Why Howard Schultz should run for President

Howard Schultz is a man who has changed the world and he’s not afraid to do so again. For those of you who have not heard his name, you’ve probably heard of the company he made into a global behemoth – Starbucks.

Starbucks is an American icon and Mr. Schultz, a kid from the Brooklyn projects and the first in his family to go to college, made his fortune on the company. He bought Starbucks when it had eleven stores and scaled those up to over twenty-eight thousand worldwide. And they’re still growing.

Schultz is known as a “conscious capitalist” and one of the few Fortune 500 CEO’s who is very politically vocal. In June 2018, he announced that he would step down as the CEO of Starbucks with the plan of writing a book and devoting more time to public service.

And maybe run for President? 

There has been intense speculation about his intention of running for President in 2020. For one, he has been a vocal critic of President Trump. He’s also known to do the right thing. Notably, he recently closed down all Starbucks stores in the U.S. for a day of racial bias training for employees after an incident in Philadelphia in which police arrested two African-American men in a Starbucks. By taking a moral stand on this and other company issues like racial and economic discrimination, Schultz’s popularity has grown – and so too has speculation about his potential candidacy for presidency. 

Why do I think he is right for the Democratic ticket for President in 2020?

He, unlike many of his billionaire peers, was a socio-corporate reformer before it became trendy. Schultz was an early champion of social causes like gay rights and refugee resettlement, among others. After President Trump’s announcement of reducing the number of refugee intake in the U.S., Starbucks announced that it would hire over 100,000 refugees in the coming years.

Americans wanted a fresh face who was not from Washington. Howard Schultz can change the image of an outsider disrupting Washington. Through his non-combative style and laudable social policies, he can bring the stability America really needs. He will definitely get my vote if he decides to run in the next election. 

Photo: Richard Eriksson via Flickr.