Howard Schultz, Starbucks president and CEO, has been described as a “classic entrepreneur: optimistic, relentless, mercurial, and eager to prove people wrong.” Before Starbucks’ latest stumbles, Schultz successfully followed his gut instinct, not established management practices. Unlike other executives, until recently he was not interested in cost control, advertising, and customer research. “I despise research,” he said. “I think it’s a crutch. But people smarter than me pushed me in this direction, and I’ve gone along.” Starbucks continues to be the most followed company on Facebook. It made $300 million in profit last year. What do you think Howard Schultz meant when he called consumer research a “crutch”? Can you explain why the corporate maverick hates it so much?