How Starbucks saved their company with a meeting of 10,000 people and by giving back to New Orleans.

From: The Harvard Business Review Interview: “We Had to Own the Mistakes”

In 2008, Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks as CEO after an 8-year hiatus. He faced a challenging mission – how to revitalize the suffering coffee company during challenging economic times.  Harvard Business Review writer Adi Ignatius interviewed Schultz to find out how he helped lead the successful turnaround of Starbucks.

In response to Mr. Ignatius’s question “What has been your big leadership moment since you came back?” CEO Schultz replied:

I decided—against the advice of many people at the time, because it had a high cost attached to it—to take 10,000 store managers to New Orleans. I knew that if I could remind people of our character and values, we could make a difference. The conference was about galvanizing the entire leadership of the company—being vulnerable and transparent with our employees about how desperate the situation was, and how we had to understand that everyone must be personally accountable and responsible for the outcome of every single customer interaction. We started the conference with community service.

Read or listen to:  The HBR Interview: “We Had to Own the Mistakes” – Harvard Business Review.

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