Starbucks guru laments ‘void of leadership’
HOWARD SCHULTZ ‘It’s a very volatile time in the world’
Howard Schultz, the poor Brooklyn kid turned coffee billionaire tipped to run for U. S. president, is making himself an Americano at a new Starbucks opening halfway up a Costa Rican volcano.
The rangy entrepreneur behind the world’s largest coffee chain has stepped behind the counter to try out the gleaming new Italian coffee machine at his 28,000th outlet.
This store is a mix of black metal and polished wood overlooking a waterfall in Costa Rica’s lush Central Valley. It is the centrepiece of a bigger visitor centre opening at Starbucks’ only directly owned plantation, the Hacienda Alsacia.
All around Schultz is a hubbub of activity as wideeyed young locals and preened American executives put the finishing touches in place for the launch event the next day. He settles at a balcony table above rows upon rows of vibrant green coffee plants.
Starbucks is a very different beast to the tiny Seattle coffee roasting firm he joined as marketing boss in 1982, aged 28: “When I joined Starbucks the dream was to open in Portland, Oregon. That’s like going from London to Manchester. This would have been beyond my imagination. We were just trying to pay the rent.”
Today Schultz, 64, is one of America’s most famous entrepreneurs. After taking over at Starbucks he transformed it into a global phenomenon worth over $ 80 billion that is still expanding fast.
Even China — the home of tea — has fallen for frothy cappuccinos and frappuccinos. It is Starbucks’ biggest growth market, with over 3,200 stores, opening at a rate of one a day.
Schultz is all easy charm and idealism, as well-known for his outspoken liberal views on politics and social issues as he is for his extraordinary business success.
He does little to play down speculation he could make a tilt for the White House one day, perhaps for the Demo- crats. He certainly won’t rule it out and, after initially refusing to talk politics, he opens up on what he sees as a “void of leadership” in the world and his admiration for the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Bobby Kennedy and the Pope.
Schultz has been one of the American business community’s most outspoken critics of Donald Trump, from his tax cuts to his immigration policies. But he is reluctant to talk politics today. He answers two variations of the question of whether he’ll run for president with the non- denial: “I’m still working at Starbucks.” Last month he was asked by Fox Business whether he was planning to run in 2020 and he said “no, I’m not,” so perhaps no move is imminent.
When asked what people underestimate about him, he is uncharacteristically lost for words.
Eyes down, he weighs a response for some 30 seconds and then answers: “I think my growing concern for humanity. That’s not something I talk about a great deal but I’m very concerned. I think it’s a very volatile time in the world. I think there’s a void of leadership and most importantly of what is true. We
THE LEADER I ADMIRE MOST IN THE WORLD TODAY IS THE POPE.
need authentic leadership. The leader I admire most in the world today is the Pope — and I’m Jewish. That’s because he’s a true servant leader. And this is what we need right now, we need servant leaders, we need leaders who are servants of the people.
“In the history of America, we have had extraordinary presidents and if you think about what’s the thread of who they were and what they did, they were servants of the people.”
Which presidents has he admired most? “The president I admired the most was Abraham Lincoln. But the person I admired most who was not president was Bobby Kennedy.”
Does he not still sound like a politician in waiting? “I still work at Starbucks,” Schultz says with a smile, getting up from his seat.