Success in the United States is not an entitlement in China. You have to go there and earn it, and earn it the right way.

If you don't love what you're doing with unbridled passion and enthusiasm, you're not going to succeed when you hit obstacles.

Early on I realized that I had to hire people smarter and more qualified than I was in a number of different fields, and I had to let go of a lot of decision-making. I can't tell you how hard that is. But if you've imprinted your values on the people around you, you can dare to trust them to make the right moves.

Overnight the digital age had changed the course of history for our company. Everything that we thought was in our control no longer was. But within a year we had invested in social media and digital experts. Now Starbucks is the number one brand on Facebook.

I could've just walked away but I never could have forgiven myself to allow Starbucks to drift into mediocrity or not be relevant. I just couldn't be a bystander.

The hardest thing about being a leader is demonstrating or showing vulnerability. And that has a lot to do with trust.

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.