Howard Behar: Servant Leadership Lessons from Starbucks

Name: Howard Behar: Servant Leadership Lessons from Starbucks
Uploaded: 2025-12-20T00:11:38+00:00
Duration: 43 min 55 s
Channel: tony_durso

tony_durso

Howard Behar is the former President of Starbucks North America and the founding President of Starbucks International. In this episode, he shares how servant leadership and leading with values helped take Starbucks from just 28 stores to over 15,000 worldwide—and why entrepreneurs must put people first if they want to build something that lasts.

What You’ll Learn
• How servant leadership drives sustainable growth
• The core values that scaled Starbucks to 15,000 stores
• Why empowering employees creates a stronger culture
• Lessons from taking Starbucks global for the first time
• How to balance profit with purpose as an entrepreneur

About Howard Behar
Howard Behar served as President of Starbucks North America for 21 years and became the founding President of Starbucks International, opening the first store outside North America in Japan. During his tenure, Starbucks grew from 28 stores to over 15,000 across five continents. He later served on the Starbucks Board of Directors for twelve years.

Howard is the author of It’s Not About the Coffee: Lessons on Leadership from a Life at Starbucks and a global speaker on servant leadership. Today, he mentors entrepreneurs and leaders, serves on multiple nonprofit and educational boards, and continues to inspire with his philosophy that “the person who sweeps the floor should choose the broom.” Reach Howard at 206-972-7776 or email hb@howardbehar.com.

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Resources & Links Mentioned
1 Connect with Howard Behar: www.howardbehar.com
2 🎧 Listen on Apple: https://tonydurso.com/apple
3 📧 Join the Newsletter: https://tonydurso.com/news
4 🎥 Watch the Video: https://tonydurso.com/videos

Tony’s Closing Words
Use this and let’s help you Move on YOUR Journey to Success!
Just Take Action. – Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds. Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode.

#Leadership #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #Starbucks #ServantLeadership #Success

Starbucks, Howard Behar, servant leadership, entrepreneurship, business culture, scaling a business, leadership values, business success, team empowerment, growth mindset, building company culture, people-first leadership, values-driven business, international business expansion, employee empowerment, purpose-driven leadership, leadership lessons from Starbucks, It’s Not About the Coffee, global business strategy, entrepreneur mindset

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Transcript

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00:00For 21 years, Howard helped take Starbucks from just 28 stores to over 15,000 across five continents.

00:09He served as president of North America and became the founding president of Starbucks International.

00:16I don't care what you do in life.

00:18I don't care whether you're a widget maker, whether you're a doctor or a lawyer,

00:22whether you're running a big Fortune 500 company.

00:25There really is only one reason you were put on this earth.

00:30Welcome back to the podcast.

00:40You've got a vision.

00:41You're working very hard day after day.

00:43You're trying to scale your business, but sometimes it feels like the more you grow, the more complicated it gets.

00:49Your team isn't always on the same page.

00:52Culture is hard to maintain.

00:53And you wonder, how do the world's biggest brands build something that lasts without losing their soul?

01:02That's why you need to stick around for today's conversation.

01:05My guest is Howard Behar, one of the legendary leaders behind Starbucks.

01:09For 21 years, Howard helped take Starbucks from just 28 stores to over 15,000 across five continents.

01:18He served as president of North America and became the founding president of Starbucks International.

01:25But here's the real story.

01:28Howard didn't build success through flashy marketing or rigid systems.

01:32He built it through servant leadership, leading with values, empowering every person on the team, and never forgetting that people come before profits.

01:43He's the author of the best-selling book, It's Not About the Coffee, and his lessons have inspired leaders around the world.

01:52If you're an entrepreneur or a business person looking for practical wisdom on scaling a business, building culture, and leading with authenticity, then this interview is your playbook.

02:04Stay with us.

02:04Howard's going to show you how love and business truly go hand in hand.

02:09Let's begin.

02:10Howard, welcome to the Tony D'Erso Show.

02:13Thanks, Tony.

02:14It's great to be here.

02:16It is an honor and a pleasure both to have you.

02:18I really am looking forward to this.

02:21And with that dichotomy, I said an honor and a pleasure.

02:24It seems to be we have a little dichotomy here because you talk about how love and business go hand in hand.

02:32We're all ears.

02:33We would love to learn about it.

02:35But first, I'm very curious, Howard.

02:37What is your backstory?

02:38How did it all start for you?

02:39Well, you're looking at a guy that barely got out of high school.

02:43I had a couple of years of community college, and I basically started working when I was 13 years old.

02:49I was a product of two immigrants that came to the United States in the early 1900s and couldn't speak the language.

02:56And my dad opened up a small mom-and-pop grocery store in the city of Seattle after working a couple of years in the Pike Place market pushing a cart.

03:04And my mother came from Latvia as a nine-year-old, and they met in Seattle, and they worked their rear ends off for their whole lives.

03:14And I watched them do that, and that was the model, and that was the example.

03:18And the other part of that model was that they understood that they weren't serving customers.

03:24They were serving human beings.

03:25And so in my dad's grocery store, you know, he built relationships.

03:30In those days, they had individual charge accounts.

03:33There were no credit cards or anything.

03:34And so every customer had his own little booklet, and they'd come in, and they'd charge their groceries.

03:40And at the end of the month, my dad would bill them.

03:42And if they needed to be delivered, my dad would get a cart and go deliver it around the neighborhood.

03:46So I watched him get up every morning, both of them get up every morning at 4 o'clock, go down to Produce Row, pick up the produce, the fruit and the vegetables, come back to the store, clean it all up, open the store at 8 o'clock in the morning, close the store at 6 o'clock at night, come home, eat his dinner in 11 seconds flat, sit down in his chair and go to sleep.

04:07And I watched him repeat that day after day.

04:09But the one thing I always knew about my dad is that he cared about people, and he taught me many valuable lessons.

04:15So, you know, I'm the immigrant story, pure and simple.

04:19And I learned it.

04:20I watched my mother's family who had brothers and sisters get into retail and serve people.

04:26And most of all, I watched my dad do it.

04:29So, you know, my introduction to servant leadership wasn't a formal one.

04:34I never even knew what the words meant.

04:36My introduction to servant leadership was just my dad serving people.

04:41I have a little similarity in that.

04:43We come from Italy.

04:44We're immigrants.

04:46And there's a different mentality between the European and the Americans where it is more relationship-based, more culture-based.

04:53At least that's my observation.

04:55Is that your big takeaway is what the servant leadership, which we're going to go into in a moment, is people come first, which is that European attitude?

05:06Yeah, absolutely.

05:07Look, servant leadership is fairly simple.

05:10Here's what it stands on three legs.

05:13The first leg is, as a leader, you're here to help people grow as human beings.

05:19That's number one.

05:20Number two, you're here to help people become better professionals at what they do.

05:26And number three, you're here to help your people achieve their own personal goals in life.

05:32And when you do that well, then they're willing to help you.

05:35So it's always about serving somebody else.

05:37I understand that we have, again, a juxtaposition here or a little dichotomy.

05:44The entrepreneur, the business person, we're all about, they're all about making money, taking a product or service and selling it and just really going for the money.

05:54To me, the way I see it is it's a predominant point of view, especially in the American culture, is how much profit can you make?

06:03How fast can you make it?

06:05How fast can you scale?

06:06How much can you make?

06:07So it's all about that.

06:09It's not really about the person or giving something good to the person.

06:14In fact, the products or services could be not very good.

06:18Well, that's not what I believe.

06:20So I believe the profits are an outgrowth and the money is an outgrowth of what you do for other human beings.

06:27Look, I don't care what you do in life.

06:30I don't care whether you're a widget maker, whether you're a doctor, a lawyer, whether you're running a big Fortune 500 company.

06:37There really is only one reason you were put on this earth, like it or not, is to serve other human beings.

06:44If you do that well, you're not guaranteed you're going to get rich, but you're guaranteed to have a fulfilling life.

06:51And most of the time, you'll achieve your own economic goals.

06:54When the only thing is economic goals for yourself, it's a very empty life.

06:59And if you get to my age, right, I'm 80 years old, you'll find that out, that you're not going to remember the amount of money you made when you were 28 years old or 50 years old.

07:10You're going to remember the people and the relationships you built.

07:14And if you don't, then there's something wrong.

07:18I really like that a lot.

07:19Did your parents spend time instilling that in you to take care of people primary, no matter what?

07:26Was that like your apprenticeship through the business world?

07:31Yeah.

07:31Let me give you an example.

07:32This is a small example.

07:34But my dad had this grocery store, and I used to go there after school every day.

07:39My dad was 50 when I was born, so he was quite a bit older.

07:43He wasn't out playing baseball with me.

07:45You know, so I would go to the store, and I'd watch what he did.

07:49One day, I was at the front counter, and he was ringing up a cash register.

07:52This was in the days before, you know, he had the cash register was a hand crank.

07:57It wasn't, they weren't electric.

07:58And so he's ringing up the cash register, he's punching the buttons in, pulling the crank,

08:03and go bing.

08:04And then my dad said to me, Howard, would you go get me a couple of baskets of strawberries?

08:09And so I went in the back of the store where all the fresh fruit was, and I got a couple

08:14of baskets of strawberries, and I brought them to the front counter.

08:17My dad took those baskets of strawberries, put them in the customer's bag, and the customer

08:21walked out of the store.

08:22Well, I was old enough to recognize my dad hadn't rung those up on the cash register,

08:27because I never saw him pull the crank, and I never heard it go bing.

08:31And I said, Dad, you forgot to ring those up on the cash register.

08:34And he just looked at me, and he said, you know, Howard, not everything we do in life do

08:39we need to be paid for.

08:41You know, these people are not just our customers, but they're our friends and our neighbors.

08:46And I happen to know that they're struggling to make a go of it right now.

08:50They can't afford fresh fruit.

08:51And it's just my way of helping them out.

08:54And, you know, I didn't realize that lesson until much later in life as I remembered it.

09:00But it was so true that, you know, it was about helping the people.

09:06And they weren't just his customers.

09:09They were his neighbors and his friends.

09:10And he wanted to do something for them.

09:12And you want to know something?

09:13It's how I got to Starbucks.

09:15By that little lesson, because when I met Howard Schultz, right?

09:21We had a year-long dance.

09:22And finally, I said to him, Howard, before either one of us makes a decision, how about

09:27if I come to work in the company for a week for free?

09:30You don't even put me out, nothing on the payroll.

09:32I want to work in the stores for a few days.

09:34I want to work in the trucks.

09:35I want to work in the roasting plant for a few days.

09:38At the end of that week, you like me.

09:39I like you, so maybe we can put something together.

09:42So, you know, that lesson about you don't always have to get paid for what you do.

09:46Too often in life, we think we have to be paid emotionally.

09:50We have to be paid with, you know, with money.

09:53We have to be paid with awards and recognition.

09:57But when you really love what you do and you want to serve others, you don't need to be paid for that.

10:01You do it because you want to do it.

10:04And so, you know, that's the lesson I learned about serving others.

10:07Don't worry about what you get.

10:09Worry about what you give.

10:10And I promise you, if you do that well, you're going to get plenty.

10:15We're speaking with Howard Behar, talking about leading with love.

10:20Also, a subtitle you could say is how a Starbucks former president built a global brand and why the heart of leadership is serving others.

10:30Howard, we're talking about how you started in Starbucks.

10:33So, you spent a week working different jobs in a couple different places.

10:38What happened then?

10:40Then, you know, I fell in love in that week.

10:42I realized early on, there were only 28 stores, but I came into the company and they thought of themselves as a coffee company.

10:50And I got in there and I realized right almost instantaneously it wasn't about the coffee, that we weren't in the coffee business serving people, but we were in the people business serving coffee.

11:03And I spent the next five years, or actually 21 years, trying to convince people that was the way.

11:10And it didn't take very long before everybody got it.

11:13And I kept pushing that with inside the organization.

11:17And so, fortunately, Howard extended an invitation for me to join Starbucks.

11:21And the rest is history.

11:22I turned right instead of turning left.

11:24You know, I think back several years, actually decades on Starbucks.

11:30And one of the first things when they first came to the Los Angeles area that really surprised me was the culture was people were just, you know, there were desks and chairs and couches and people would just sit there.

11:47And I thought it was the most unusual thing in the world because I came from real, real, real, real, I came from real tail.

11:55I came from retail.

11:58And usually you don't see people sitting around.

12:01They buy, they eat their food or whatever they're doing, and then they go.

12:04And here, this was very unusual.

12:06People were just hanging out, lounging.

12:08It was a very, very unique culture there.

12:13And I began to later see that in other stores.

12:18But that really helped hit me in Starbucks where you could just relax and be there for an hour or two just drinking a coffee.

12:25It was unheard of then.

12:27Yeah, we called it the third place, the place between work and home.

12:32Think of it, think of it as Cheers.

12:34If you've ever seen the TV program Cheers, think of Starbucks in that context.

12:38It was about people and a comforting place to be, except we weren't serving beer or wine.

12:44We were serving coffee.

12:46And with the stores that you worked with and helped grow, one of the things that I think is very challenging, almost impossible, but yet you pulled it off, was keeping that culture intact while the store is growing.

13:00Because once it starts growing to a point, it's like you want – generally, a store wants to usher people out right away to fill the chairs with more customers.

13:10But that never changed in Starbucks.

13:12No.

13:13Well, it did after when COVID hit, and we screwed it all up, and we totally blew it.

13:18We didn't know what to do, so we took the chairs out, didn't want to get people sick.

13:22It caused all sorts of things to happen.

13:24And now, of course, they're going back to that because they realize that that's what we're about, and that's the core.

13:31It's a place for people to be, to be with themselves, to be with each other, a romantic conversation, a philosophical conversation, or just a conversation with yourself, you know.

13:41And I think it's really critical, and that's what really made it work.

13:45And we were the first to put in Internet so people could use the Internet, and it became a place for people to stay and sit.

13:55And I think that's the valuable thing of Starbucks.

13:58And it took us a while to realize that we made a mistake when, after COVID, we started taking those things out, but now they're back at it.

14:04I just have to comment on it again because it was just so odd to see people lingering around a place.

14:11It's today's people that may be the generation that are listening to this may not seem it odd, but in my day, that was just unheard of.

14:19Like, what are you doing here, sort of was the attitude.

14:22But anyways, that was always very weird.

14:25But it shows how important people are in building any culture.

14:31And also with that, I think that might have a part in this next thing.

14:36One of you, you have multiple lessons, and one that caught my eye and attention is the person who sweeps the floor should choose the broom.

14:44Instead of being told how to do it, you sort of, like, empower and let that person do things.

14:49Is that the philosophy?

14:50Let people choose themselves?

14:53Yeah, absolutely.

14:54You go out and you spend a lot of money recruiting people to come into your organization.

14:59You bring them in the organization, and then what most companies do is give them the handbook that has 200 pages in it,

15:04and it says all the things that you shouldn't do on threat of being fired if you do them, right?

15:11Exact opposite of what you should be doing.

15:13You bring them in, of course, you give them the handbook stuff, but you talk about why you brought them in.

15:18And you talk about the greater purpose of the organization, why we're all here.

15:22And then you talk about what we're hoping for them and what responsibility we want to make sure that they have.

15:28And then you say, you know, we have five brooms for you to choose from.

15:32You know, you're the floor sweeper.

15:35Okay, choose any broom that you want.

15:38Right-handed broom, left-handed broom, straw broom, plastic broom, push broom, whatever broom.

15:42And most companies would say, just use the broom I gave you.

15:46We always wanted to have our people be able to choose and participate in the work and make decisions in what they were trying to do.

15:54And so that's what we did.

15:56And so, you know, you can imagine somebody, one of your people who's in charge of keeping the floors clean comes in one day and says,

16:04you know, Howard, I think I could increase floor sweeping productivity by 10 percent.

16:09Because I was on the Internet the other night and I found a fantastic broom.

16:13You know how many bosses would just roll their eyes and just say, use the broom I gave you?

16:16Instead of listening and say, well, let's, okay, let's try one of those brooms.

16:21Purchasing may not like it, but let's get one of those brooms for you.

16:24Put it on my visa, right?

16:26And let's see what happens and let me know how it works.

16:29I'll give you a broom story.

16:31Probably the biggest broom story ever at Starbucks.

16:34So a young woman named Dina Campion, who is the district manager in Southern California,

16:40about when we first opened.

16:41And we had about eight or nine stores at the time.

16:44And she called me and said, Howard, can you come down and visit?

16:48I said, sure, I'd love to see what's going on down there.

16:51So nothing like getting out of the office and going and being in the stores.

16:55And so I went down to visit her and she took me on a tour of our stores and then some competitor's stores.

17:01And one of the competitor's stores, she bought me a drink.

17:03And she said, we're getting 30 customers a day come in to this store and to our store asking for a drink like that.

17:11And we don't have anything like it.

17:12And I think we ought to try it.

17:14So I took her idea back to Seattle and I said, here's what Dina thinks.

17:18And there was zero support for it.

17:20They had a marketing and product development said, Howard, we're in the coffee business.

17:23We're not going to do that.

17:24And I begged and pleaded and I said, I was going nowhere.

17:27So I called Dina and I said, Dina, there's no support.

17:29Let's give it six months and we'll come back after it.

17:32So Dina was responsible for growing the business, taking care of her people, taking care of those human beings we call customers and making sure everything was operating well and being aware of what was going on in the marketplace.

17:45So Dina was disappointed.

17:48But about two weeks later, she calls me up with Dina and she says, Howard, can you come down again?

17:52I said, Dina, what is it that you want?

17:54She says, I'd like to show you something about that drink.

17:57I said, Dina, you remember our conversation?

17:59Just give it six months.

18:00Well, Dina was an Italian like you are, the big brown eyes with and she had these little sharp teeth that she would sink into your cap.

18:09And when you tried to shake it off, you couldn't get rid of Dina.

18:11She was persistent as hell.

18:13So I said, OK, I'm not going to make a special trip, but I'll meet you down there in about a month.

18:18I have to visit some real estate sites.

18:19And so I made an appointment to see her.

18:21And I went into this store, the Third Street Promenade store in Santa Monica.

18:26And I sat down at one of the bar stools and she brought me over these three little sample cups that we have.

18:32And in it were these little drinks.

18:34And she says, try this.

18:36I took a sip and I said, Dina, this tastes remarkably like that drink you bought me at a competitor store.

18:41Are you trying to get me fired?

18:43And I laughed and she laughed.

18:45She says, no, but Howard, really, we need to do this.

18:48We're losing customers left and right.

18:50Dina and her broom.

18:52So I said, Dina, OK, you want to try this?

18:55You can try it.

18:56She figured out how to do it with a barista and her store manager.

18:59And they created a product.

19:01And I said, you can try it, but don't tell a soul.

19:04Right.

19:05You can't.

19:06And you have to call me every night with the results, because if it's not working, we're going to get rid of it really quickly before anybody finds out.

19:14So she did it.

19:15It wasn't 30 drinks a day she was selling per store.

19:17It was 50 drinks a day she was selling per store.

19:20By week number three, it was 70 drinks a day per store.

19:23This was going to be a huge lift in sales at Starbucks.

19:26So I was thinking to myself, Howard, you're a genius, you know.

19:30And so I invited Dina up to Seattle with her team, and we got the group together.

19:35And this time I included Howard Schultz, and I had her bring in the samples.

19:39And the head of marketing and product development stood up, and he said, Bihar, what the hell are you doing?

19:45I told you we weren't going to do this.

19:47And I looked at Howard, and I said, Howard, give me 90 days.

19:51And then I had this document, this piece of paper, had all the numbers on it.

19:54This was going to be a 10% to 15% lift in sales and profits in our stores if this worked.

20:01So I said, give me 90 days.

20:02If you don't like the smell in 90 days, we'll get rid of it.

20:06Dina and her broom.

20:07So what do you think Dina's broom was?

20:10What broom do you think she chose?

20:12What was the product that she wanted?

20:14Got any ideas?

20:15You wanted your dragon fruit iced tea drink?

20:19No, Frappuccino.

20:20Frappuccino.

20:21Oh, I had to go back further in time.

20:23Yeah, go back way further.

20:25Yes, I remember those days.

20:27This is over 30 years ago.

20:28That was a popular name everywhere.

20:31Yeah, everywhere.

20:31And so Dina created Frappuccino.

20:34It became 20% of our business at one time, and it became a $4 billion business, all because

20:41I took a risk as a leader, broke some rules, maybe broke a little glass along the way.

20:48But I would take the bullets if they came flying, and she tried it.

20:53And if I wouldn't have listened to Dina, if I wouldn't have been willing to back her up,

20:57we'd have never had Frappuccino.

20:58So, you know, they're not always that big, but, you know, most of the time it's little

21:04brooms.

21:06But every once in a while you get a big one.

21:08No, one of the takeaways is if there's something that you feel very strong that can make, run

21:13it as a special project, perhaps, and monitor it very tightly.

21:17Yeah, monitor it tightly, but be willing to take the risk.

21:20I had four rules.

21:22Don't do anything illegal.

21:23Don't do anything immoral.

21:24Don't do anything unethical.

21:25And don't poison anybody.

21:27If you could live with all those four rules, we could do anything.

21:31That's amazing.

21:32Now, this, so far, we're going through the history here.

21:35We're in California and North America.

21:39And then you wound up opening up a store in Japan.

21:42What kind of challenges did you, was this also similar to the broom?

21:47Like, don't go out of the country.

21:49But yet you did.

21:49Tell us how that happened.

21:51Yeah, we did.

21:52Well, nobody, the board wasn't in favor.

21:54At that time, we had about 500 stores.

21:55And I made the pitch for me to take and develop the international business, take it outside

22:01of North America.

22:02And so I didn't have the cred factor because I didn't have a college degree.

22:07So I hired Bain to come in and help me put the business plan together.

22:11I got him to do it for almost for $50,000.

22:14I mean, they don't even blink for $50,000.

22:16But I got them to do it because they thought they were going to get a lot of future business,

22:20which they eventually did.

22:21So we put together the business plan.

22:23I presented it to the board.

22:24And I wanted to go to the UK and Asia simultaneously.

22:29And they said, pick your shot.

22:31You can't do both.

22:32So I picked Asia Pacific and we went to Japan first.

22:36And we went to Japan first because I'd spent a lot of time in Asia looking at the marketplace.

22:41And Japan was a big coffee consuming country.

22:44And, you know, there are already some coffee players in Japan.

22:47And I thought we had our roasting plant in Seattle so we could get a container of coffee to Tokyo in a week.

22:54We couldn't get it to Europe in a week.

22:56And so, you know, we just decided to go to Japan first.

23:05And we did.

23:06And, you know, that made a huge difference.

23:11And that company now has, that company in Japan has over 2,000 stores.

23:18You know, amazing.

23:19Now, any reason you picked Japan?

23:21Because you, was it something that you were very familiar with culturally?

23:24Because it's a very unique and different culture as well.

23:28No, I wasn't that, I wasn't that familiar with it.

23:31I, I, I, I just went and learned and, and I'd done, I'd always been on the sell side in Asia, never the buy.

23:39I mean, always on the buy side in Asia, never on the sell side.

23:42But I just did my work and we found a great partner to make it work.

23:46And, and because of that partner, they were the operators and we had a board.

23:51I was in Japan once a month for seven years.

23:54And, and, and I was all over Asia.

23:57And that was the first, you know, we went into Japan, we went to Singapore, we went Korea, we went Taiwan, we went China, we went to Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India.

24:10And we have a huge business across Asia Pacific.

24:14I'm just thinking of what challenges you had in that because, because everywhere is a language barrier, cultural barrier, so many things.

24:22People are people, right?

24:25And we have different languages.

24:26We have different cultures.

24:27We eat different foods.

24:28But when you wipe all that stuff away, we all want to love and be loved.

24:32We all want to grow as human beings.

24:34We all want more for ourselves and for our families.

24:37And I, I didn't find, were there differences?

24:40Sure.

24:41There are cultural differences, but, you know, I had open ears and shut mouth.

24:45And I listened and asked questions.

24:47And, you know, and when people said, I think we had to do this, I listened.

24:51And, you know, we brought what we knew, and then we adjusted, adjusted, adjusted.

24:56And so, you know, it worked because of that.

24:59And, you know, I still, I'm still so proud of what happened in Japan.

25:04And then, of course, we went to Europe.

25:06And, you know, we've had success and failures all over the world.

25:10Some countries have been great.

25:11Some haven't.

25:12But that's the way, that's the way the ball bounces.

25:15But overall, it's been very successful.

25:18Howard, in my show title, I talk about love and business.

25:21You just mentioned love and business.

25:23And we talked about it earlier in this interview, how, how it's important to serve others to love.

25:29It's part of love.

25:30It's under that, under that umbrella.

25:33And I'm thinking, and we also talked about this, but I want to go further into the love part, the serving part.

25:40Because, as we mentioned earlier, businesses, they want to hit their goals.

25:45Some have been very ruthless in the corporations that I've seen or have witnessed in my several-decade corporate career.

25:54And it's just, it's not everybody, but you see that.

25:58And it's like, people are more important than just profit.

26:01I know we talked about it, but, but I want to drill deeper into having that as important to serve others and instilling that to your, to your, to your people, to your team.

26:14Because that's fine that you may think people are, are important.

26:18Relationships, relationships are important.

26:20But how do you get that love your neighbor type of thing as a first, as a first point?

26:27How do you get that across your teams?

26:29You need to do it yourself.

26:31You can't say, I want you to love the people you're serving if you're not loving them first.

26:36You can't, you can't expect trust from your people if you don't trust them first.

26:41You can't get love if you don't give love.

26:44Look, when I talk about love, I'm not talking about the familial love, you know, the love that we have for our children and our wives and our parents.

26:52I'm talking about the love we have for other human beings simply because they're human beings and they're worthy of our love.

26:58And, and so that's how, what I believe.

27:01And, you know, people are afraid to use the word love.

27:04Look, businesses are not, families are not unlike businesses.

27:08They're people in relationships trying to accomplish common goals, trying to live, live, live good lives, trying to earn enough to be able to support themselves, to feed themselves, put a roof over their head and put a little money in the bank for savings.

27:27Businesses are exactly the same way as families.

27:30And so, you know, you don't go into a marriage thinking about how much money you can get out of the marriage.

27:35You know, you go into a marriage and you, and you have kids because you, you want to contribute to the world that in which you live.

27:45And you want to have, you want to have people that, young people that grow into better people that serve the world better than you did.

27:52And, you know, that is really what it's all about.

27:56Look, we get too caught up in this, the money side.

28:00Look, I like to make a profit.

28:03I'm a capitalist pig.

28:04I'm the first one to make it.

28:05And if I have money, I buy myself things.

28:08If I don't, I don't.

28:09But, or I, and I give money away, lots of money away.

28:12But, but my driving force is not getting up in the morning and say, how much can I earn today?

28:18And I've been in sales my whole life.

28:20I'm a sales guy at core.

28:23I sold furniture for 25 years, commission-based.

28:26So I understand money, and I understand the work that it takes.

28:31But I always found that when I serve people without thinking about what I was going to get, the getting was always more than if I did the opposite.

28:41It just works that way.

28:44I don't know.

28:45I can't explain it any better way.

28:47The greedy people, I'm not saying greedy people won't get rich.

28:51They do.

28:52We see it all the time.

28:54You know, we see it in our country right now.

28:56It's all about, it's about the money.

28:58You know?

28:59And look at, and that's going to, that is going to tear the soul out of this country.

29:05It really will.

29:06Yeah, I mean, if you think it won't, get ready.

29:10Because that's what's coming.

29:11If we continue on the same course we're on, that it's about us.

29:15The country was built on we, not me.

29:19We built Starbucks on we, not me.

29:21And every time we made a mistake at Starbucks, you know, I don't know what it was.

29:25Because we forgot about we, and we focused on me.

29:29And I can almost take you through every mistake.

29:32Some cost us a lot.

29:34Some of that me cost us, got us a union in some of our stores.

29:39Because we weren't focused on we.

29:42And so it's, and if you want to go down and you look at the history of companies around the world,

29:48you'll see the ones that have lasted the longest are the ones that really have been we-based companies.

29:53The ones that have gotten in trouble, you know, look at Wells Fargo.

29:58Look at how long they were under the deal.

30:00Why?

30:01Because they were focused on me.

30:03What can I get from my customers?

30:05Not what can I give to my customers?

30:08Right?

30:09Enron, same way.

30:11You know, Volkswagen lost its lead.

30:14Why?

30:14Because it cheated on emissions.

30:17You know, I mean, it was about me, not we.

30:20And so you want to build a great business or a great organization, or you want to build a great family, focus on we.

30:28Well said.

30:29Well said.

30:30I love it.

30:30And I think that ties in, of course, about your book.

30:34It's not about the coffee.

30:36It's about people.

30:37It's about cultures.

30:38Right.

30:38What else can you tell us about your book, Howard?

30:41Well, you know, the title is It's Not About the Coffee.

30:45Lessons from a Life at Starbucks.

30:48You didn't say, I didn't say from a career at Starbucks.

30:51Because Starbucks was my life.

30:54Right?

30:54And I loved it.

30:55And I loved the people in it.

30:57I loved what we did.

30:58And I was committed emotionally to it.

31:00And the greater purpose of Starbucks was to build a better world, you know, by doing how we treated our people.

31:08We were the first company to give people health care benefits in the quick service industry.

31:14We gave everybody equity in the company, from baristas to vice presidents.

31:19Everybody had the same health care, from baristas to the CEO.

31:23People get free college degrees at Starbucks.

31:26Everybody gets a pound of coffee a week for free.

31:28You know, I mean, we did things that other companies wouldn't do.

31:33And did they cost us money?

31:34Yes.

31:35But you know what?

31:36We thought it was the right thing to do.

31:38We didn't want to build that business on the backs of people.

31:40We wanted to build that business with people.

31:42And that's what made it work.

31:44And that's what I was committed to.

31:46And I'm still committed to the same thing every day.

31:48I wanted us to be about love and profit, not love or profit.

31:56I really like that.

31:57It's so well said, so well said.

31:59And as you talked about where this country is headed, and we talked about, you know, the push for profits, running people over, you know, whatever it takes to make more money.

32:11We see that.

32:12And you and I see that.

32:13And when we do, we know it's not going to last.

32:16It's obvious to us, well, we've been around the block a few times.

32:20You've been around quite a few times more than I have.

32:23We see it that there has to be something more for sustainability.

32:27And what I like to do is kind of talk to today's future, today's future entrepreneurs, business people, and encapsulate some of this, you know, of what they need to learn, what they need to do, you know, how they should build.

32:45And perhaps not how they should build.

32:49There's, Howard, as you know, there's a zillion books and webinars and seminars and courses on how to do sales and how to do this.

32:58It's an overload.

32:59Nobody can get through it in one lifetime.

33:02It's just not possible.

33:04So what I want to try to focus is on some of the key points here that we want to leave as a legacy to business people and entrepreneurs the world over.

33:13Okay.

33:14So here's the number one.

33:16I don't like rules, but here's the number one.

33:19Live your life with intention.

33:21What are your intentions?

33:23What are your intentions in your family?

33:25What are your intentions in your work?

33:26What are your intentions in your company, non-profit?

33:29I don't care what you do.

33:30What are your intentions for yourself?

33:32So what does that involve?

33:35Well, the first thing you need to do is define what your eight to 10 core values are.

33:40These are words that represent actions, decisions that you'll make in your life.

33:45And you'll measure your actions and decisions against those core values.

33:49So my first core value is honesty.

33:51So I have to define what honesty means to me.

33:54That means I tell the truth, no matter what.

33:57Somebody asked me a question, they're going to get my truth anyway.

34:00It may not be their truth, but they're going to get the truth according to Howard.

34:04And they can disagree.

34:07And so define the eight to 10 core values.

34:10Define what those core values mean to you.

34:12And then start living your life by those core values.

34:15Evaluate your performance based on those eight to 10 core values.

34:18Now, there might be in a list of 300 words that represent human values, there might be 50 or 100 that you could identify with.

34:26I'm just talking about the core ones.

34:27These are come hell or high water, you're going to live by these.

34:32Then write a mission statement for yourself.

34:35Why are you here?

34:37What do you want to leave behind?

34:39What is it you're trying to do in this world in which we live?

34:42So, my mission statement goes like this.

34:46Every day I want to nurture and inspire the human spirit, beginning with myself first and then for others.

34:52And the reason why I say self first, after living as long as I've lived, right, I've found out if you're not okay with you, it's very difficult to help somebody else or nurture and inspire their human spirit.

35:02And so I focus on doing that.

35:05That's my core of servant leadership.

35:06And I have found when I do that well, people want to help me.

35:12You know, they accept my help and they want to help me.

35:17So then third, then next is you've written your mission statement and you live by your mission statement.

35:24And then write a paragraph or two about how you want to live your life.

35:27I did it in six words.

35:30The first one is purpose.

35:32Everything I do in my life has to have a purpose greater than myself.

35:36It has to be bigger than Howard.

35:38It's not about me.

35:39It's about we.

35:41The second P is about passion.

35:46If you're going to have a purpose greater than yourself, then you damn well better be passionate about it.

35:50Scream it from the highest mountaintops.

35:52All your energy has to go into it.

35:54And then the third P is persistence.

36:02Nothing in life comes easy.

36:04In this river, we call our lives that are rocks.

36:07And some of those rocks sit out there and you can see them.

36:10You can see them just out over the waterline.

36:12And for some darn reason, we as human beings, we see that rock and we hit it anyway.

36:18Right?

36:20And then there are rocks that lie below the surface.

36:23We don't know they're where or what they're there.

36:25We get surprised.

36:26We hit it.

36:26We smack into it.

36:27And like, oh, what happened?

36:28And then there are those rocks that our parents or our coaches or our teachers or our mentors tell us about that we ignore.

36:35And we hit those rocks.

36:37We have to figure out how to get over, around, through, or below those rocks up.

36:41Because in life, persistence pays.

36:44If you want to achieve something, you got to be all in.

36:47You can't give up.

36:50And then the fourth P is patience.

36:52Nothing comes in life in the time frame we want it to come.

36:55It always takes a little more, sometimes a little less, but usually it takes a little more.

37:00And you have to have the patience.

37:02You got to let it come to you.

37:03Don't quit just because it hasn't happened in a week.

37:06If you haven't made your million dollars yet, don't quit just because it hasn't come in your first year of working.

37:13You know?

37:13Give it some time.

37:14It's okay to set the goal.

37:16I want to have a million dollars.

37:17Nothing wrong with that.

37:18Okay.

37:19But so patience pays.

37:21And then the fifth P is performance.

37:25Look, every day we get measured.

37:28We get measured by our spouses.

37:30We get measured by our kids.

37:32We get measured by our bosses, our co-workers.

37:35And like it or not, we're getting measured.

37:37Get used to it.

37:38Because performance counts.

37:40When you commit to do something, then you committed to do something.

37:43If you can't get it done, tell somebody early that you're struggling and ask for help.

37:48But performance matters in this world.

37:50So, you know, if I don't put down the toilet seat, I hear Howard.

37:58If I don't take out the garbage, I hear Howard.

38:01Right?

38:01Little things in life.

38:03But performance counts.

38:04And the most important person you need to perform for is you.

38:07And you should ask yourself every day, how did I do today against my values, against my mission statement, against my what I call my six Ps.

38:18So, performance counts.

38:19And then the final P is people.

38:22Like I said at the beginning, there's nothing you will do in your life that isn't about serving another human being.

38:27If you're a widget maker that makes widgets that go into a printing press, gets sold to a publishing company that produces a magazine, or a newspaper gets delivered to somebody's home to inform or entertain them, that lowly widget maker is about serving other human beings.

38:43And it behooves us to figure out what that greater purpose is, what our service to other human beings look like, and stay focused on it.

38:51If you do that, I promise you, you're going to have a fulfilling life.

38:55You will achieve your goals if you're intentional about them.

39:00And then the final thing about this, have a plan.

39:04Set specific and measurable goals across all aspects of your life.

39:08Spirituality, material, economic well-being, personal growth, health and well-being, family, children.

39:14I don't care what you want to do.

39:15Money, whatever your headings are.

39:18And then have three to five goals under each of those.

39:21And then go about achieving those goals.

39:24And when you write them down, first of all, all this needs to be written down.

39:28If you don't write this stuff down, it's just wishes, hopes and dreams.

39:32You write it down and you commit.

39:34It doesn't mean you'll achieve every goal on your goal list.

39:37It doesn't mean you will live up 100% time to your values.

39:41It doesn't mean you'll always be true to your mission statement.

39:45No.

39:45But if you're constantly pushing towards that and holding yourself accountable, you will get most of it done.

39:53And I have found that it works.

39:55I have lived for the past almost 60, well, almost 55 years writing down my mission statement, my values, and having specific and measurable goals.

40:07And I hold myself accountable.

40:10Have I done everything?

40:11No.

40:13You've done a lot.

40:14You've done what people consider is accomplished, successful, because you've created some milestones.

40:22And at the core, the biggest takeaway, we've gone over this multiple times, is really putting others first, serving others.

40:30That's what you've got to put first.

40:32Just like your dad with the strawberries.

40:34Yeah.

40:34They're your friends.

40:36How can you charge your friends?

40:38You know they're struggling.

40:39Give them a basket or two of strawberries.

40:41I totally get it.

40:43You're serving others.

40:44And those friends become more endeared with you and more loyal.

40:48Not that you're trying to buy loyalty, but that's part of it.

40:52Yeah.

40:53Yeah.

40:53It's part of it.

40:54And, you know, you feel better about yourself when you're helping somebody else.

40:58It's just a fact.

41:00You know?

41:02I absolutely love it.

41:03Once again, this is Howard Bihar.

41:05Talked about leading with love.

41:08And you can find him at howardbihar.com.

41:11I probably should have said that earlier.

41:13That's howardbihar.com.

41:17Howard, b-e-h-a-r.com.

41:19Howard.

41:20I just want to thank you.

41:21This was refreshing.

41:22We call this old school mentality in a way.

41:26I want to bring this back.

41:28I want people to get your book and get this into their soul because you don't have to give up your money.

41:36You don't have to give up your life.

41:38You don't have to sell your soul.

41:40Serve others first.

41:42And that income, that sustenance, will come back to you.

41:46It was great.

41:47So I'd like to give all your audience, I want to give them my cell phone number and my email address.

41:53So I'm not in the consulting business.

41:56I just, if somebody has a question, they can call me or send me an email.

41:59So my cell phone number is 206-972-7776.

42:07And my email address is hb, that's my initials, at howardbihar.com.

42:12I may be a little slow getting back, but I always respond to everybody.

42:16Howard, with that offer, is there anything in particular that you would like or would enjoy to hear from people or just that they like this interview?

42:25No, they don't have to.

42:27They can like it.

42:28I mean, you know, if it works for them and if they see something that's good, then put it into practice.

42:33If not, I understand.

42:35It's just, I'm being me and I don't expect everybody to be Howard and nor should they be.

42:41But, you know, I want people to live a fulfilling life.

42:45And I just believe this is the way to do it.

42:47You're a good man, Howard.

42:49I really, truly enjoyed this.

42:50I just want to thank you so much for coming on the show.

42:54It was absolutely great.

42:55All that information will go in the show notes as well.