????正值美國人民慶祝獨立日之際，星巴克CEO霍華德?舒爾茨向美國人民寫了一封公開信——《美國怎樣贏得本次大選》（How Can America Win this Election）。他在信中坦言自己對于國家經濟、尤其對于失業問題的擔憂。他在信中呼吁政客們停止內斗，并呼喚商界領袖們行動起來?！拔覠釔勖绹俏覀兯腥硕贾莱隽藛栴}。國家必須協調的赤字不僅僅是資金問題，此外我們無力解決自身的諸多問題，這正在使國家喪失元氣。我們不應當是這樣。”他寫道。（點擊此處閱讀公開信全文）。舒爾茨本周在國家各大報紙與網站的一則廣告中發表了這封信。去年夏天，有關聯邦預算的爭議陷入僵局時，舒爾茨曾經吐露過對于國情咨文的不滿。我趁其在科羅拉多阿斯彭思想節（Aspen Ideas Festival）發言之際，通過電話聯系了舒爾茨。

《財富》：霍華德，是什么促使你寫了這封信？

????霍華德?舒爾茨：我和許多美國人一樣對于經濟、失業以及解決這一問題時缺乏政治領導感到擔憂，這封信是這種擔憂情緒的一種延伸。自從我一年前任職以來，形勢其實并未好轉，而是急轉直下。我無意指責總統或共和黨。我只想借助星巴克（Starbucks）的規模，兢兢業業地做些利國利民的事。商業領袖也應當做出改變。我們與此休戚相關。在信中，你可以看到我們正試圖創建一個平臺，通過社交媒體和數字傳播讓民眾獲得提升話語影響力的一席之地。

你從去年夏天就開始大聲疾呼，但至今遇到的卻依然是令人窒息的沉默，來自其他CEO的沉默。

????我們曾經呼吁在美國政治沒有真正好轉之前不要為當權者提供資金幫助，當時大約有150名CEO聲明支持我們。但是，你說的沒錯，我們并沒有看到大批商業領袖發出吶喊。不過話說回來，我們發起的行動，也就是“為美國創造就業機會”（Create Jobs for America），直接募資就超過了1,100萬美元——如果算上使用的杠桿就是8,000萬美元的新增資金——它以貸款的方式在44個州創造了超過4,000個工作機會。谷歌（Google）、花旗銀行（Citibank）以及香蕉共和國（Banana Republic）都加入了我們的行動。我還要提一下我們已經宣布將在佐治亞州奧古斯塔建一座新的烘焙廠，我們原本可以將地點設在中美洲或亞洲，而且那樣可以節省15%到20%的成本，但是我們覺得在國內創造200多個工作機會意義更大。

上市公司的CEO像這樣費時花錢合適嗎？

????星巴克的運營在各方面都展示了高水平，創紀錄的營收，創紀錄的利潤，股價也破了記錄。但是我們并不十全十美，我們還有自己的挑戰。我們的員工以及每周7,000萬顧客都知道我們在經商過程中始終秉承價值理念。星巴克在商業管理中總是設法平衡商業利益與社會良知之間的關系。這在公司上市以后的20多年中一直為我們保駕護航。有些公司“執意做正確的事”（doing the right thing），你不妨看看這些公司的歷史，其中大多數都運轉得格外良好。誠然，消費者的行為方式正在發生天翻地覆的變化。而今，信息豐富，商業透明，這意味著我們可以看到更多東西，我們將擁有更多選擇，我們可以透過公司秉承的理念理解其行為。

????As Americans begin observing Independence Day, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has written an open letter to the nation, "How Can America Win this Election," in which he spells out his concern about our economy and specifically unemployment. In the letter he asks politicians to stop fighting and for business leaders to step up. "I love America, but we all know there is something wrong. The deficits this country must reconcile are much more than financial, and our inability to solve our own problems is sapping our national spirit. We are better than this," he writes. (See the full letter here.) Schultz is running the letter in an advertisement in national newspapers and websites this week. Schultz previously voiced his unhappiness with the state of the union last summer during the deadlocked federal budget debate. I caught up with Schultz by phone as he was in Colorado speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Howard, what prompted you to write this letter?

????The letter is a continuation of the concern that I share with many Americans about the economy and unemployment and the lack of political leadership to address the problem. Since I took this position a year ago things really haven't gotten better, they have gotten worse. I'm not trying to criticize the President or the Republican Party; I just want to try to with civility and respect to use the scale of Starbucks for good. Business leaders need to change too. We all have a stake in this. In the letter, you can see we are trying to create a platform using social media and digital to give people a place to elevate the conversation.

Since you spoke out last summer, the silence has been kind of deafening, though -- from other CEOs.

????Well when we called for suspending financial support to incumbents until there was real progress in American politics, some 150 CEOs signed on in support. But you are right we haven't seen a groundswell of business leaders raising their voices. Having said that, the program we launched, Create Jobs for America, has raised over $11 million directly -- and $80 million in new financing if you count the leverage used -- to create more than 4,000 jobs with loans in 44 states. Google (GOOG), Citibank (C) and Banana Republic (GPS) have joined us in this effort. I should mention that we have announced a new roasting plant in Augusta, Georgia that we could have located in Central America or Asia for 15% to 20% less, but we felt that creating 200 or so jobs domestically was more important.

Is it right for the CEO of a public company to be spending time and money this way?

????Starbucks (SBUX) is performing at a high level across the board, record revenues, record profits, and record stock price. But we're not perfect; we have our own challenges. The people who work at the company and our 70 million-a-week customers know we are consistently embracing values in the way we practice business. Starbucks has always tried to manage its business by balancing profitability with a social conscience; for more than 20 years since going public, that has served us well. If you look at the history of companies 'doing the right thing,' most have performed extremely well. Really we are witnessing a seismic change in consumer behavior. The amount of information and transparency means we can see so much more, we have more choices and you can see what a company does in terms of what it stands for.