Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul by Howard Schultz with Joanne Gordon
- Publisher: Rodale, 2011
- Genre: Business, Biography
- Format: Hardcover
- Page Count: 350 pages
- My Rating: ⭐ (1/5)
As a person who visits Starbucks fairly often, I was really interested in learning about their story. But I ended up very disappointed.
I dislike the book. Not that I hate the story, but actually Schultz himself whom, to be honest, I consider emotionally ignorant. He never realised that when he stepped down from being ceo and served as chairman meant granting Starbucks the right to grow without his full-time interference, much like a parent letting go of their grown-up children. Schultz failed not once, but twice at this: the first time was returning as ceo near the end of 2007 without self-restraint or proper communication within the company, and the second time was publishing this book, believing it to be an appropriate thing to do when it was actually not.
The story would be great if not for the annoying arrogance and deceiving tone of Schultz. I believe that should this book start at a different time or be penned by a third person, it would be a lot better. Also, being completely oblivious himself, Schultz has this habit of doing things half-way and making his words hang, leaving me utterly perplexed during reading. So immature I had to wince.
There is no doubt that he successfully made Starbucks great again, but it does not change the fact that he is, in my opinion, less than qualified to be a real icon in entrepreneurship. He did, however, acknowledge that stories are important for doing business, to which I totally agree though most people tend to overlook. [27 Jan 2018]
