咖啡王国：1981年，霍华德•舒尔茨在西雅图市派克农贸市场（Pike Place Market）附近第一次看到了星巴克咖啡店，并为其构想出一个全球化愿景。如今，这家公司已在全球拥有了1.7万家零售店。

    然而，美国总统给他打电话时讨论的可不是什么南瓜咖啡。

    9月份，巴拉克•奥巴马在向国会发表就业问题演讲的前两天给咖啡之王星巴克公司（Starbucks）董事长兼首席执行官霍华德•舒尔茨打了一通电话。总统之所以挂念着舒尔茨，是因为这位商业领袖突然间变成了一位政治活动家——舒尔茨宣称，由于受够了华盛顿政坛的不作为，他将停止向任何一个党派的现任官员捐赠竞选资金。这个“将党派和意识形态纯洁性置于人民福祉之上”的体系令舒尔茨痛心不已，他呼吁其他的工商领袖一起加入这场抵制行动。140多位企业领袖迅速响应，其中包括百事可乐（Pepsi）、迪斯尼（Disney）、财捷（Intuit）、全食超市（Whole Foods）、J. Crew服饰、美国在线（AOL）、纽约证交所（New York Stock Exchange）和纳斯达克（Nasdaq）等公司的CEO。奥巴马显然注意到了这这件事。他跟舒尔茨并没有私人交往，与这位民主党在册党员仅有一面之缘，当时奥巴马还是伊利诺斯州的初级参议员。“霍华德，”总统说。“我有些事想跟你聊聊，比如你对经济和创造就业机会的看法，还有你发起的停止政治献金运动。”舒尔茨当时坐在俯瞰普吉特海湾（Puget Sound）的星巴克总部的办公桌旁，几乎没有时间整理头绪，因为白宫方面在两分钟前才安排好这次通话。奥巴马说：“让我们开诚布公地谈一谈。”

    他们的确这样做了，所以谈到这次此前并未透露的交谈时，舒尔茨非常谨慎。他现在还记得，他们那天谈了足足一个多小时。舒尔茨说，他竭力让奥巴马明白，切断政治献金的决定并非具体地针对总统本人，尽管他过去的政治捐款几乎全部赠予给了民主党人。“我对于美国的关切，要远远胜过对民主党的关切，”他对奥巴马说。然而，如果认真体会其中的言外之意，就会发现舒尔茨呼吁终止竞选捐赠的行为已经达到了他预想的冲击效应。舒尔茨和总统讨论了自己“对国家的关切，”42个州面临的预算困境，以及“对美国的信任危机。”

    接到美国总统亲自打来的电话几周后，舒尔茨又出现在法国巴黎总统府，与尼古拉斯•萨科齐一起磋商欧元区经济问题（萨科齐的夫人卡拉•布鲁尼是星巴克咖啡的忠实拥趸）。有这种经历的CEO恐怕寥寥无几，但这些正是58岁的舒尔茨今年的真实经历——除了那间充满咖啡香气的公司套间以外，他的身影还活跃于政治和社会活动领域。这种把公众和私人事务有效地结合在一起的做法，使得舒尔茨成为一位颇具指标意义的美国CEO——特别是在政府如此欠缺有效领导力的当下，这一形象显得尤为高大。这就是舒尔茨位列《财富》杂志（Fortune)2011年度商界风云人物榜榜首的原因所在。他的公司——拥有1.7万家零售店，网点遍布美国每一个州和56个国家——正在成为全球食品帝国中颇具统治力的一员。这个无处不在的品牌现在所代表的并不仅仅是咖啡，更是一种生活方式的象征。舒尔茨向人们证明，并不是只有史蒂夫•乔布斯有能力卷土重来，挽救一家公司于水火。就在舒尔茨几周前正式向华尔街公布星巴克公司2011财年的业绩之前，他对我说：“今年的确是令人难忘的一年。”

    本文节选自最新一期《财富》杂志，点击这里阅读全文

    The president of the United States wasn't on the phone to talk about Pumpkin Spice Latte.

    Back in September, two days before Barack Obama delivered his speech to Congress on jobs, he put in a call to Howard Schultz, the chairman and CEO of coffee king Starbucks. Schultz was on the President's mind because the business icon had suddenly become a political activist, announcing that because he was disgusted with Washington's dysfunction, he would cease making campaign contributions to incumbents in either party. Deploring a system that has "chosen to put partisan and ideological purity over the well-being of the people," Schultz asked fellow corporate executives to join him in a boycott. More than 140 quickly did, including the CEOs at Pepsi (PEP), Disney (DIS), Intuit (INTU), Whole Foods (WFM), J. Crew, AOL (AOL), the New York Stock Exchange (NYX), and Nasdaq. Obama evidently took note. He had no personal relationship with Schultz, a registered Democrat, and the two had met only once, when Obama was the junior U.S. senator from Illinois. "Howard," said the President, "I'd like to talk to you about a number of things, including your campaign initiative, as well as your thoughts on the economy and job creation." Seated at his desk at Starbucks headquarters overlooking Puget Sound, Schultz barely had time to collect his thoughts; the White House had set up the call two minutes in advance. Said Obama: "Let's have an honest and straightforward conversation."

    Because they did -- for more than half an hour, Schultz recalls -- he's circumspect about this previously undisclosed discussion. Schultz says he went out of his way to let Obama know that his decision to cut off political cash was not directed at the President specifically, even though Democrats had received almost all his donations in the past. "I'm much more concerned about America than the Democratic Party," he told Obama. Yet if you read between the lines, it's clear that Schultz's campaign moratorium had the shock value he intended. Schultz and the President discussed Schultz's "concerns for the country," the budget predicaments facing 42 states, and "the profound crisis of confidence in America."

    There aren't many CEOs who would get such presidential calls, or who would meet a few weeks later at the presidential palace in Paris with Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss eurozone economic issues. (Sarkozy's wife, Carla Bruni, is a big Starbucks customer.) But it's been that kind of year for the 58-year-old Schultz -- out in the realm of political and social activism, as well as inside the caffeinated corporate suite. His dynamic union of the public and the private has made Schultz a signal American CEO -- all the more so when government seems so bereft of effective leadership. That's why Schultz earns the No. 1 spot on Fortune's Businessperson of the Year list for 2011. His company, with 17,000 retail stores, in every state and 56 countries, is becoming a dominant player among global food empires. The ubiquitous brand has transcended mere coffee to become a lifestyle emblem. And Schultz has proved that it wasn't just Steve Jobs who could come home to a company to save it. "It's been quite a year," Schultz told me, just before he officially announced the results of a memorable fiscal 2011 to Wall Street a couple of weeks ago.

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