Howard Behar joined Starbucks in 1989 when the company had 28 stores, becoming president of North America and later founding president of Starbucks international. Through his leadership, he established Starbucks’ culture of People First and was instrumental in Starbucks’ growth to over 15,000 stores internationally. In a discussion with Tugboat Institute CEO Dave Whorton, Howard shares his life story and how a single lesson from his dad in their family’s grocery store forged his belief that meaning in life is all about being of service to other human beings. Behar contends that all businesses are in the people business, whether they realize it or not. From there, Howard shares the most important lessons from his experience growing Starbucks and closes with how he forgot to take his own advice upon his resignation from a long, successful career at Starbucks.
