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What do we owe one another? How do we channel our drive, ingenuity, even our pain, into something more meaningful than individual success? And what is our duty in the places where we live, work, and play?
These questions are at the heart of the American journey. They are also ones that Howard Schultz has grappled with personally since growing up in the Brooklyn housing projects and while building Starbucks from eleven stores into one of the world’s most iconic brands.
In From the Ground Up, Schultz looks for answers in two interwoven narratives. One story shows how his conflicted boyhood—including experiences he has never before revealed—motivated Schultz to become the first in his family to graduate from college, then to build the kind of company his father, a working-class laborer, never had a chance to work for: a business that tries to balance profit and human dignity.
A parallel story offers a behind-the-scenes look at Schultz’s unconventional efforts to challenge old notions about the role of business in society. From health insurance and free college tuition for part-time baristas to controversial initiatives about race and refugees, Schultz and his team tackled societal issues with the same creativity and rigor they applied to changing how the world consumes coffee.
Throughout the book, Schultz introduces a cross-section of Americans transforming common struggles into shared successes. In these pages, lost youth find first jobs, aspiring college students overcome the yoke of debt, post-9/11 warriors replace lost limbs with indomitable spirit, former coal miners and opioid addicts pave fresh paths, entrepreneurs jump-start dreams, and better angels emerge from all corners of the country.
From the Ground Up is part candid memoir, part uplifting blueprint of mutual responsibility, and part proof that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. At its heart, it’s an optimistic, inspiring account of what happens when we stand up, speak out, and come together for purposes bigger than ourselves. Here is a new vision of what can be when we try our best to lead lives through the lens of humanity.
“Howard Schultz’s story is a clear reminder that success is not achieved through individual determination alone, but through partnership and community. Howard’s commitment to both have helped him build one of the world’s most recognized brands. It will be exciting to see what he accomplishes next.”—Bill Gates
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
January 28, 2019 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780525509455
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780525509455
- File size: 85366 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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The former CEO of Starbucks wants to give everyone a chance to be their best selves.Schultz (Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul, 2011, etc.) reflects on his personal and professional journey "to try to answer a vital question of our time: What can we do to effect meaningful change and create the just, fair, and secure future we all desire?" He recounts successes, challenges, and failures as he pursued his goal of creating a profitable business that balances "seemingly competing priorities of humanity and prosperity." Schultz envisioned Starbucks as more than a coffee shop: a place of respite and community where people would feel welcomed, a "third place," he calls it, not home or work but rather an escape from both. "Haunted by the anxiety" of his family's financial insecurity, Schultz wanted to give his employees respect, fair pay, and benefits such as health insurance, stock options, and, eventually, tuition reimbursement. Starbucks, he hoped, would become known "as a great place to work" as well as a place "that fostered human connection over great coffee." The author comes across as a sensitive--although sometimes naïve and wide-eyed--observer of injustice and a "common-sense" problem-solver open to innovative ideas. In 2014, after the deaths of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, for example, he began to ask himself "what the tragic deaths, court rulings, and uprisings revealed about the plight of black people in America today." As a white, wealthy male, he wondered, "Where had I been?" His response was to mount an initiative called Race Together--a message featured on Starbuck cups and discussed in open forums--which, he was surprised to discover, generated "biting headlines" and satirical jokes. Nevertheless, he believes his decision to focus on race embodied the company's values "of trying to uphold human dignity by fostering civil conversation about complex topics." More successful initiatives include college mentoring, job creation for veterans and refugees, and philanthropic giving from the author's family foundation.Optimism about America from a man mulling his next expression of civic responsibility.
COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)
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The former CEO of Starbucks wants to give everyone a chance to be their best selves.Schultz (Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul, 2011, etc.) reflects on his personal and professional journey "to try to answer a vital question of our time: What can we do to effect meaningful change and create the just, fair, and secure future we all desire?" He recounts successes, challenges, and failures as he pursued his goal of creating a profitable business that balances "seemingly competing priorities of humanity and prosperity." Schultz envisioned Starbucks as more than a coffee shop: a place of respite and community where people would feel welcomed, a "third place," he calls it, not home or work but rather an escape from both. "Haunted by the anxiety" of his family's financial insecurity, Schultz wanted to give his employees respect, fair pay, and benefits such as health insurance, stock options, and, eventually, tuition reimbursement. Starbucks, he hoped, would become known "as a great place to work" as well as a place "that fostered human connection over great coffee." The author comes across as a sensitive--although sometimes na�ve and wide-eyed--observer of injustice and a "common-sense" problem-solver open to innovative ideas. In 2014, after the deaths of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin, for example, he began to ask himself "what the tragic deaths, court rulings, and uprisings revealed about the plight of black people in America today." As a white, wealthy male, he wondered, "Where had I been?" His response was to mount an initiative called Race Together--a message featured on Starbuck cups and discussed in open forums--which, he was surprised to discover, generated "biting headlines" and satirical jokes. Nevertheless, he believes his decision to focus on race embodied the company's values "of trying to uphold human dignity by fostering civil conversation about complex topics." More successful initiatives include college mentoring, job creation for veterans and refugees, and philanthropic giving from the author's family foundation.Optimism about America from a man mulling his next expression of civic responsibility.
COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)
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