“Greatness starts with serving others." ~ Mark
10:43-44
Growing up in the Projects near
Coney Island in the 50’s, Howie’s family was considered “working poor.” For them, a thin line separated survival and
disaster. One unforeseen event - an
illness, a rent increase, a layoff - could be devastating.
Such was their tragedy.
At age 7, Howie’s Dad lost his job as a diaper-delivery driver after
breaking his ankle. Back then, neither sick
pay nor disability benefits were offered to those in low-paying jobs. Soon the family was unable to put food on the
table - a memory that Howie would carry with him into adulthood.
As the oldest of three children, he was forced to work at an
early age. He had a paper route. Later he worked the counter at a local diner
- always sharing part of his earnings with his Mom.
At sixteen, Howie got a job in Manhattan’s garment district
as a furrier, stretching animal skins. It was unpleasant work, leaving his hands
thickly calloused. For an extra dime per
hour, Howie labored in a sweatshop, steaming yearn at a knitting factory. No job was beneath him.
He woke with some regularity in the middle of the night, the
pain of poverty pressing like a steel blade against his heart. It wasn’t the dream itself that woke him, but
the awareness of waking into a grim reality.
During his youth Howie felt ashamed of his family’s working
poor status. But however much he tried to deny them, those early
childhood memories were imprinted indelibly in his mind. He could never forget what it was like to be
without.
Still, the American dream felt attainable thanks his
mother’s tenacity. She herself had barely
finished grade school, but her dream was a college education for all of her
kids. With no security blankets, she
willed them to overcome adversity.
Sports became his only escape. Competitive by nature, he channeled that
drive into success on his high school’s football, baseball, and basketball
teams. His hard work paid off, earning him
a college athletic scholarship. And in
1975, Howie became the first person in his family to graduate from college;
earning a degree in business administration.
Two decades later, Howard (Howie) Schultz would turn coffee
drinking into a national pastime. This
maverick marketer took a little-known four-store chain and infused it with an
Italian flair for fun and relaxation. There
may be dozens of imitators, yet none has ever matched the popularity of
Starbucks.
Everyone wants to be the top dog, the big cheese, the head
honcho. But to get to the top, you gotta
start at the bottom. It all begins with
serving others - by walking in their shoes, by understanding their suffering
and by providing a ray of hope for a more prosperous future.
