Pour Your Heart Into It Book Summary - Pour Your Heart Into It Book explained in key points
Listen to the Intro
00:00

Pour Your Heart Into It summary

Howard Schultz Dori Jones Yang

How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time

4.4 (45 ratings)
18 mins

Brief summary

'Pour Your Heart Into It' by Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang is a business book that chronicles the rise of Starbucks and the vision of its founder, showcasing how passion, hard work, and innovation can lead to immense success.

Table of Contents

    Pour Your Heart Into It
    Summary of 8 key ideas

    Audio & text in the Blinkist app
    Key idea 1 of 8

    Success in business comes from selling an authentic product.

    If you bring up Starbucks in conversation, chances are pretty much everyone will know what you’re talking about. You know Starbucks as a successful business, but have you ever wondered how it came to be?

    The secret to Starbucks’ success is, for founder Howard Schultz, no secret at all. Plain and simple, the success of Starbucks lies with the brand’s authenticity, achieved by selling only the highest quality coffee.

    Back in 1981, Starbucks was just a small retail store. It sold exclusively dark-roasted Italian style coffee, which may be ubiquitous today, but was still a novelty back then. By roasting the coffee dark, the coffee grows in strength, gains a more powerful aroma and has the distinct taste of authentic Italian coffee.

    Starbucks never compromised its beans, and became known for its premium-quality, dark-roasted flavor profile that its founders were so passionate about. Because of those early business decisions, Starbucks had an undeniable feeling of authenticity about it since the start.

    The company has held true to its authentic coffee profile, in tough times to the present day. In 1994, coffee prices shot to an all-time high on the world market, from $0.80 to $2.74 in a matter of days, after a frost that destroyed much of Brazil’s coffee plants.

    During this coffee crisis, a lot of shareholders promoted the purchase of cheaper beans, to keep the price of a cup of joe stable. But Starbucks was unwilling to compromise quality and continued to sell the highest quality coffee they could, instead reducing other costs to account for the higher price of beans. When the world coffee market recovered, Starbucks had an even stronger customer base because its quality remained consistently high.

    Want to see all full key ideas from Pour Your Heart Into It?

    Key ideas in Pour Your Heart Into It

    More knowledge in less time
    Read or listen
    Read or listen
    Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
    Find your next read
    Find your next read
    Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
    Shortcasts
    Shortcasts New
    We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

    What is Pour Your Heart Into It about?

    Pour Your Heart Into It takes you on the enthralling journey of how Starbucks came to be a success story. It sheds light on its beginnings, reveals how the quick growth rate was possible and sets out to explain how businesses can learn from its strategies and principles.

    Pour Your Heart Into It Review

    Pour Your Heart Into It (1997) provides a fascinating insight into the journey of Starbucks and its passionate founder, Howard Schultz. Here are three reasons why this book is definitely worth reading:

    • Shultz's unwavering determination to create a unique coffee experience and his commitment to his vision are both inspiring and motivating.
    • Through his experiences, Shultz shares valuable business lessons including the importance of building a strong company culture and putting employees first.
    • The book offers an up-close look at the challenges faced by a struggling business and the transformative power that comes from taking risks and embracing change.

    Best quote from Pour Your Heart Into It

    We dont manage the business to maximize anything except the quality of the coffee.

    —Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang
    example alt text

    Who should read Pour Your Heart Into It?

    • Anybody interested in coffee company chains
    • Anybody interested in rapidly-growing companies
    • Anybody interested in brand development

    About the Author

    Howard Schultz is an American businessman and Starbucks Chairman and CEO. From a modest background and the first person in his family to go to college, he grew the small coffeehouse into a billion dollar company. In 2007 he won the FIRST award for Responsible Capitalism.

    Dori Jones Yang is an American author. She studied in Princeton and John Hopkins University.

    Categories with Pour Your Heart Into It

    Book summaries like Pour Your Heart Into It

    People ❤️ Blinkist 
    Sven O.

    It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

    Thi Viet Quynh N.

    Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

    Jonathan A.

    Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

    Renee D.

    Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.

    People also liked these summaries

    4.7 Stars
    Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
    33 Million
    Downloads on all platforms
    10+ years
    Experience igniting personal growth
    Powerful ideas from top nonfiction

    Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.

    Start your free trial

    Pour Your Heart Into It FAQs 

    What is the main message of Pour Your Heart Into It?

    Embrace passion and authenticity to create a successful and fulfilling business.

    How long does it take to read Pour Your Heart Into It?

    The estimated reading time for Pour Your Heart Into It varies depending on the reader, but the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

    Is Pour Your Heart Into It a good book? Is it worth reading?

    Pour Your Heart Into It is worth reading because it inspires and provides insights into building a meaningful and successful business.

    Who is the author of Pour Your Heart Into It?

    Pour Your Heart Into It is written by Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang.

    What to read after Pour Your Heart Into It?

    If you're wondering what to read next after Pour Your Heart Into It, here are some recommendations we suggest:
    • How to Win at the Sport of Business by Mark Cuban
    • Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips
    • Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
    • Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
    • Either/Or by Soren Kierkegaard
    • The Stoic Mindset by Mark Tuitert
    • Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz
    • Consciousness Explained by Daniel C. Dennett
    • Sam Walton: Made in America by Sam Walton with John Huey
    • Good Judgment by Richard Davis