Starbucks and Changing the World

I recently read "Pour Your Heart into It" about Starbucks up to 1999. Great read. The author, Howard Schultz, is the CEO and he tells the history of Starbucks starting with its founding in 1971 and how he came on board and later bought the company.

Here's a guy who left everything - VP of a major coropration, home in NYC, etc - to take a lesser job with this small little coffee company that was only in Seattle and only sold coffee in bags. It wasn't anything like it is now. You couldn't buy a cup of coffee. It was a time when America was drinking inferoir coffee and didn't care. He got caught up in the vision and saw what it could be when even the owners themselves didn't.

It is fascinating. You read it and you get pumped! This guy changed the world. He didn't sit back and listen to the scoffers. He gave us what we didn't even know we wanted. He stuck to his mission. He did things that were crazy like giving full benefits to part-time employees even before they were making money.

It was compelling. Reads like a good novel. I highly recommend it with a cup of Gold Coast - my favorite.