Schultz’s love is a feeder, and compassion a breeder.
Winning millions of hearts, he emerged as a leader.
In business, heads are preferred to hearts as, it is believed that commercial brains can generate more revenue profit and, on the contrary, an affectionate heart does not do any good to the balance sheet of a company. This is true but only in the short run. The companies, in the long run, need loyalty of its employees, who will stay only if they feel cared and valued. By his impressive results, Mr. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, has proved that nurturing emotions of people not only drives profits but also helps the company become a giant. He combined the art of doing business with the skill of delighting people he dealt with. If Schultz is in the business – he is an aggressor, if he is with employees – he is a fair and tender leader (“Howard Schultz Biography”, 2016).
Schultz’s top priority to the people reflects in his company’s mission and vision statement. The company’s vision clarifies that Starbucks is the company where the partners, special name given to the employees, are treated with respect and dignity. The company’s mission again serves the people, this time customers. The company aims to create a place where people can enjoy coffee while having meetings, discussions or other relaxations. This innovative approach has changed the way coffee is served to the customers across the world. This is one of the reasons why Starbucks is preferred by the customers despite being costlier than other local brands in the markets it operates. In other words, Schultz is equally successful on both the fronts involving people-employees as well as customers.
What makes the company compassionate?
Ans-Compassion is the genuine desire to understand the suffering of the distressed and to make honest efforts to mitigate the pain of the sufferer. A company is nothing but the sum total of all the stakeholders- some at the helm and the rest under them. The company becomes compassionate when its leaders lead from the front by showing the caring attitude to other stakeholders. A company can be called compassionate if it follows the humane approach towards its employees; if it delivers the quality product to its customer at the most reasonable price; if it shows commitment to the betterment of society. The compassionate company can retain its employees, preserve its client base and keep its goodwill in the market intact. The employees of the compassionate employer are likely to pass this attribute to the customers of the company, a decisive factor for its success.
Compassion on the individual front differentiates leaders from the bosses. Bosses can get the job done by their commands and demands while the leaders act as the enablers for the fulfilment of a task. Compassion not only improves workplace culture, but it can also help a company’s bottom line (Morin, 2015). The compassionate companies go beyond paying just remuneration to the employees. They understand other essential needs of the workers such as physical and economic well-being. Love and care shown to the employees have their own rewards. Employees no longer consider the companies as their employers but as a partnership firms. As a result, the attrition rate of the employees falls to the minimum level. Prolonging the stay of an employee is much easier and more economical than hiring a new recruit with no guarantee that he or she will be better than the one who quit.
The prerequisites of a company being compassionate are only sensitive attitude and genuine desire to work for the welfare its people. Starbucks is an exceptional company that is led by an outstanding and a sensitive leader Mr. Howard Schultz. It is known for many distinctions. One of them was, way back in 1988, offering the benefits meant for regular employees-health insurance, stock options etc- to the part-timers. For this, Schultz had to convince the investors to seek their support. The spectacular rise of Starbucks proves that benevolence has a significant role to play in business.
What benefit was the Schultz action to the internal and external audiences and why?
Ans-With his action, Schultz proved, to the internal audiences, that he genuinely treated his employees as his partners. In 1997, the incident involving the death of its three employees due to a robbery was the testing time for the company. Schultz responded to the situation with exemplary swiftness. This is evident from the facts that he cut short his vacation and rushed to the spot where the incident of firing had taken place. He not only felt the pain and suffering of the beleaguered families of the deceased but also tried to comfort them by being there physically for a considerable time. This established the fact that his intention and action were on the same page.
His heart-felt apology was an indicative of his humility and sensitivity to the grief-stricken families. Though he was not able to undo the loss of lives, he provided the emotional support to the grieving family members in the hour of crisis. This exhibited his concern for the people who were his business partners. This could only happen because he considered the loss of his employees as his personal loss, showing kinship and solidarity with them.
The benefit of this move was an increase in motivation level of the existing employees and that reflected in the high figures of profit. His humanitarian act won the confidence of thousands of his employees and made them stick to the company as if it was a magnet. In other words, loyalty of the employees touched a new height. Consequently, the company’s expansion became easy as it never found the shortage of staff for its increasing number of new stores.
The company received the benefits of employee’s engagement when it wanted the better ideas to recover from the slump caused by the economic slowdown in 2008, company’s employees came up with many suggestions, out of which, the suggestion of a former employee named Bred Nelson worked profoundly for the company. In 2008, when the company was looking for ideas to re-engage with its customers, Nelson suggested that he could begin a Twitter handle for the brand. (Hussain, Khan and Mirza, 2014). The twitter’s idea was a big hit and resulted in the creation of a massive follower’s base, which runs into millions now.
How does this act raise to the quality of a good leader and why?
Ans-This act elevates the quality of a good leader, making his personality impeccable. It generates the added credibility to the leader’s image and consequently more and more people want to get associated with him. Moreover, a sensitive human heart makes the leader more acceptable and respectable. The leader becomes synonymous with certain qualities, leading to the social recognition. Eventually, the influence of the leader doesn’t remain confined to the business sphere alone, it encompasses the whole society. This is what happened to Schultz who has made arrangement for the educational facilities for his partners. He is also the co-founder of Schultz Family foundation, which is engaged in bridging the gap between the opportunities and the aspirants.
The success story of Starbucks is glaring example of how an act of generosity paves the way for further progress. The company faced a turbulent phase in 2008, when the economic slowdown set in. However, success of handling the tragic situation toughened Schultz for the bigger and more formidable challenges ahead. It was his people centric method that enabled him to tide over the lean period of economic downturn. Being aware of the people’s magic in business, Shultz sought the help of his partners, customers and other stakeholders in his revival efforts. As a result, Starbucks not only survived the troubled time but also thrived subsequently.
This humanitarian trait won Starbucks many accolades nationally and internationally. With his elevated stature grew the company’s image and reputation worldwide. His humane approach also helped him establish his brand in the international market as the language of humanism was common at all places. Considering above factors, Starbucks became a hallmark of employee’s satisfaction and customer centric approach. Today, Starbucks is not only known for serving coffee but giving an unmatched service to all concerned.
Conclusion
The Samaritan act of a leader drives others to replicate it. This triggers a chain reaction and very soon generosity originated from the leader forms the culture of the workplace. In other words, the leader becomes a torch bearer that dispels the darkness from the path of his followers, making the advancement easy. The leaders like Schultz challenge the prevailing trend and create the trend that sets a new benchmark. Such leaders are few but the impact of their actions is huge.
References
Howard Schultz Biography: Success Story of Starbucks CEO. (2016). Astrum People website. Retrieved 7:26, Apr 4, 2016, fromhttp://astrumpeople.com/howard-schultz-biography-success-story-of-starbucks-ceo/.
Morin, A. (2015, June 24). Introducing A Little Compassion To Your Workplace Culture Has Big Benefits. Forbes, Retrieved April 02, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2015/06/24/introducing-a-little-compassion-to-your-workplace-culture-has-big-benefits/#369d577f16d0
Husain, S., Khan, F., & Mirza, W. (2014, September 28). Brewing innovation. Business Today, Retrieved April 02, 2016, from http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/lbs-case-study/how-starbucks-survived-the-financial-meltdown-of-2008/story/210059.html
Behar, H. (2008, April 01). Java and Sympathy – a former Starbucks president tells how to succeed in business without putting people last. in character (spring 2008), Retrieved April 01, 2016, from http://incharacter.org/archives/compassion/java-and-sympathy-a-former-starbucks-president-tells-how-to-succeed-in-business-without-putting-peop/
