Howard Schultz was supposed to be in the White House by now, healing America’s divisions with empathetic concern and entrepreneurial practicality. Instead, four years after retiring and three since his abortive presidential campaign, he is back for a third shift as Starbucks’ chief executive and facing a daunting set of challenges.
The Schultz returning to the helm of Starbucks is no longer the hyperactive true-believer who convinced Americans, and then the rest of the world, to pay $5 for a cup of coffee that used to cost 50 cents. Nor is he the bleeding-heart executive making progressive policy through his company’s benefits package. Rejection is a bigger part of the story this time, including the billionaire’s third-party run in 2020, which lasted only a matter of months. His decision to pull out was precipitated by a back injury but followed howls of opposition to his political ambitions from across the ideological spectrum. Republicans lampooned him as a latte-drinking liberal, and Democrats panicked he would split their vote, handing re-election to Donald Trump. “Yeah, that was a very humbling year for me,” he says softly. “And certainly I was . . . I did not succeed.”