Starbucks' Howard Schultz: Master Storyteller
Great article (The Starbucks Comeback) and all accurate to my way of thinking. One aspect of this story - and, in my opinion, the reason Schultz was so adept at building and then re-building Starbucks - is how important storytelling is to corporate culture. When you have a vision for what a company's impact can be / ought to be, and you use that vision to inspire employees, all sorts of success can happen.
The story of Starbucks - creating "a third place" where relationships can flourish - is self serving in the best way. Everyday, millions of people are writing the stories of their own lives while they are drinking, being in, or affected by their experience with Starbucks.
Schultz seems to have always understood that by creating an environment where people can tell their own stories, they will credit the environment as an integral part of their story. I can hold meetings anywhere I want - but the fact that Starbucks focuses on making it easy and pleasurable to meet there, compels me to choose them.