Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol shares career advice: 'It’s a cliché, but you absolutely have to believe...'

As the CEO of Starbucks, Brian Niccol is getting paid a base salary of $1.6 million annually.

Starbucks's new CEO Brian Niccol has been called a “dream hire” and a “hall of fame restaurant CEO” after he was announced for his new position, but when asked about it, the 50-year-old attributed much of his success to a “cliché” piece of career advice he started following in his 20s: “Believe in yourself.”

“I know it’s a cliché, but you absolutely have to believe in yourself and have the grit to not give up, when it at first might not be going your way,” Starbucks's boss had said in a May 2024 commencement speech at Miami University in Oxford.

He explained that he carries a “beat-up notebook” with him to track his progress toward his career goals. “Whatever it is you need to do to keep yourself focused on your goal, do it, and believe you can do it,” Niccol said. When it comes to offering career advice to young professionals, he said that trusting his gut and believing in his ability to succeed made the biggest difference to him.

“There will be times in your career when your gut will be tingling,” CNBC Make It quoted him as saying. “Make space for that instinctive intelligence and take action. Trust your instincts.”

Niccol also opened up about what set him apart from other candidates when it came to getting the CEO role at Starbucks. He said that it was his confidence and a five-word phrase he used that convinced recruiters that he was indeed perfect for the job.

Speaking to CNBC, former Starbucks chair Mellody Hobson, who ceded her position as chair of the Starbucks board to Niccol, revealed that the phrase was "I know what to do".

“He said, ‘This is a speed bump in this company’s history. This is not something that I fear going into,’ and that was something for our board that was extremely encouraging," Hobson said.