Starbucks COO and Group President Rosalind Brewer discusses her groundbreaking career, navigating the growth strategy of Starbucks and her thoughts on bringing more racial and gender diversity to the highest levels of corporate America.
On Starbucks’ culture: “I was immediately attracted to the mission and values of Starbucks. One of the reasons why I chose him to join their Board was because I said, ‘Finally, a company that kind of sees things the way I do and they have a natural affinity for open conversations and doing right by people and wanting to put as much focus on coffee as they did the community.’ And I thought that was pretty impressive.”
On cultivating talent: “One of the things I realized is that you have to manage people the way they want to be managed and not everybody is the same. So I have different conversations with people that work for me…. I don’t expect each one of them to show up the same way every day, but I get to know who they are and I know how we’re going to interact. So the first thing about leadership is respecting who the individuals are and getting to know them very well. The second thing I try to do is I really try to do a lot of listening.”
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