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Growing up poor in Brooklyn, New York in the 1960s and 70s, Howard Schultz was painfully aware of what he didn't have and what others did.

On his walk to school from his home in the Bayview Project, which is a subsidised housing complex,

he would pass the neat, spacious, single

family homes that he one day dreamed of owning. When his parents ran out of money, they'd

sent him out to ask for loans from family and friends. Then, as a young man, he went on a date

with a girl from the other side of the tracks.

When he got to her home to pick her up, she wasn't quite ready, so he got talking to her dad.

And when the young Howard revealed where he lived, the father's face dropped, a face that said,

you'll never be right for my daughter.

Howard Schultz felt an intense shame.

But he channeled that negative emotion into a positive outcome, because he would go on,

of course, to establish one of the most famous businesses in the world, Starbucks. He had found

a use for that anger about other people's judgment on what he might be capable of.

Now, we don't have Howard Schultz as a guest today, but his story makes an interesting point about how we carry our background with us, how they can shape our careers.

And that has been particularly important for the guest who is with us

today on the decisions that made me. I'm Evan Davis and this is a new mini-series from the

team behind the bottom line, looking at the key moments that have defined the careers of UK

business leaders. Now to hear more stories like this, please stay subscribed to the bottom line. If you want to know

when we publish an episode, do hit the notifications button on BBC Sounds and change your

settings in the app. And that way, you will be guaranteed to get a message every time we publish a new

episode. But today, my guest is Jordan Brompton, co-founder of My Energy, makers of renewable

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