Business Leaders Cannot Be Bystanders.

My Son Is Trying To Be A Sports Writer, And My Daughter Is A College Student. She Wants To Be A Comedy Writer, And She's At Film School. I Discouraged Both Of Them Early On From Getting Involved In Starbucks. I Didn't Think It Would Be Fair; Plus, They Didn't Have Any Interest Anyway.

I Grew Up In A Working Class Family Where There Was No Health Insurance. I Saw First Hand The Fracturing Of The American Dream And The Bitterness That Comes When There Is No Hope And A Lot Of Despair. So I Wanted To Build The Company, In A Sense, That My Father Never Got A Chance To Work For.

At Its Core, I Believe Leadership Is About Instilling Confidence In Others.

It's Ironic That Retailers And Restaurants Live Or Die On Customer Service, Yet Their Employees Have Some Of The Lowest Pay And Worst Benefits Of Any Industry. That's One Reason So Many Retail Experiences Are Mediocre For The Public.

We Will Never-and I Mean Never-turn Our Backs On Our Employees.