faculty What is your relationship to the University of Washington?
People Person Howard Behar, the former president of Starbucks and current Edward V. Fritzky Chair in Leadership talks about why money isn’t everything, corporations aren’t greedy, and what business students can learn from Fiddler on the Roof.
It goes back to when I was 4 or 5 years old. My father had a grocery on Thackery (corner of Latona and 45th) before the Depression. So the college campus was my home; frosh pond was my swimming pool—when it was hot we’d go there until we got kicked out. The UW and the neighborhood are like a warm and fuzzy blanket to me. When did you get involved with the Foster School of Business?
Well… not formally until my wife, Lynn, and I sponsored a UW class that ties together the Foster School and the School of Social Work.
a name—they’re real human beings. At the same time, it’s ridiculous to label social consciousness as “leftist.” These kinds of labels don’t help any of us—it puts us in opposing camps, when at the end of the day we’re all in the same camp. One of the things that universities can do is bridge that gap—the goal is not just to create better businesspeople or better social workers, but to train better human beings. Is “training human beings” a goal you wanted to take on as the Edward V. Fritzky Visiting Chair in Leadership?
There are too many to name! I’ll say Costco, Whole Foods, and Starbucks are great examples. These companies have had setbacks, but have always stayed true to their values—that makes a big difference in the ability to course correct. I think the key to winning at values is to establish trust. In fact, I believe one of the biggest issues in our country today is that we seem unable to get past inherent distrust of other people’s intentions, and that makes it very difficult to accomplish anything worthwhile.
Absolutely! And it’s a bit like letting the fox into the henhouse. But I’m truly humbled by this honor and want to help the students in any way I can.
At the end of the day, isn’t business success tied more to profitability than anything else?
“One of the things that universities can do is bridge that gap—the goal is not just to create better businesspeople or better social workers, but to train better human beings.” Why connect those two schools?
I think it’s easy to come out of business school and think your whole role in life is to join an organization and help maximize profits; but that’s really only part of your responsibility. On the other side of things, social work grads need to understand that without a successful economic engine, there are no resources to drive good social policies. The two schools of thought may not always agree, but they need to understand each others’ language and role in society. As retired president of Starbucks, do you feel like business has a bad name?
I’m getting tired of hearing comments about greedy corporations. I’ve never sat next to a “greedy corporation” at any function I’ve attended. I’ve sat next to some greedy people, but they usually have
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What are some case studies that demonstrate winning at values and profits?
You talk a lot about people being the key in business and in organizations, and have published It’s Not About the Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks. How did you develop your leadership philosophies?
Experience. I had great opportunities, wonderful mentors who helped me along the way—and I was curious. I wanted to be conscious of people. I worked at companies where business success was built on the backs of people and said, “That’s not a way.” When Howard Schultz, Orin Smith (BA 1965), and I sat down and hammered out what Starbucks would look like, we never had one argument about the values of the organization. All of us agreed that success is achieved by treating people as human beings instead of seeing them as assets.
That is certainly the perception. It’s like in Fiddler on the Roof—what does Tevye sing? “If I were a rich man…” The assumption is that you generate wealth and then you’re more important, sought after for wise counsel, and greatly admired by the community. Real success is better defined by how you develop people. Profitability is a critical metric of how a business is doing, but maximizing profits shouldn’t be the end game. What is the most important thing the Foster School of Business can teach?
That success in business isn’t a fork in the road between profits or values—it’s about putting both of them together. The real genius is in profits and values. Make no mistake—performance counts! If you’re hired to run a company and you can’t get the desired results, you’re not the right person for the job. But if you run the numbers well and are taking advantage of your staff, then you’re not doing your job either. Students, really all of us, need to come to understand that success and values are inextricably linked—not mutually exclusive. n
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