Our mission statement about treating people with respect and dignity is not just words but a creed we live by every day. You can't expect your employees to exceed the expectations of your customers if you don't exceed the employees' expectations of management.
Howard Schultz - Respect - Employee - Customers - Management - Encouragement

I grew up in a working class family where there was no health insurance. I saw first hand the fracturing of the American dream and the bitterness that comes when there is no hope and a lot of despair. So I wanted to build the company, in a sense, that my father never got a chance to work for.
Howard Schultz - Employee - Family - America - Inspirational - Poverty - Companies - Hope

We want passion for our business.. workers who can interpret and execute our mission, who want to build a career, not just take a temporary job.
Howard Schultz - Employee - Passion - Business - Career - Jobs

Customers don't always know what they want. The decline in coffee-drinking was due to the fact that most of the coffee people bought was stale and they weren't enjoying it. Once they tasted ours and experienced what we call "the third place".. a gathering place between home and work where they were treated with respect.. they found we were filling a need they didn't know they had.
Howard Schultz - Customers - Respect - Products - Retailing - Marketing

Hiring people is an art, not a science, and resumes can't tell you whether someone will fit into a company's culture. When you realize you've made a mistake, you need to cut your losses and move on.
Howard Schultz - Employee - Management - Jobs - Decisions - Companies - Culture - Mistakes

In the 1960s, if you introduced a new product to America, 90% of the people who viewed it for the first time believed in the corporate promise. Then 40 years later if you performed the same exercise less than 10% of the public believed it was true. The fracturing of trust is based on the fact that the consumer has been let down.
Howard Schultz - Lies - Truth - Trust - Customers - Companies - Products - America

It's ironic that retailers and restaurants live or die on customer service, yet their employees have some of the lowest pay and worst benefits of any industry. That's one reason so many retail experiences are mediocre for the public.
Howard Schultz - Earnings - Employee - Customers - Retailing