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Grounds For Success

Coffee talk with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

By Scott S. Smith

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Everyone knows Starbucks, the ubiquitous retail chain that sellscoffee beverages, beans and accessories, but few know HowardSchultz, the self-effacing chairman, CEO and mastermind behindStarbucks' astonishing growth.

A child of Brooklyn's Bayview Projects, Schultz earned abachelor's degree in communications, worked as a salesman forXerox, and eventually became vice president of U.S. operations fora Swedish housewares manufacturer. It was there that he noticed afour-store retailer in Seattle was ordering a large number of hiscompany's drip coffee makers. He decided to find out why, andhe scheduled a sales trip to Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spice in1981. Schultz was so impressed with the then-10-year-oldcompany's dedication to providing customers with qualityimported coffee beans, he signed on as director of Starbucks'retail operations and marketing the following year.

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