Steve Jobs screamed advice at Starbucks CEO, who wishes he'd listened

Steve Jobs gave Howard Schultz the advice to fire everyone on his leadership team at Starbucks. According to Schultz, Jobs was quite adamant about it, saying, "This is what you need to do. You go back to Seattle and you fire everyone on your leadership team." When Schultz initially thought Jobs was joking and questioned the decision, Jobs further emphasized, "I just told you. F***** fire all those people." Jobs assured Schultz that in six to nine months, those people would be gone anyway, and he was indeed correct, except for one person, the general counsel. This advice, however, was initially ignored by Schultz, who later regretted not acting on it sooner.

After Howard Schultz decided not to follow Steve Jobs' advice immediately, the Starbucks leadership team experienced a period of instability and gradual departures. Schultz had ignored Jobs' recommendation to fire everyone on the leadership team, and instead, the team dwindled over time. Eventually, nearly all of them left the company, except for one general counsel. It was only after this period that Schultz realized Jobs' advice had been correct, and he could have taken proactive steps to reshape the team earlier.