Strategic Reorientation Quotes

We may have to have a geo-political regrouping or major geo-political changes.

When I returned as CEO in 2008, Starbucks had forgotten that meaningful innovations balance an organization's heritage with modern-day relevance and market differentiation, so we had to reorient. In one brainstorming session, we visited and observed great retailers, then asked ourselves, 'If Starbucks did not exist, what type of coffee experience would we create?

A Russia that gradually begins to gravitate toward the West will also be a Russia that ceases to disrupt the international system.

Many companies don't exist after 25 years. It's a rarity. Or if they do exist, they're like IBM, with a totally changing personality.

An awful lot of successful technology companies ended up being in a slightly different market than they started out in.

Deutsche Bank has a very simple problem. It doesn't make money.

A pivot is a change in strategy without a change in vision.

An awful lot of successful technology companies ended up being in a slightly different market than they started out in. Microsoft started with programming tools, but came out with an operating system. Oracle started doing contracts for the CIA. AOL started out as an online video gaming network.

In business, sometimes you have to change the CEO in order to change the direction of the company.

Romney is a classic case of re-invention. As governor of Massachusetts, he supported government-sponsored healthcare, was sympathetic to gay rights, and opposed harsh restrictions on abortion. After measuring the difference between the Massachusetts electorate and the national one to which he must now appeal, he has reversed those positions.

An army that fought and won a war decisively finds it even more difficult to undergo change.

There's Lindsey Graham 1.0 and then there's Lindsey Graham 2.0. I could not beat Lindsey Graham 1.0. That was the John McCain-Lindsey Graham.

The prevailing style of management must undergo transformation. A system can not understand itself. The transformation requires a view from outside.