“Don’t be threatened by people smarter than you.”

Grow with discipline. Balance intuition with rigor. Innovate around the core. Don’t embrace the status quo.

One of the fundamental aspects of leadership, I realized more and more, is the ability to instill confidence in others when you yourself are feeling insecure.

China traditionally has been a tea-drinking country but we turned them into coffee drinkers.

When we began Starbucks, what I wanted to try to do was to create a set of values, guiding principles, and culture.

You cant build any kind of organization if you’re not going to surround yourself with people who have experience and skill base beyond your own.

Be bold, but be fair. Don’t give in. If others around you have integrity, too, you can prevail.

You must find something that you deeply love and are passionate about and are willing to sacrifice a lot to achieve.

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.

My mother taught me something at a young age – she said ‘you are the company you keep.’ To define yourself by some label or some level of resources – that’s pretty shallow.

Risk more than others think safe.

I think that sometimes the difference between winning and losing, success and failure, is this gray line between will, passion and self-belief that says, ‘I’m going to do this’.

Success is the by-product when you work toward the target.

If you want to achieve widespread impact and lasting value, be bold.

Good results is not an entitlement. It has to be earned and earned each individual working day via the lens of humility.

We want passion for our business.. workers who can interpret and execute our mission, who want to build a career, not just take a temporary job.

People want to be part of something larger than themselves. They want to be part of something they’re really proud of, that they’ll fight for, sacrifice for, that they trust.

Beautiful people are not always good, but good people are always beautiful.

The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.

People just assume that if you’re famous, you’re in Hollywood.

People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life.

I believe a good leader brings out the best in people by listening to them, trusting in them, believing in them, respecting them and letting them have a go.

I went down to the prison in Menard, thinking we were the vanguard, but down there, I got down on my knees and listened and learned from the people.

The music is always blasting wherever I am that people always knock on my door and say, “It’s too loud!”

There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room.