Do I take criticism of Starbucks personally? Of course I do.

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

Any business today that embraces the status quo as an operating principle is going to be on a death march.

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've traveled around the world, and what's so revealing is that, despite the differences in culture, politics, language, how people dress, there is a universal feeling that we all want the same thing. We deeply want to be respected and appreciated for our differences.

Every step of the way, I made a point to underpromise and overdeliver. In the long run, that's the only way to ensure security in any job.

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?