Pour your heart into it, Howard Schultz - Book Summary


“What goes from the heart reaches the heart”

Since its birth, "Pour Your Heart Into It" has been so famous not only among media people. And the saying "What comes from the heart touches the heart" has become a motto for many people. Although the "age" is quite advanced, the book increasingly proves to be extremely attractive to readers. Simply put, the book is the "memoir" of CEO Howard Schultz from the beginning of his business to building the Starbucks "empire" as it is today. Ignoring jobs with coveted salaries, Howard followed his heart's call, bringing the world's desire for great coffee to the world.

About the author

Howard Schultz was born on July 19, 1953, from an ordinary family from the Planning Area - a true slum in the heart of prosperous New York. He himself was despised by his girlfriend's family, so much so that he was sometimes ashamed of his background. But with unremitting efforts, after graduating, he was recruited to an extremely ideal position, at the age of 29 he became the general director of the corporation he was working for, and the same year his father passed away. life. It was the lines in the father's will that changed Howard's mind and gave him the motivation to continue on his career path - the passion for authentic coffee.

Target audience

Like any other motivational book, anyone can read “ Pour Your Heart Out ”. The book will give you a new perspective, the types of "motivation" that you have never known.

Imagination, dreams and low background

You have to believe 100% that there is a reason for you to exist.”

Starbucks today is the result of two important factors. The first factor is the early founders. They founded the company in 1971, a passionate company determined to bring customers world-class coffee. The second factor is the vision and values ​​that Howard brings to the company: a blend of competitive orientation and a desire that everyone can walk together to win. In fact, Starbucks would hardly be where it is today without the impact of both. In this book, the author recounts the first years of his life, because most of the values ​​that have shaped Starbucks' growth today stem from a cramped apartment in Brooklyn, New York. From personal experience, Howard believes that the more mediocrity you come from,the more you tend to use your imagination to explore the world where anything is possible.

“I believe anyone can achieve their dreams and even more if they don't stop trying.”

Success… only comes from a sincere heart

Right from the first pages of the book, you will feel the sincerity of the author. The whole book is Howard's passionate journey from the beginning of the coffee business to the day Starbucks became a success. As he confided: “I want to blend romance into every cup of coffee, want to courageously strive to achieve what others think is impossible, want to challenge adversity with creative ideas, and want to do all this with flair and style.” And it was thanks to Howard's sincerity and passion that made his parents, who were initially quite shy, but eventually agreed to their son's choice. And his wife – Sheri, a wonderful woman who gave up everything to follow him to a strange place, helps him satisfy his passion for coffee. Howard knocked on the door of hundreds of investors,and most of them declined. What about those who agree? Some people have never even been interested in business or don't even like coffee at all. So why would they agree? All because they felt Howard's enthusiasm, the burning fire that came from a sincere heart and an effort to reach perfection for the world, not just making money.

“Success is not defined by your greatness or your experience, and success is shallow if it has no human meaning.”

Core lesson

So whatever you decide to do, be honest with yourself. Sometimes just a little wisdom of reason, the rest make room for honesty, you will more easily achieve success.

Success… from failure

Disagreeing with management over creating a broader business model based on the idea of ​​the coffee shop, Howard left Starbucks in 1986 to follow his passion. Not long after that, he bought Starbucks from former colleagues and started a new era of not only selling coffee but selling a coffee experience.

In 2000, he publicly announced his resignation as CEO of Starbucks. Eight years later, Starbucks invited Howard Schultz back as CEO to revive the company after the global recession. The first thing he did when he returned shocked shareholders and the media: closed all of his North American stores for a week to retrain employees, costing Starbucks more than $7 million in revenue, not to mention The fact that competitors jumped in mockery: "Turns out, Starbucks has not reached the advertised quality but needs to be retrained". However, Howard believes that it is necessary to have the courage to admit the mistake and start fixing it now to solve the root of the problem that they should have solved a long time ago. Starbucks began to set standards for itself and commit to customers about product quality,that if the product is not good enough, they would rather throw it away than give it to the customer.

But Starbucks did not grow as expected. Howard thinks the company at the time needed a product that could revive declining sales, which was the Sorbetto - named after the Italian sorbet drink. Unfortunately, neither the customer nor the service staff liked this overly sweet drink.

A few months later, he abandoned the Sorbetto: "We were too hasty and that was my mistake." The president of Seattle's Best Coffee, Michelle Gass, observes that this impulsiveness is very much Howard's character: "He likes to be quick and decisive, sometimes making it impossible for others to keep up." But after this fall, Ms. Gass said he has become more disciplined and a better listener.

“If you dream of something small, of course you will achieve something small. For some people, that's enough. But if you want to achieve something bigger with a lasting value, go bold.”

My success… is yours

Howard is very focused on his employees, investors, and customers. He hires employees with the same criteria most people use to choose a life partner: integrity and passion. Therefore, all Starbucks employees, leaders, and investors are on the same page as Howard. He created a stock called “Beans” so that all employees could become Starbucks shareholders. Therefore, when working for Starbucks, they all consider it to be working for themselves.

Howard opens his heart to everyone and everyone opens his heart to Howard so that we all create the most beautiful things. The road to success is never full of roses, but it will be much less bitter if you have real companions. You alone can never do miracles. History has proved it. Therefore, young people should quickly find themselves great companions to make great achievements together. In short, a brand no matter how big or small, famous or unknown, must be "beautiful" in the eyes of their "lovers" (customers). And Starbucks, with the romance in every drop of coffee along with a story that touches the bottom of the soul, has captured the right frequency of consumers' emotional waves.

“You have to be honest, you have to be sure, you have to trust your heart and everything will be okay.”

My words for you

Not every book that comes from the heart comes from the heart, but "Pour your heart out" is different. Through each word, I think you are like me, feeling every drop of coffee flowing through you, a little sweet for Howard's great successes or a little bitter for the things he's experienced during his time. build a career. As mentioned above, this is not only a book with motivational criteria but more than that, it gives us a new perspective, blowing new inspirations into us. Because all the factors that affect you come from the truth, not flowery, not embellished.