by Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang
Published by Hyperion
Hardback: September 1997
Paperback: January 1999

Book description:
“The story of Starbucks is not just a record of growth and success. It’s also about how a company can be built in a different way.  It’s about a company completely unlike the ones my father worked for.  It’s living proof that a company can lead with its heart and nurture its soul and still make money.  It shows that a company can provide long-term value for shareholders without sacrificing its core belief in treating its employees with respect and dignity, both because we have a team of leaders who believe its right and because it’s the best way to do business.” –
                        excerpt from Pour Your Heart Into It.

Bestseller Lists:
The New York Times Business Best Sellers
USA Today
 Los Angeles Times Book Review
Business Week
amazon.com

Translations:
Chinese, Korean, Japanese,
Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), German,
Hebrew, Thai

Writer’s comment:
After writing an article about Starbucks for Business Week in fall 1994, I approached Howard Schultz about writing a book together about the growth and success of Starbucks.  We had an excellent collaboration, since Howard has big ideas and unique experiences. In addition to spending long hours with him, I interviewed seventy individuals, inside and outside the company, as research for this book.  In the course of writing it, I came to admire Howard’s idealism and firm belief that business can do good while doing well.  I deliberately wrote the book in a style that is accessible and understandable, in an effort to bridge the gap between business-book readers and ordinary people who enjoy drinking Starbucks coffee.

Excerpts were printed in:
            Fortune, Sept. 29, 1997
            Reader’s Digest, May 1998

Quotes from book reviews:

As an instruction in plain English on how to build a billion-dollar retail specialty chain, it is hard to imagine a more satisfying brew than this memoir.
            --Publishers Weekly, July 7, 1997

Watching the growing business struggle to maintain its spirited roots even at its current size is touching and, at times, inspiring.… Schultz is obviously motivated not only by the desire to achieve what his father didn’t, but also by the admirable goal of building a company that is everything his blue-collar father’s employers weren’t—grateful, responsible and loyal.
                        --Margaret Pressler, Washington Post, Sept. 14, 1997

Howard Schultz is the Bill Gates of coffee.
            --USA Today, USA Weekend Sept 5-7, 1997

For better of worse, Starbucks transformed the coffee experience for millions of us. …In Pour Your Heart Into It, CEO Howard Schultz details his company’s rise from a small entrepreneurial shop with a lot of integrity and heart to a huge conglomerate with, well, a lot of integrity and heart…. By offering readers a detailed account of how Starbucks captured the psyche of its audience, Schultz reveals a purely American truism:  If you can capture the imagination of your audience, you have a winner.
                        -Kathy Balog, USA Today, Oct. 9, 1997

            Schultz has a powerful passion not only for his company, which he came to manage in 1987 when it was a small retailer of coffee beans in Seattle, but also for the way his company treats employees.  Yang, who has worked for Business Week in New York, Hong Kong and Seattle, obviously brings knowledge and good story-telling skills to the collaboration.  That translates into a book with something to say, said in an interesting way.  … If you doubt the sincerity of this touchy-feely CEO who grew up in the projects in New York, consider that profits from the book are going to philanthropic causes through a newly formed Starbucks Foundation.
                        --Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Oct. 6, 1997

Love it or hate it, there’s no question that Starbucks is one of the great business stories of the past decade.  …. Schultz’s ardor can be surprisingly infectious.  This book gives a feel for the high-octane energy that has fueled Starbucks’ stupendous growth. …  This is the energy of a true believer.
                        --Jennifer Reese, San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 20, 1997