Success Is Something That Has To Be

Any Business Today That Embraces The Status Quo As An Operating Principle Is Going To Be On A Death March.

With A Population Of More Than 600 Million People, An Emerging Middle Class That Is Driving Strong Consumption, And A Robust And Resilient Economy, Southeast Asia Presents A Compelling Growth Opportunity For Starbucks.

I've Traveled Around The World, And What's So Revealing Is That, Despite The Differences In Culture, Politics, Language, How People Dress, There Is A Universal Feeling That We All Want The Same Thing. We Deeply Want To Be Respected And Appreciated For Our Differences.

My Father Had A Series Of Blue-collar Jobs And Never Made More Than $20,000 A Year. When I Was Seven, He Got Injured On A Job. That Was A Very Important Point - Because Of The Injury, He Couldn't Walk, And The Company He Was Working For Did Not Pay Him. There Was No Compensation. So There Was No Money And No Food.

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.