Summary: Recently, Howard Schultz, the owner and CEO of Starbucks announced he will be retiring as CEO of the company. <br> This news comes after several years of stunning success for a company whose stock price rose from $7 a share during the recession to $56 a share this past week.<br> As a part of my commute, I’ve been listening to the audio-version of Schultz’s book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Onward-Starbucks-Fought-without-Losing/dp/1609613821/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1528591157&sr=1-1&keywords=onwards+howard+schultz" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul</a>. In the book, one story that inspired me happened in 2008. This was when Schultz decided to return to the position of CEO at Starbucks. At that time, the economy was in recession, Starbucks had over-expanded, and many of its locations were losing connection with customers and quality in its brewing. One of his first decisions was to shut his stores across the U.S. for a day in order for baristas to be retrained in making exceptional espressos.<br> As the owner of Starbucks, Howard Schultz has enjoyed growing the company from a handful of stores to a global enterprise. And even though he could have remained in retirement and enjoyed his chair on Starbuck’s board of directors, he saw the company beginning to lose focus on its core values. <br> In the book, he explains how he had kept it a secret that he was returning to the helm of the company. On the morning that the news of his return would go public, he woke up before dawn and drove to his Seattle’s Pike Place store where he had worked twenty-five years earlier and still carried the key to the store with him. <br> That morning, he let himself into the empty shop. As he enjoyed the aroma of ground coffee in the air and ran his hands over the wooden counters, he remembered his first years serving customers in that store. He thought about the magic of connecting coffee lovers with a favorite brew. He yearned for a return to his roots while at the same time providing innovative experiences for new customers.<br> Later that day at Starbuck’s corporate headquarters, he announced to his employees and the world that he was returning and that the company was transforming every part of their business, returning to its core values, and committing to innovation. <br> As I listened to the stories from Howard Schulz, I thought about how his lessons are good reminders for school leaders or leaders of any organization. Yes, as school leaders, you are leading organizations committed to an entirely different kind of mission, but at the same time, you share some common similarities. <br> Here are just three takeaways I believe can transform they way anyone leads a school, district or organization:<br> 3 Commitments for Providing Excellence for Your School<br> 1. Are you committed to a quality product?<br> Even as Starbucks faced closing stores across the U.S. and globally, Schultz made it his first priority to focus on the simple process of coffee brewing. He instinctively knew that if customers were not served distinctive, high-quality flavor, they would go elsewhere. As a result, retraining baristas and refining the roasting process were part of the plan.<br> When you think about your schools, no matter how beautiful or simple your building or classrooms, nothing replaces the quality of the learning students experience. And quality teachers are the most important factor in providing quality instruction. I agree that a quality teacher can take an empty classroom and reach students with amazing lessons. Imagine what he or she can do with strong support and resources.<br> Yes, your tasks may include organizing master schedules, creating remediation plans, updating curriculum updates or fixing bus schedules. But at the end of the day, students will benefit most from the rigor, relevance,
