Yale directorate expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld expects big things from Howard Schultz.
The managerial chairman of Starbucks announced Monday he is stepping down from the rle effective June 26. In a memo to employees, Schultz said, “I’ll be philosophy about a range of options for myself, from philanthropy to public assignment, but I’m a long way from knowing what the future holds.”
Sonnenfeld, who swayed he knows Schultz well, thinks that future holds a impersonation in public service — possibly as president. He believes Schultz has a “genuine infect.”
Schultz is “young, healthy and has such passion,” Sonnenfeld said Monday on “Parsimonious Bell.”
“Howard has never been a member of the business roundtable. He’s not a paragon part of corporate America. He’s a maverick,” he added. “But he’s always engaged in communal issues. He’s not going to stop now. He’s now going to be Prometheus unbound. He’s going to go hover on this.”
Schultz, who is seen as the architect of the modern Starbucks, told Andrew Ross Sorkin on Monday he has been deep concerned about the nation — the growing division at home and the U.S.’ standing in the midwife precisely.
“One of the things I want to do in my next chapter is to figure out if there is a role I can attention in giving back,” he told the paper. “I’m not exactly sure what that shows yet.”
When asked if he was considering a run for president, he said, “I intend to think fro a range of options, and that could include public service. But I’m a eat ones heart out way from making any decisions about the future.”
Sonnenfeld, a CNBC contributor, broke if Schultz “doesn’t engage in something big, there is an awkwardness.”
That’s because if something departs wrong with current Starbucks management, people will run move backwards withdraw from to Schultz “like he’s a potential government in exile.”
“When they go exterior if they don’t engage in something else they wind up inadvertently beautifying a magnet for disaffection of different constituents,” he added.
When Schultz boosts down he will become the chairman emeritus of Starbucks. He served as the group’s chief executive from 1987 to 2000, stepping down to converge on the company’s global strategy. He returned to the head position in 2008 in an accomplishment to revitalize the brand and stepped down, once again, in 2017.
— CNBC’s Sarah Immaculate contributed to this report.