Starbucks Is the New Talent Factory Powering Corporate America

When Starbucks Corp. announced the abrupt departure of its second-in-command in January, Wall Street was unsettled by the news. Chief Operating Officer Rosalind Brewer, frequently cited as one of the most powerful women in business because of the company’s rapid digital expansion under her watch, would be leaving to lead pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. It was the second big shake-up that month: The chain’s finance chief had just announced his retirement, together prompting a test of Starbucks’s management bench that Gordon Haskett analysts initially called “disconcerting.”

But losing Brewer wasn’t the seismic shock Wall Street had feared. In fact, it’s the kind of event Starbucks has come to expect. Corporate recruiters have increasingly descended on the company and its deep bench of diverse entrepreneurial talent when looking to build out America’s evolving C‑suites. And Starbucks knows it.