As published in RISMEDIA -January 2008.

The story of Starbucks is a wonderful example of reaching out and taking what you want, of perseverance, of holding that unquestionable desire close to your heart and never loosing focus of your desire. Howard Schulz created the culture known as Starbucks and turned that into a billion dollar retail operation, making a four dollar cup of coffee part of our way of life.

Schulz began his career selling coffeemakers, leading him to visit one his best customers, Starbucks and Co. in Seattle, which sold coffeemakers, beans and took great pride in educating their customers on the virtues of brewing. He fell in love with Seattle and the warm and loving family business. He lobbied to work for them, urging, persuading, cajoling, and persisting for one year until they finally hired him as director of marketing and operations in 1982. He says, “Life is a series of near misses. But a lot of what we ascribe to luck is not luck at all. It’s seizing the day and accepting responsibility for our future.”