Onward

I should begin by saying that I am not a coffee drinker, so I feel like I related less to the content of this book in light of that. Overall the book was interesting, but not very fulfilling or a book I would recommend widely for others. Much of the book read like something you would see in a company's annual report. There was a lot of self-congratulatory talk. Whenever anything problematic was discussed, it was always presented in the context of ‘what we learned from this minor misstep.' The book did not come across as a candid discussion, and I felt like I learned very little about the true environment of the company or its leader. Seemed like a typical ‘knight rides in on a horse and solves everyone's problems” kind of book, and I didn't find that fulfilling at all.

At its heart, this is a tremendous story about a company's fall from grace and return to the top of its industry. Although he is by no means a perfect writer, it is obvious that Howard Schultz's success as Starbucks' CEO comes from his sense of spirit and desire to enrich the lives of everyone that the company comes into contact with. A wonderful read, and one that I would recommend to every business leader.

Loved the first half of this book! The journey, values and twists and turns of entrepreneurship are always amazing to follow. Fun fact: the founder of Starbucks isn't Howard (the author), but rather an ex-employee who ended up buying Starbucks from his own coffee company!? Okay, so why the 3 stars for this one?

Well, the second half kind of sucks. It's basically around how amazing Starbucks is etc etc without being real of the challenges. Starbucks is in a huge fight against unions right now which doesn't make sense for someone who boasts about how employees are treated as “partners”. Maybe this is a reflection of the shadow company? Idk but TLDR you can stop reading this book once you get 50% of the way through.