Starbucks’ new CEO on the worst advice he ever got: Demonstrate that you can fire somebody
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol started his new job leading the famed coffee chain on Monday. The former Chipotle CEO will step in to try to improve the company’s middling performance.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fortune in May when he was still at Chipotle, Niccol touched on the experiences that shaped him throughout his career. During the chat, he shared the worst piece of advice he received over the course of his career: A manager, whom he didn’t name, encouraged him to make an example out of someone.
“Their piece of advice was, ‘hey, you got to demonstrate that you have the ability to fire somebody,’” Niccol told Fortune. “So basically find somebody in your line of work where you’re like, ‘yeah, that should be somebody that I need to get rid of.’”
Niccol disagreed with that hard-line tactic. “Going in with the mindset of, ‘Hey, I’m gonna find somebody that I need to make an example that I’m tough enough to fire,’ I just don’t think that was great advice.”
His remarks offer some insight into his leadership style as he attempts to turn around the fortunes of a struggling, but iconic and beloved, brand in Starbucks after its abrupt shakeup.
In 2022, then-CEO Howard Schultz personally selected Laxman Narasimhan as his successor. But this past May, Schultz seemed to sour on Narasimhan in an open letter to the company urging it to revamp its stores, after a big earnings miss. By August, under pressure from investors, Starbucks’ board decided to oust Narasimhan and appoint Niccol.
“We are excited to welcome Brian Niccol to Starbucks as our chairman and CEO,” the company said in a statement to Fortune. “He has proven himself to be a transformational leader—and he’s the right person to drive Starbucks forward. Brian deeply understands brands, operations and innovation, and has an enduring commitment to supporting the retail teams who serve customers in store. We look forward to the fresh ideas that Brian will bring to our business.”
Niccol, who first made the C-suite at age 33, steps into his new job with a reputation for turning around struggling companies and a career’s worth of management insights.
In reflecting on the poor advice he received in the past, Niccol said he was also unimpressed with the former boss who told him to find someone to fire. That person was “a manager that, frankly, turned out to not be a great manager,” he said.
The main qualm Niccol has with that person’s recommendation is that it prioritized disciplining employees rather than coaching them.
“That’s just the wrong frame of reference,” Niccol said. “The frame should be ‘what’s it going to take for this individual to succeed? What’s it going to take for us to succeed?’, not spending all your time trying to figure out where their opportunities and faults are.”
For Niccol, that took a far too negative approach for a work environment. He instead preferred to see the best in his employees. “Everybody comes to work wanting to succeed,” he said.
All that being said, Niccol didn’t shy away from a performance culture. This being corporate America, executives and managers are expected to deliver. And if they can’t, there are consequences. “Obviously, if they can’t perform, then you have to take action,” Niccol said.
