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.

We would take something old and tired and common - coffee - and weave a sense of romance and community around it. We would rediscover the mystique and charm that had swirled around coffee throughout the centuries.

In the 1960s, if you introduced a new product to America, 90% of the people who viewed it for the first time believed in the corporate promise. Then 40 years later if you performed the same exercise, less than 10% of the public believed it was true. The fracturing of trust is based on the fact that the consumer has been let down.

The success of the Starbucks has been based on this balance between profitability and a social conscience. Everywhere we're doing business, were trying to manage the business through the lens of humanity.

Starbucks is rekindling America's love affair with coffee, bringing romance and fresh flavor back to the brew.

I was taken by the power that savoring a simple cup of coffee can have to connect people and create community.

The Starbucks customer and the Teavana customer are two very different customers, two different need states that are highly complimentary.