Our mission statement about treating people with respect and dignity is not just words but a creed we live by every day. You can't expect your employees to exceed the expectations of your customers if you don't exceed the employees' expectations of management.

I conduct my life with an expectation that people will do the right thing. Yet even with all my experience, I am still surprised when they do not.

We need to put ourselves in the shoes of our customers. That is my new battle cry. Live and breathe Starbucks the way our customers do.

Starbucks is in my blood. It is such a part of me that letting it unravel simply was not an option.

Hiring people is an art, not a science, and resumes can't tell you whether someone will fit into a company's culture.

You walk into a retail store, whatever it is, and if there's a sense of entertainment and excitement and electricity, you wanna be there.

Many companies today are reducing hours of full-time people to get under the minimum so they don't have to pay health care costs. I just shake my head because that's not going to build long-term value and trust with your people.