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Currency of Trust: How Howard Schultz Built Starbucks on Accountability and Care
When trust becomes a behavior, accountability becomes a privilege, not a punishment.
Robert Adams
November 10, 2025
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🍞 Opening Bite
When Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks as CEO in 2008, the company was struggling.
Sales were falling, morale was low, and the brand had drifted from its roots.
Schultz didn’t begin with a cost-cutting plan or a new product.
He began with trust.
đź’ˇ Leadership Insight
He closed every store for a day, not to punish mistakes, but to re-train baristas on what Starbucks truly stood for: connection, not coffee.
That single act sent a message:
“I trust you enough to reset with you, not above you.”
Trust was the starting point.
Accountability followed naturally.
“The key to turning around a company is reconnecting with its purpose,” Schultz said. “When you do that, people hold themselves accountable to it.”
đź“Š Behavioral Deep Dive
Research from Harvard Business Review found that high-trust organizations report 74% less stress, 50% higher productivity, and 76% more engagement.
Trust, however, is not a feeling.
It’s a series of small, consistent behaviors: honesty, follow-through, vulnerability, and shared accountability.
When leaders model those behaviors, teams stop performing for approval and start performing from ownership.
🍽️ Field Notes from the Food Industry
In the best kitchens, trust isn’t optional, it’s oxygen.
When service heats up, each person must trust that the others will execute their station.
That’s why the strongest teams debrief after mistakes not to blame, but to improve together.
Accountability isn’t a transaction.
It’s a relationship built on shared respect.
🍷 Real Story
By the time Schultz retired (for the second time), Starbucks had regained its footing and its purpose.
He built a culture that believed in “emotional equity”, that how leaders make people feel determines how hard they’ll fight for the mission.
Trust became Starbucks’ most valuable blend.
🔍 Reflection Questions
How do you demonstrate trust before demanding it?
When accountability is needed, do you begin with curiosity or correction?
What small behavior could rebuild trust where it’s been strained?
🚀 Action Challenge
Identify one relationship where trust has weakened.
Take one action this week that communicates care before critique.
🥖 Leadership Habit of the Week
Habit: Trust first, correct second.
Accountability without trust is compliance.
🔎 One Last Bite of Curiosity
Control creates obedience.
Trust creates ownership.
Only one builds leaders.
Breaking Bread. Building Leaders. One Habit at a Time.
🍽️ A publication by Robert Adams — A Student of Leadership.
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