Can CEO Laxman Narasimhan Boost Starbucks’ Profit
(Photo: Laxman Narasimhan, CEO, Starbucks.)
May 31, 2024
In March 2023, Laxman Narasimhan took over as the Chief Executive of Starbucks from the coffee chain’s founder Howard Schultz. “The foundation Howard has laid – building from scratch an iconic global brand…is truly remarkable, and I am honored to have the opportunity to build on this deep heritage,” Narasimhan said in a statement at that time.
“There is a natural tendency to try to do too much too soon” Schultz stated, early this month, in a LinkedIn post on Starbucks. “Don’t try to do everything at once. Leaders must model both humility and confidence as they work to restore trust and increase performance across the organization.”
The post “read like an open letter to shareholders criticizing how Narasimhan and his senior leaders were running the business,” a Wall Street Journal report noted. Schultz, 70, while Chairman Emeritus of Starbucks, is no longer on the company’s board. His post got more than 11,000 responses among his nearly 100,000 followers on LinkedIn.
