Voices of Experience: Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO

Corporations will need to rethink their role in society as tough economic times persist, Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz told a gathering at the University of Denver on Wednesday evening.

“Half the states are insolvent, and two-thirds have deficits,” Schultz said. “There is a lot of bad stuff coming.”

As governments cut back, corporations will be under pressure to fill the gap and show more concern regarding their workers and customers alike.

“Corporations will have to do more for the communities they serve,” he told an overflow crowd gathered for the Voices of Experience speaker series hosted by the university’s Daniels College of Business.

The series has brought many of the world’s top business leaders to DU. Schultz — on his seventh stop in eight days — also was promoting his new book, released last week, Onward: How Starbucks Fought For Its Life Without Losing Its Soul. It was sponsored by the Institute for Enterprise Ethics at the Daniels College of Business, whose mission is to raise the level of ethical business behavior  and provide the best practices and constructive ideas regarding sustainable development strategies for creating value.

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