🎧 01:51:55 - 01:54:25 (02:30)

The speaker points out that growth can hide mistakes, making it easier to give up, while success can lead to arrogance. Starbucks' immense success and global presence have made it seem like a public utility, creating complexity and the risk of losing the personal touch with customers. The company requires constant nurturing and alignment with its integrity and heritage to avoid losing its essence. The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balance in giving and taking like a reservoir, as neglecting this balance can lead to disastrous consequences, despite the temporary illusion of success and financial gains.

Howard Schultz: we weren't as good as we were when we were small.

David Rosenthal: Then it makes it easier to give up. And this goes back to

Howard Schultz: what I said earlier. Growth covers up mistakes. And success breeds hubris. And it did. How could it not? I how could you,

Ben Gilbert: Starbucks today is so freaking ubiquitous, which again is one of the things I love about it. It's consistent anywhere I travel in the world. I can count on it. I can mobile order and pay. There's all these wonderful things. But when you become like government level scale in the world, people assume it's a piece of public infrastructure. I assume employees even must feel that way during some periods

Howard Schultz: of time of like, we're so big, we're just... But the worst thing that Starbucks could have become, and the worst thing that Starbucks could become, is a utility. Scale and ubiquity creates complexity. Complexity demands efficiency. But we are in a business where that touchpoint between the customer and the barista has to be protected and has to be elevated. Now, then you get stores that are so busy where the barista can't even look up, can't look up. And then you get mobile order and pay, which we haven't even talked about. Which is

Ben Gilbert: a thing I love and do every day and depersonalizes the experience by definition. Yes.

Howard Schultz: Starbucks demands nurturance. It's a company that has to be nurtured like a young child. That is an anomaly inconsistent with scale and you get people coming into the company with different experience different language the immersion doesn't quite hit them in the heart or the soul or the conscience of the company they they feel like they're doing a good job, but it's not the job that's consistent with the integrity and heritage of what the company has been. Metaphorically, let's say that's a giant reservoir. If you're taking a deposit on a consistent basis out of the reservoir and it's getting dry, you better stop. You better make sure you're making a deposit so they're equal and it's balanced. When you get this, that's when the company loses the plot. And if you get this and you're making a lot of money and the stock price is high, people say, it's okay. We're fine. And that's's

Ben Gilbert: gold it's it's a camouflage because eventually it's going to bite you in the ass have

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