Howard Behar

I said, you call me every night, tell me how many drinks you sold, because if it's not selling, we're going to get rid of it quick. So the first week, it wasn't 30 drinks a day per store, but it was 50 drinks a day per store. The second week, it was 70 drinks a day per store. I'm thinking to myself, Howard, you are a genius. So I took the idea back.

I said, you call me every night, tell me how many drinks you sold, because if it's not selling, we're going to get rid of it quick. So the first week, it wasn't 30 drinks a day per store, but it was 50 drinks a day per store. The second week, it was 70 drinks a day per store. I'm thinking to myself, Howard, you are a genius. So I took the idea back.

And this time I invited Howard Schultz and I had Dina come up with her team and She made some samples and passed them around. And the head of marketing and product development was there. And he got up out of his chair and he came over about six inches from my face. He said, Bihar, I told you we weren't doing this. You stop this now.

And this time I invited Howard Schultz and I had Dina come up with her team and She made some samples and passed them around. And the head of marketing and product development was there. And he got up out of his chair and he came over about six inches from my face. He said, Bihar, I told you we weren't doing this. You stop this now.

And he looked at Howard Schultz and he said, you tell Bihar to stop. And I had this document and I'm kind of an emotional guy. And I slammed it down on the table. I said, his name was George. I said, oh yeah, George, look at this. It was going to be a 30% lift in our sales. and even higher in our profits. I said, Howard, give me 90 days. So you know what the drink is, right? It's Frappuccino.

And he looked at Howard Schultz and he said, you tell Bihar to stop. And I had this document and I'm kind of an emotional guy. And I slammed it down on the table. I said, his name was George. I said, oh yeah, George, look at this. It was going to be a 30% lift in our sales. and even higher in our profits. I said, Howard, give me 90 days. So you know what the drink is, right? It's Frappuccino.

Nina camping in her broom. It was her idea. It wasn't my idea. Amazing. It was her idea. And eventually it became 20% of our sales in a $4 billion business, all because I listened and I took a chance. Now, not every broom is going to be worth $4 billion. Most of them are worth dollars, but And listen, it's amazing what can happen.

Nina camping in her broom. It was her idea. It wasn't my idea. Amazing. It was her idea. And eventually it became 20% of our sales in a $4 billion business, all because I listened and I took a chance. Now, not every broom is going to be worth $4 billion. Most of them are worth dollars, but And listen, it's amazing what can happen.

Oh, I drink triple tall Americanos every day, two of them. By the time I'm done with the second one, I'm invisible.

Oh, I drink triple tall Americanos every day, two of them. By the time I'm done with the second one, I'm invisible.

Well, you got to learn fast, but the best way to learn is to bring people that's smarter than you are. Bring great people into your organization. Look, a leader's responsibility is not to have the answers. It's to have the questions. And you ask the questions of the great people that you bring into the organization. So I didn't have to know the answers. I just had to listen.

Well, you got to learn fast, but the best way to learn is to bring people that's smarter than you are. Bring great people into your organization. Look, a leader's responsibility is not to have the answers. It's to have the questions. And you ask the questions of the great people that you bring into the organization. So I didn't have to know the answers. I just had to listen.

We thought that drive-throughs would be good. for the business. We didn't know, but I'd never operated a fast food place that had drive-thrus. So we had people on our team that had been through it. And I said, let's go find a site that has a drive-thru. Howard Schultz didn't want them. We snuck the first one in, actually. But we had a team of people that figured it out.

We thought that drive-throughs would be good. for the business. We didn't know, but I'd never operated a fast food place that had drive-thrus. So we had people on our team that had been through it. And I said, let's go find a site that has a drive-thru. Howard Schultz didn't want them. We snuck the first one in, actually. But we had a team of people that figured it out.

They opened the drive-thru, it doubled the volume of an average store. But having said that, I'm not going to tell you that I slept one night. I didn't. I have a lot of anxiety. I've always had anxiety. And so I've dealt with that my whole life, but I just kept pushing myself and I kept going, but I do have a lot of energy and I believe in people. And I believe that we could get through it.

They opened the drive-thru, it doubled the volume of an average store. But having said that, I'm not going to tell you that I slept one night. I didn't. I have a lot of anxiety. I've always had anxiety. And so I've dealt with that my whole life, but I just kept pushing myself and I kept going, but I do have a lot of energy and I believe in people. And I believe that we could get through it.

But I wasn't always sure. There were many times when I thought we weren't going to make it. Everybody thinks Starbucks was a straight shot up. It wasn't. It was like this. Sometimes we were successful. Sometimes we failed. We had lots of product failures. And we had to raise a lot of capital. And we made mistakes on people. And we did all the things. But you just kept having to push and push.

But I wasn't always sure. There were many times when I thought we weren't going to make it. Everybody thinks Starbucks was a straight shot up. It wasn't. It was like this. Sometimes we were successful. Sometimes we failed. We had lots of product failures. And we had to raise a lot of capital. And we made mistakes on people. And we did all the things. But you just kept having to push and push.

And the people gave me the energy. Whenever I was down, I would just go talk to the people. I'd go visit stores and they would lift me right up.

And the people gave me the energy. Whenever I was down, I would just go talk to the people. I'd go visit stores and they would lift me right up.