Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Build a Company One Cup at a Time [Hardcover]

Howard Schultz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0788195336 | ISBN-13: 978-0788195334 | Publication Date: November 2000

The chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Starbucks tells how he and his team built a small Seattle company into a nationwide business phenomenon through such anti-corporate principles as community-mindedness and employee-ownership. $300,000 ad/promo. Tour."

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Since 1987, Starbucks's star has been on the rise, growing from 11 Seattle, WA-based stores to more than 1,000 worldwide. Its goals grew, too, from the more modest, albeit fundamental one of offering high-quality coffee beans roasted to perfection to, more recently, opening a new store somewhere every day. An exemplary success story, Starbucks is identified with innovative marketing strategies, employee-ownership programs, and a product that's become a subculture.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, a manager, a marketer, or a curious Starbucks loyalist, Pour Your Heart into It will let you in on the revolutionary Starbucks venture. CEO Howard Schultz recounts the company's rise in 24 chapters, each of which illustrates such core values as "Winning at the expense of employees is not victory at all." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks, and writer-researcher Yang trace the growth and development of Starbucks from a single store in Seattle, which in 1973 sold only dark-roasted coffee beans, to the international business it has become today. Schultz does not conceal his passion for good coffee or for his company. His initial goals were to introduce Americans to really fine coffee, provide people with a "third place" to gather, and treat his employees with dignity. The extent to which he succeeded and the obstacles encountered along the way are the subjects he tackles here. This is not, in the strictest sense, a how-to book despite its considerable detail but more a motivational title. Recommended for large public libraries.?Joseph C. Toschik, Half Moon Bay P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Diane Pub Co (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0788195336
• ISBN-13: 978-0788195334
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (161 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,971,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You will never look at Starbucks the same way again, April 10, 2004

By 

Michael Erisman (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time (Paperback)

This is one of the best business biographies I have ever read. It is truly inspiring. One simple, and telling, output from reading this book on a plane was that as soon as we landed I headed to the local airport Starbucks for a latte. I rarely even drink coffee! So powerful are the imagery and the passion for coffee in his story that you can almost smell the roasted dark beans, feel them running through your fingers, hear the sounds of the espresso machine and taste the coffee itself!

Why is this imagery so important? Because behind the corporate image of a relentless pac-man like machine churning out new locations at a rate slightly above the national birth rate it seems, is a simple vision of passion for coffee combined with Italian neighborhoods and a warm and friendly place where the worlds best coffee and social friendship intermix. That is what Starbucks was all about.

The book itself is a remarkable insight into this journey. It was even more special for me, as I grew up with Starbucks - literally. When Howard talks about the vision he had to treat even his part time employees with full benefits and ownership in the company through stock, I know it was more than just a nice sounding corporate manta, it really worked. Friends I went to high school with in Bellevue in the mid to late 1980's worked at the first stores, and raved about this little coffee company and couldn't imagine working anywhere else. So, from firsthand experience I can tell you that what he says about the passion and vision coming to life in Seattle is all true

While company history is quite interesting, and the book itself just hums and glides without ever getting mundane, the real gems are in the emotional reality Howard displays. He talks about being overwhelmed to tears, about the rejection he faced while trying to get funding for his fledgling company, about the naysayers and others who nearly took it all away, and the struggle with having a hand in everything and slowly letting go. You know that you are reading about a real person, someone who came from a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn with working-class roots, not an image generated by a large corporations PR spin doctors

The value of people, so often lost in corporate bureaucracy, is evident here. Starbucks grew because it struck an emotional chord with people. He knew that in order for the company to be successful he needed people who shared the values. This is often spoken of, and rarely practiced in the corporate world where systems, forecasts, processes and other such tools become the focal point, and the simple fact that all results come through people is lost. He speaks throughout the book of people who helped him, coached him, mentored him, challenged him, and made the company what it was. One quote in particular summarizes his views: "If people relate to the company they work for, if they form an emotional tie to it and buy into its dreams, they will pour their heart into making it better." (Page 6) This theme comes through in every decision.

Overall, this is a wonderful book, and is truly inspiring. I would work for him tomorrow, if it really still is the way it's portrayed here. I encourage you to read this book and see your neighborhood Starbucks in a new light.

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars drips of truth and passion..., January 17, 2000

By 

JITENDRA MUCHHAL - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time (Hardcover)

Starbucks- the very name conjures up images of a brand not of coffee, but of passion , love, sincerity and superb customer service; that the coffee too is great (though expensive)is an added plus.. But here is a brand in the most common of products and having arrived to the top of the minds in less than a decade- how did it all happen? Pour Your Heart Into It is a fascinating saga of the Starbucks journey, written by the man -Howard Shultz- who made it happen! This is one of the best business biographies I have ever read for its storytelling of a person"s passion to his idea and then betting his life and much much more onto it.. While going through the book, I came across some very inspiring and meaningful quotes, either mentioned in the beginning of the chapter or as part of the narrative, here are some of them which have stayed with me even today months after I finished reading the book Highly recommended book for anybody who wants to live- and maybe die- by his or her BIG IDEA! Amazes me how in prime Mid Town Manhattan ;how a mere coffee store can have probably 8 shops in a 6 blocks radius - around 42nd and Madison but Starbucks is not coffee any more; I do not say now" Lets have coffee", we just say"Lets have a Starbucks"!

POUR YOUR HEART HEART INTO IT:

1. A HUNDRED TIMES EVERY DAY I REMIND MYSELF THAT MY INNER AND OUTER LIVES DEPENDED ON LABORS OF OTHER MEN,LIVING OR DEAD AND THAT I MUST EXERT MYSELF IN ORDER TO GIVE IN THE SAME MEASURE THAT I RECIEVED.....

2.IF IT CAPTURES YOUR IMAGINATION..IT WILL PROBABLY CAPTIVATE OTHERS TOO.

3.SOME MEN SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE AND SAY..WHY. I DREAM THINGS THAT NEVER WERE AND ASK..WHY NOT!

4.IF YOU SAY NEVER HAD A CHANCE,,PERHAPS YOU NEVER TOOK A CHANCE.

5.VISION IS WHAT THEY CALL IT WHEN YOU CAN SEE WHAT OTHERS CAN NOT SEE

6.WHENEVER YOU SEE A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS...SOMEBODY SOMEDAY MUST HAVE MADE A COURAGEOUS DECISION...

7.WE JUDGE OURSELVES BY WHAT WE FEEL CAPABLE OF DOING.. WHILE OTHERS JUDGE US BY WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY DONE...

8.SOMETIMES..SINCERITY SELLS BETTER THAN BUSINESS PLANS

9.THE ULTIMATE MEASURE OF A MAN IS NOT WHERE HE STANDS IN MOMENTS OF COMFORT AND CONVINIENCE ,BUT WHERE HE STAND AT TIMES OF CHALLENGE AND ADVERSITY...

10.EVERYTHING MATTERS

11.WHEN YOU SEE THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME..MOVE QUICKLY

12.A 100 STOREY BUILDING NEEDS A FIRM FOUNDATION

13.DO NOT BE THREATENED Y MEN SMARTER THAN YOU

14.THE BEST EXECUTIVE IS ONE WHO HAS GOOD SENSE TO PICK UP GOOD MEN TO DO WHAT HE WANTS DONE AND SELF RESTRAINT TO KEEP FROM MEDDLING WITH THEM WHILE THEY DO TI.

15.THE ONLY SACRED COW IN AN ORGANISATION SHOULD BE IT"S BASIC PHILOSPHY OF DOING BUSINESS..

16.TO STAY AHEAD,ALWAYS HAVE THE NEXT IDEA WAITING IN THE WINGS..

17.THE BEST WAY TO BUILD A BRAND IS ONE PERSON AT A TIME.

18.THE FUNDAMENTAL TASK IS TO ACHIEVE SMALLNESS WITHIN A LARGE ORGANISATION..

19.VALUES SHOULD NOT WHITHER AS SALES GROW.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice story that inspires, February 3, 2000

By 

YP (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time (Paperback)

After reading the story of Starbucks, I now know that one of the world's most recognizable brands didn't really pop up overnight, it only seems that way. Behind the scenes, it took a lot of hard work on the part of everyone involved in the company, from CEO Schultz, to each and every barista ("waiter"). It was truly inspiring to watch Schultz chase his dream of making Starbucks into a fine coffee house, and a real people-oriented company. At times, however, it seems as though he chooses to turn the book into something of a personal memoir, instead of focusing on the people in the company and their contributions. Sure it helped add to the mystique of his rags to riches story, but it was probably overdone. Also, towards the end, I couldn't help but feel that Starbucks lost, or at least changed its vision, becoming too commercialized to cater to true coffee lovers. Oh well, as long as they make that great coffee. It's always interesting to get on the inside of a company and find out what makes them tick, and this is certainly no exception. Overall, a very enjoyable book. Never forget your dreams!