Onward
by Howard Schultz and Joanne Gordon
Schultz's return as CEO in 2008: closing stores for a day to retrain baristas, shutting hundreds of locations, the Mexico leadership conference during a financial crisis, and the slow rebuild of a brand that had diluted itself. It is candid about mistakes and useful on what a turnaround asks of a leader.
Read it if…
you are leading or living through a turnaround and want a first-person account.
Skip it if…
you want the founding story; see Pour Your Heart Into It.
Three things you will actually use
- Return to the core before you expand again.
- Hard decisions made publicly build trust.
- A brand is diluted one small compromise at a time.
Do this first
Read the chapter on closing stores to retrain and ask what you would stop to fix the basics.
Our verdict
A turnaround, first-hand.
Compare with other Leadership books
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