"My parents have always been poor, but recently my dad couldn't work anymore after suffering a work injury. Our family lives in a poor neighborhood and sometimes can'
t even afford food. Additionally, I might not even receive a college education if I can't receive a sports scholarship. What do you expect coming from such a family? I must fight for every inch I can get, every day."
Somehow Howard felt a lot better after just spitting out all his negative thoughts to a total stranger. He never had opened to anybody about the struggles he was facing every day. There was a strange sense of comfort in finally being able to talk to another human being about his problems.
"I can feel your struggle, but why do you play that hard? What do you want to achieve?" Simon asked patiently.
Honestly, Howard never really thought about it. For him there was only surviving the next day, maybe getting a little bit better from day to day. There was never a large goal in his mind, yet. When he really thought about his future for the first time in a realistic way, ambitions were slowly rising inside him.
"I want to leave poverty. I want to achieve something great. I want my family to live well. I want money and power." The young seventeen-year-old teenager said slowly. It sounded maniac, more like a dreamer talking about his secret thoughts.
"Why do you think you can achieve something like this? Why should the American Dream choose you? I don't question your dreams; you certainly wish for them to happen. But I have seen many smart and ambitious people, but only a very little margin achieved success in the end. What do you have, a poor unknown boy from Brooklyn, that all the other millions of people are lacking?"
Simon was slowly guiding Howard's train of thought along. He wanted to see just how much this future self-made billionaire could struggle right now.
"I am smart, but probably not smarter than some geniuses out there. I work hard, but I am not the hardest worker in the world. But I lived through pain for as long as I can remember. I struggled everyday for the smallest improvement of my situation. If you asked me why I am going to such lengths as to play like a maniac on an unknown basketball court, I don't really know. The only thing I know is that I am desperate. Desperate for success. And I can't afford to fail."
Slowly tears started to gather in the eyes of the teenager. He felt humiliated but free. At least he was finally truthful to himself. There was a newfound strength inside of him that kept pushing him to thrive for his goals.
There was no way Howard would change this mindset, Simon was sure of that. Pulling him out of his future growth trajectory would not impact the kind of man Howard Schultz would become. This eased his mind about possibly changing this future great CEO. After confirming this, Simon didn't mind poaching the young teenager before he graduated from university.
"I respect your honesty. I will return the same favor to you. Let me introduce myself, my name is Simon Smith. I am the founder of Atari and Red Bull. As a real New Yorker, you should have heard of me before, right?" The young billionaire asked playfully.
At first, Howard didn't really take notice of what this name represented. He was still focused on all the emotions going on in his mind. But slowly the fog was lifted, and it dawned upon him. He was sitting in front of the youngest self-made billionaire of the United States. Someone that achieved everything he ever dreamt of in just the last year. The glory of New York city.
Swiftly raising up his head he kept looking at the young helmsman of the new company, Atari, that was slowly becoming the darling of Wall Street. He didn't know what to say for a moment. There was a huge opportunity in front of him, but he didn't even know what to ask. Asking for money directly was simply stupid. And why would such a person help an unknown boy from Brooklyn?
Simon didn't want to put too much pressure on Howard. He could feel the intense struggle going on inside the boy sitting opposite from him. He decided to stretch out his hand, waiting for the reaction of the other side.
When the hand came into his field of view, Howard instinctively moved forward to meet it.
"Hello Simon. My name is Howard Schultz, and I don't know what to say."
Suddenly, Dennis Miller, the head bodyguard, started laughing out loud. From his point of view this whole scenario was somehow hilarious. Shortly after the rest of his team joined in. Of course, they knew it was highly unprofessional, but their boss didn't mind sincere reactions most of the time.
Seeing the blush on Howard's face, Simon decided to reprimand his bodyguards.
"Hey hey hey, don't laugh at him. I bet any of you would have the same or even worse reaction if they met me just as a high schooler. I think Mister Howard Schultz has a lot of potential. Howard, if I may call you that, how about following me on a one-day trip around New York? Maybe you can grasp some inspiration that I am missing."
Without waiting for Howard's answer Simon just left the bench and walked towards his Rolls-Royce. His bodyguard team immediately changed their mood and got very serious, following their boss and guaranteeing his safety.
Silently following them was a poor teenager from Brooklyn. When he first stepped into Simon's Rolls-Royce he was slightly shaking. He could feel some of the dirt of his shoes pollute the white carpets of the super luxury limousine and his hands started getting wet with cold sweat. His mood was slowly stabilizing when he noticed no malicious intentions from the person sitting in front of him, just like he didn't care at all that a car worth hundreds of thousands was getting stained.