I Was Thinking About… The Unlikely Journey from Broke to Billions
By Andy Lee
The year was 1953. Dwight D. Eisenhower just began his first term as president. The very first Chevrolet Corvettes rolled off production lines. Audrey Hepburn captivated audiences in her first major film role. And in the rugged housing projects of Brooklyn, New York, a baby boy was born…
He grew up in a cramped apartment with his father, mother, and brother. His family was poor, working-class folks just trying to scrape by. His father worked any blue-collar job he could find as a truck driver or Army trooper. His mother juggled several low-paying secretary jobs at once to help make ends meet.
As a kid, he watched his parents work tirelessly, doing anything just to provide for the family. He promised himself he’d be the one to lift them out of poverty one day. His mother always encouraged him that through education and determination, he could achieve his wildest dreams.
He discovered sports as an escape from the gritty streets outside. He played football, baseball, basketball – you name it. But his true talent was football. So much so that he earned an athletic scholarship to college, becoming the first in his family to attend.
However, academics didn’t come so easily. While playing college ball, he struggled badly in classes. He just couldn’t find his passion in the classroom. After two years, feeling lost and without direction, he made the difficult choice to drop out…
Over the next years, he held down all kinds of jobs to stay afloat – salesman, truck driver, you name it. But nothing fulfilled him. He wanted to build a career and finally achieve the life his parents couldn’t.
One fateful day, he stumbled into a quirky little coffee shop while working a sales job out West. He was immediately struck by the energy and passion of the owners. They spoke with such commitment to bringing fine coffee to people. He thought – this is the type of spirited company I want to be a part of.
He was hired as their operations manager in 1982. Thanks to his sheer determination, he expanded the coffee shop from just 4 stores to over 100 across the city. But he envisioned even bigger things. He wanted to transform it into a place for human connection, community, and the quintessential coffee experience.
But the owners rejected his bold vision for aggressive expansion and creating an intimate coffeehouse atmosphere. See, they just wanted to focus on coffee beans and nothing more…
Dejected but undeterred, he left the coffee shop at age 30, raising funds to start his own local coffee bar. And just two years later, his grit and vision paid off. He acquired the original coffee shop, merging his coffee bar into the operation.
With innovative ideas and relentless drive, he catapulted the coffee shop into stratospheric growth, expanding across the globe. Under his leadership, the company opened over 16,000 stores, took coffee mainstream, and became a daily ritual for millions.
But more than just serving beverages, he built the coffee shop into a feeling…a warm and welcoming “third place” between work and home, just as he dreamed back as a hungry, hopeful boy growing up poor in the Brooklyn projects. Sipping coffee there became a cherished escape, an everyday luxury, a reminder for people to slow down and connect in a busy world.
He achieved his American Dream. Though he grew up with little, he redefined the café experience worldwide. He brought quality coffee to the masses and built one of the world’s most admired brands. He showed that no matter your upbringing, with the right attitude and business acumen you can cultivate the unimaginable.
The poor kid from Brooklyn housing projects had conquered the world over a cup of coffee. He brewed up a global empire and new future for himself that few could have ever envisioned when he was just a young boy… born to his parents one fateful year in those Brooklyn apartments 70 years ago.
That boy was Howard Schultz, retired CEO Starbucks Coffee.
Stay curious, keep exploring! 😊
I was thinking about... 