SEATTLE, USA – Starbucks Corporation welcomed on Thursday, October 27, 2,000 retail leaders from across the U.S. and Canada for a District Manager+ Leadership Experience in Seattle, Wa. Designed to build the leadership excellence required for retail leaders to lead their stores and store partner (employees) though the company’s Reinvention, this gathering marks the first convening of its kind since 2014, bringing together District Managers, Regional Directors, Regional Vice Presidents from Company-Operated, Licensed Store and Siren Retail businesses in the U.S. and Canada, as well as leaders from the company’s partner resources organization.
Over the course of two days, retail leaders heard from regional and global leadership, and participate in capability-building forums. In the welcoming remarks, Sara Trilling, executive vice president, Starbucks North America, addressed the opportunity.
“We must all think of ourselves as brand new – for the next few days we’ve got to get into a growth mindset… what worked yesterday may not work today,” Trilling said. “We have to think differently. What an incredible advantage we have this diverse and rich mix of partners to tap into it’s the collection of your experiences working side-by-side all together, driving our reinvention and bringing every store and partner along with us.”
The leadership convening was a demonstration of Starbucks continued investment in the company’s partners and signals a defining moment in the Reinvention journey. Specific trainings and conversations focused on mastering craft, building connections, communicating with impact and problem solving.
Earlier last week, Starbucks ceo Howard Schultz shared in a letter to Starbucks partners, “If you’ve been with Starbucks for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about love. I love our partners. I love the culture we’ve built.
And I love the purpose we serve as a company. Love and responsibility are the reasons I returned to Starbucks in April. Most companies don’t center their business philosophy on love.
But it’s what has always been the core of our company – love not only for our 450,000 partners around the world, but also love for our customers, love for coffee and connection, and love and respect for coffee farmers. I believe it’s what drives our company’s great success.
It’s what makes customers choose us, again and again, when they have so many other alternatives. It is built not by a single action but compounding momentum over time. Decision upon decision, action upon action, turn by turn – each loop adding to the collective effect.”
