Latest / The CEO Diary with Fexingo: Leadership Lessons, Executive Decisions, and Corner Office Stories
How Howard Schultz Led Starbucks Through Its 2008 Crisis
In 2008, Starbucks was bleeding customers, closing 600 stores, and its stock had fallen 80% from its peak. Then-CEO Howard Schultz returned as CEO and made a radical decision: shut down every single Starbucks store in the United States for retraining on espresso perfection. This episode examines that three-and-a-half-hour shutdown, the cultural reset it signaled, and the specific operational changes—like the introduction of the Mastrena espresso machine—that helped Starbucks triple its revenue over the next decade. We also discuss the tension between growth and quality that haunts every…
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