When I returned as CEO in 2008, Starbucks had forgotten that meaningful innovations balance an organization's heritage with modern-day relevance and market differentiation, so we had to reorient. In one brainstorming session, we visited and observed great retailers, then asked ourselves, 'If Starbucks did not exist, what type of coffee experience would we create?

It's one thing to dream, but when the moment is right, you've got to be willing to leave what's familiar and go out to find your own sound.

Be bold, but be fair. Don't give in. If others around you have integrity, too, you can prevail

If you pour your heart into your work, or into any worthy enterprise, you can achieve dreams others may think impossible.

Don't buy preground coffee.

You cant build any kind of organization if youre not going to surround yourself with people who have experience and skill base beyond your own.

I do think - as self-serving as it sounds - that I was the right person, given the very, very strong headwind we had from the economy and our own issues, to come back and rewrite the future of the company.