Starbucks’ New CEO Will Take Charge Without Training Wheels (1)

From day one, Starbucks Corp.’s incoming Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol will have more power than his predecessor.

Niccol, who is leaving Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., will become CEO and chairman the moment he joins Starbucks on Sept. 9. By contrast, Laxman Narasimhan spent more than five months as the CEO-in-training under company patriarch Howard Schultz and he never took on the board chairman position. Only after an intense period of shadowing Schultz did he gain the ability to set the company’s strategy.

Brian Niccol

Photographer: Mark Lennihan/AP Photo

The vastly different handovers underscore the two executives’ contrasting resumes — Narasimhan had no restaurant experience, while ...