Starbucks is committed to evolving and enhancing our customer experience with innovative and wholesome food offerings.

I was born on the other side of the tracks, in public housing in Brooklyn, New York. My dad never made more than $20,000 a year, and I grew up in a family that lost health insurance. So I was scarred at a young age with understanding what it was like to watch my parents lose access to the American dream.

When companies fail, or fail to grow, it's almost always because they don't invest in the people, the systems, and the processes they need.

Don't settle! Embrace a dream--and keep dreaming. Don't be a bystander. Take it personally.

To be an enduring, great company, you have to build a mechanism for preventing or solving problems that will long outlast any one individual leader.

I think Starbucks created a platform and, ultimately, a runway for many other companies to emulate. I suspect if we had not achieved what we have, there would have been many regional brands that would have succeeded. But I'm not sure there would have been a national brand of the scope of Starbucks.

The future of America is not an entitlement. We have been given a treasure chest of gifts and opportunities, but some people are being left behind, and success is not sustainable unless it is shared.