Fast Company - Feb 2018

President and CEO, Starbucks
FIND YOUR JOY

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson took the reins of the global coffee giant less than a year ago, after spending eight years on the company’s board.

In addition to the pressures of
following a legendary founder,
Howard Schultz (who remains
the company’s executive chair-
man), Johnson is responsible
for keeping Starbucks agile as
it seeks to make its 27,000 cafés
more experiential and digital. He
has a unique perspective on the
company’s mission to “inspire
and nurture the human spirit.”
“About six years ago, I was diag-
nosed with melanoma during a
routine physical. I was dealing
with my cancer and trying to ful-
fill my responsibilities as CEO of
[network security company] Ju-
niper Networks, and I was in San
Francisco getting ready to board
a flight to Europe. I had to cancel
a doctor’s appointment to make
that trip. I paused and asked my-
self, ‘ Why am I doing this?’ I made
a decision that for the rest of my
life, however long or short that
may be, I would only do things
that are joyful and with people I
love. [Some time after that] I was
having lunch with Howard, and
he asked me, ‘What are you do-
ing?’ And in some ways you could
say, well, that’s a simple question,
but it was a deep question.

“Howard and I are two different people. I’ve got 32 years in tech. He’s got decades as a retail merchant. It’s a very complementary relationship. My office is connected to his by a little door—not a little door; it’s actually a pretty big door. Every once in a while he opens that door and he sticks his head in and he says, ‘Kevin, what are you doing?’ ‘Well, I’m just sitting here working, Howard. What are you doing?’ And I know that we are about to go on some wonderful adventure together.”