Book Review - Onward by Howard Shultz

Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul by Howard Schultz
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 of 5 stars)

Why you should read this book: Easy to read, binge-able behind-the-scenes look at growing a company from a CEO's perspective. Or if you're a big Starbucks fan
Why you should not read this book: If you're looking for personally applicable career or leadership advice.
Favorite Quote: Effective leaders share two intertwined attributes: an unbridled level of confidence about where their organizations are headed, and the ability to bring people along.

Summary:

I finished this book in 2 days. It was a fast-paced, well-written narrative of the transformation of Starbucks as it attempted to cope with the 2008 financial crisis, from the perspective of the CEO (this is very important). Similar to Steve Jobs, Schultz is a stubborn, highly principled, extremely opinionated leader - one that Starbucks clearly needed to make big decisions in a difficult time. The interesting backstories of the various recognizable new products and store changes will delight enthusiasts and noobies (like myself) alike.

As a corporate underling, I enjoyed the opportunity to hear the various considerations a CEO needed to juggle - company vision, customer sentiment, employee well-being, and shareholder value. Others may disagree, but I personally felt like there was little transferrable in this book to non-management career development, given the executive perspective. Schultz spends little time describing employee empowerment, easily my favorite section, which seemed like more of an afterthought to the book.

Was Schultz overly self-flatulating and self-congratulatory? Yes. But was the book a fun, enjoyable read? Yes!

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