbucks name and aggressively expanded Starbucks' reach across the United States
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