American Fortune Life

"...we can be a force for positive action and positive impact! Bringing our partners, customers and communities together to create a good time.

We understand our responsibilities! Our potential to move in a better direction, we can become stronger. The world is once again looking to Starbucks to set a new standard. We must live up to expectations and lead the way. "

clap clap -

As Andy's morale-enhancing words fell, the audience stood up, thunderous applause, whistles accompanied by shouts from time to time, 'YES' 'That's it! '.

Howard Schultz on the side looked at Andy Smith standing in the foreground like a king with complicated eyes, accepting the cheers and applause from his new subjects, feeling filled with emotion in his heart, such a young and outstanding leader, maybe he really Can win a more brilliant future for Starbucks.

A financial crisis has brought down many famous business leaders who were once touted by the media, and it has also made many people wonder whether there are really good stocks on Wall Street, and more importantly, whether there are really good leaders.

Indeed, the media hype makes it seem like only a few bombastic pundits can become corporate leaders in today's society, and shareholders have more fear than trust in corporate executives. Inflated MBAs and lucrative exit packages are common, but entrepreneurs slogging away in an office are not.

While it's hard to replicate a CEO who was a cultural force like Steve Jobs, it has to be admitted that there are still some incredibly bright and talented business leaders in the world today. These leader-level entrepreneurs have the same ability as Jobs to create value for shareholders and employees, and can define entire industries in front of competitors and consumers.

At this moment, Andy Smith, in the eyes of Howard, is undoubtedly a leader-level entrepreneur. Even if the other party is covering up his brilliance and establishing his own corporate status, Howard can only applaud him from the sidelines. There is no way, the business world It's that cruel!

The North American store manager meeting ended, and Andy took the management and directors of Starbucks headquarters back to the small conference room to continue their regular board meeting.

It has to be said that change is a painful and stressful process.

In order to change the poor management of Starbucks and to consolidate the authority of his chairman, Andy has gradually completed the adjustment of the leadership team although he is not resident in Starbucks.

For example, the president of Europe and Africa, who has never lived in the United States but is very capable, was transferred to the United States as the most important person in charge of the local business in the United States, and a 32-year-old information technology genius was hired as the chief information officer. The person in charge of finance, but a member of the think tank who has many years of work experience and is familiar with financial management, serves as the chief financial officer. In any case, the reorganization of the leadership team has injected new vitality into Starbucks' transformation.

In order to improve the efficiency of internal operations, Schultz personally presided over the reorganization of supply chain management, and also invested heavily in updating the IT system according to Andy's requirements.

Although a large number of actions to restore the customer experience have been carried out, the evil consequences of Starbucks' rapid expansion in the past have not been eliminated. A large number of Starbucks stores are not efficient and are ruthlessly devouring profits, seriously dragging down business operations.

In order to cut off unprofitable stores, Starbucks had to implement store closures and layoffs, closing more than 600 stores at once.

"For Starbucks, 2008 was a year of crisis and change. Under Schultz's leadership, Starbucks implemented a series of changes, which cost more than 500 million US dollars. Starbucks' The stock price fell to less than $8 at the lowest point.

But after the change, our share price is now back to around $14, up 40% from the beginning of the year. In the second quarter of the 2009 fiscal year, Starbucks achieved unexpected results, achieving its first profit growth since the first quarter of 2008. The company's overall profit was 152 million U.S. dollars, compared with a loss of nearly 7 million U.S. dollars a year ago. sharp contrast.

"

Speaking of this, Andy smiled and looked at Howard Schultz, who was sitting first on the right, and applauded first. Then, everyone in the conference room began to applaud, and Howard Schultz just smiled and nodded. He nodded. At this moment, his heart is extremely complicated. He has already seen that the strength shown by Andy Smith this time has almost completely dominated the entire Starbucks. Even he, the founder, felt a sense of powerlessness. feel.

"In the business world, we often find that the winning system goes to almost absurd extremes in maximizing or minimizing one or several variables. Therefore, we Starbucks also have our own extreme aspects. Regarding this point, I I want to hear everyone's opinions... Everyone can speak freely, I firmly believe in collective wisdom, if you have any good ideas, you can speak them out, let's discuss..."

Andy looked around at the people in front of the conference table with a smile on his face, and signaled them to speak freely. Some people who were not used to the sudden strength of the young and careless chairman were also affected by Andy's powerful aura and that kind of The natural charisma is infected, completely dominated, and begins to 'dance' around Andy's baton.

. . . . . .

Today, Andy is in a very good mood, which can be said to be very good. After the meeting, with a bright smile on his face, he held Howard Schultz's hand and said: "Next, Starbucks will be handed over to you , you are a professional, I believe that no one is more suitable than you to lead Starbucks to a new glory, thank you for your hard work!"

Looking at the sincere smile on Andy's face and listening to the heart-warming words, if people who don't know the truth see it, they may really be moved by Andy Smith's atmosphere and trust in the CEO.

Only Howard Schultz knows how crazy he is at this moment. All day today, he wants to be a foil, watching Andy Smith, the chairman, scold Fang Qiu, talking eloquently, with a sense of presence, Turning his head around, he began to coax the old man again. I have to say, no wonder he became the richest man in the world at such a young age. He really is a little fox who cannibalizes people but does not spit out bones!

Andy sat in the car with his little assistant who showed two sweet dimples when he smiled. Under the watchful eyes of all the executives, the team drove away from the Starbucks headquarters.

"Let's play some upbeat music." In the carriage, Andy took out a bottle of mineral water from the car refrigerator and opened it. After taking a sip, he said to the little assistant in a very good mood.

Seeing that his boss was in a good mood, the little assistant immediately operated a few times on the car stereo, and soon the brisk rhythm of "The Show" sounded.

"... I don't kogo, I't do italoried..."

Hearing the brisk singing, Andy couldn't help shaking slightly, and sang along, "I like this song, hehe, by the way, what's the singer's name?"

"Rainka Klipak, an Australian solo singer." The little assistant also smiled happily because he saw the good mood of the big devil.

"A solo singer? Hehe, I'm happy today, count her luck, write it down, let the big machine company send someone to sign her... Aheshow, Thesunishot, Inthesky..."

Andy sang along while talking, the smile on his face became brighter and brighter, looked at the little assistant and continued: "You who grew up in Seattle, will you take me to taste the food here?"

"Ah? Boss, I used to eat roadside stalls and snacks, you..." The little assistant was a little dumbfounded when she heard that. Her memory of Seattle food was still at the stage of cheap food. After all, at that time She really has no money.

"Hehe, let's go, take me to taste it, what's wrong with the roadside stalls, regional delicacies, the most representative ones are snacks." As the world's richest man who can eat ice cream on the roadside, he never underestimates roadside stall food.

"Okay." Not wanting to spoil the big devil's interest, the little assistant smiled sweetly and said to the driver: "Go to Pike Place Market."