In my previous post, “Howard Schultz leadership lessons (Part I)” I wrote about the powerful leadership lessons of Howard Schultz, founder, and long-time CEO of Starbucks I learned from reading his wonderful book Onward – How Starbucks fought for its life without losing its soul. In this post, I share with you MORE IDEAS TO IMPROVE YOUR LEADERSHIP.
- SE AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCES TO INSPIRE: to improve the way leaders communicate, they must use personal experiences that connect them with the reality they want to explain. With this, they become more credible and inspire others.
- STICK TO YOUR VALUES, THEY ARE YOUR FOUNDATION: values are the cornerstone of your leadership. Follow them and commit to them. As Howard usually says, “If people believe they share values with a company they will stay loyal to the brand”.
- HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE BUT GIVE THEM THE TOOLS TO SUCCEED: good leaders know how to delegate successfully. For this to happen, they have to help their team members succeed with tools, training, and advice.
- MAKE THE TOUGH CHOICES; IT’S HOW EXECUTE THAT COUNTS: Powerful leadership is not only about communication and inspiration. It’s about execution. Sometimes, to get the desired results leaders need to make tough decisions. As Howard says, “In times of adversity and change, we really discover who we are and what we are made of”.
- BE DECISIVE IN TIMES OF CRISIS: in moments of crisis, good leaders need to appear. In difficult situations, leaders must be decisive and act accordingly. When you are facing a problematic situation, you need to react quickly.
- BE NIMBLE: in modern times, leaders need to be agile. The world is moving fast, so being agile and nimble is essential.
- FIND TRUTH IN TRIALS AND LESSONS IN MISTAKES: good leaders are good learners. Howard suggests that trial and error is powerful if leaders can discover the truth of successful results but are also able to learn from mistakes.
- BE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU SEE, HEAR, AND DO: as a leader, Schultz suggests that first, you have to receive a lot of information. Be open with all your senses to discover as much as possible. And then, with all this information, be responsible in how you make your decisions according to the information you have gathered.
- BELIEVE. As Howard usually says “Believe in your dreams. Dream big. And then, after you’ve done that, dream bigger”.
With both posts, you have 18 ideas, 18 powerful lessons of Howard Schultz about how to empower your leadership and improve your results. So, take good notes and apply them to the way you lead. I’m sure your leadership will improve.
And I finish with another quote from Howard Schultz that perfectly summarizes his mindset:
“We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee”.
