800-CEO-READ Blog

Jack Covert Selects - Service America in the New Economy

Service America in the New Economy by Karl Albrecht and Ron Zemke, McGraw Hill, 280 Pages, $24.95 Hardcover, September 2001, ISBN 0071377220

Last year, BusinessWeek asked me to create a reading list of business books that I considered important. You can check out the list at http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/books/index.htm and then scroll down to my name in the middle column. One of the first books listed was the original version of this book, Service America, written during the 80’s. It was the first book to put all the pieces together for me about customer service. I guess I wasn’t the only person who thought highly of the book because over 500,000 have sold. Now, Albrecht and Zemke have revised their bestseller, emphasizing that customer service is not extinct (though noticably pushed aside), despite the recent prominence of e-commerce.

The book starts off with a great chapter called Service Management Update. The authors use the chapter to explain what happened to “customer focus movement” and TQM and ISO. They are very straightforward with their analysis, and who better to explain it than these two front-line players. That chapter was especially fascinating for me because it explained why the “quality” movement disappeared. The book is loaded with eye-opening statistics like: 74% of the GNP and 79 million jobs are derived from the performance of service; 96% of a businesses’ unhappy customers never complain, but simply stop buying; and, my favorite, 54% to 70% of complaining customers will do business again if the complaint is resolved, and that number goes up to 95% if the complaint is resolved quickly. In my business, these are stats to live by.

I have run my business on Zemke’s and Albrecht”s philosophy for the past 15 years, and it is very nice to have an updated book to mark up and share with my coworkers. What makes this book great is just what made its predecessor great: riveting and relevant stories. Great service is not a new idea, but it is an idea that must work as the center of an organization, every day, in every action. If you are part of the service industry, and you can look past the digital and see that your customers are still just people who value great service, this book will be your business bible. Simply said: these guys are good, and this book is important.

Jack Covert Selects - Leading Up

Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss so You Both Win by Michael Useem, Crown Business, 300 Pages, $25.95, October 2001, ISBN 0812933109

If I were asked to sum up Michael Useem’s writing, I would say: “This guy can really tell a story.” His previous book, The Leadership Moment, was a very well-written book telling stories about real-life people caught in a moment of crisis and how they came through that crisis, successfully or unsuccessfully. Based on the premise that lessons on how to handle this same type of critical pressure in the business world can be extracted from these stories, this book was a successful blend of creative non-fiction and leadership guide. My one complaint about that book (which is a very minor one since the book was a very enjoyable read and has continued to be a consistent 800-CEO-READ best-seller) is that the stories were great, but how to actually apply the lessons learned in an organizational way was difficult to see. This book takes a much more targeted approach. All throughout these stories, Useem offers perfect little two-line take-aways, called “Lessons in Leading Up”.

In addition to Useem’s storytelling talents, what makes this book notable is the subject matter. This is not your average book on leadership that guides the higher-ups on how to manage the lower-downs. It is also not a book that plays on the vanity of most business leaders by giving them more ways to be in charge. Instead, Useem suggests pushing aside all vanity, all old hierarchical definitions of leadership. Businesses are changing, and hierarchies are changing, and to survive, leadership is needed at all levels. This book is about that other side of leadership, about how to ‘lead you boss’ to get the support you need. Useem tells eight true, though unconventional, stories, ranging from the Civil War, the Old Testament, the genocide in Rwanda, and companies like CBS and British Airways, to bring to life ‘leading up’. One of my favorites is the tale about David Pottruck and Charles Schwab. Pottruck, once a John Wayne-type that was the first guy up the hill, discovered greater success by leading from the middle, because then those above and below were all working together around a strong nucleus, and ultimately everyone could “take the hill together.”

Finally, a business book that is written by a real storyteller while offering extremely valuable take-aways. You’re going to enjoy this one.

Jack Covert Selects - Leadership Ensemble

Leadership Ensemble: Lessons in Collaborative Management from the World’s Only Conductorless Orchestra by Harvey Seifter and Peter Economy, Times Books, 200 Pages, $25.00 Hardcover, September 2001, ISBN 0805066926

As a music junkie, I have known about the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s unique method of performing for quite some time. What sets the Orpheus apart is that they employ no conductor. Instead of the chaos you would expect (and any conductor would predict, I’d wager), they have developed a system that has been successful. Harvey Seifter and Peter Economy, authors of Leadership Ensemble, believe that this system used by Orpheus is readily applicable to the modern organization. The authors’ say it best in the following quote: “The orchestra is designed to rely on the skills, abilities, and passionate commitment of its members rather than on the monolithic leadership of a conductor. The decision to give power to the musicians—a radical innovation in the orchestra world—required a structural model that was fundamentally different from the rigid command-and-control hierarchy universally employed by traditional orchestras…it is most definitely not an organization without leadership. In fact, Orpheus has many leaders, and different individuals rise to leadership roles based on the orchestra’s needs and the demand of each piece of music.”

So how exactly does an organization like this establish who is going to do what where and when? Well, the orchestra applies a five-step process:
• Choosing Leaders
• Developing Strategies
• Developing the Product (the Music)
• Perfecting the Product (the Music)
• Delivering the Product (the Music)

Beyond the process, the orchestra’s success is founded on eight core principles:
• Put power in the hands of the people doing the work
• Encourage individual responsibilities
• Create clarity of roles
• Share and rotate leadership
• Foster horizontal teamwork
• Learn to listen, learn to talk
• Seek consensus (and build creative structures that favor consensus)
• Dedicate passionately to your mission

These principles form the structure of the book. Each principle is a chapter that offers a hands-on take-away that shows you how to put the principles into practice. So, if you want to continue to perfect your less-hierarchical organization, as I do, or know that something isn’t right with the current structure of your organization and wonder whether this idea may be for you, buy this book -- and even a CD (at your nearest Schwartz bookstore) of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to really see how well this system works – after all, the proof is in the pudding!

Jack Covert Selects - Insights for the Journey

Insights for the Journey: …Navigating to Thrive, Enjoy, and Prosper in Senior Management by John Lucht, Viceroy Press, 98 Pages, $19.95 Hardcover, July 2001, ISBN 0942785312

I consider myself a fairly top-notch sales guy, but then I met John Lucht and realized I was kidding myself. This guy is a world-class, industrial-strength pro. John called me about 15 years ago to discuss a new book he has just written called Rites of Passage at $100,000 to $1 Million+. I immediately told him he was nuts to put such a high dollar amount in the title (considering what was going on in the economy 15 years ago), because it would isolate him from a large group of potential readers who might think the book was beyond their personal realm. He patiently listened to my point of view, then said he thought he’d keep it on the cover, and that, ultimately, I needed to have this book in my store. To make a long story short—which as you may have noticed is almost impossible for me—his book is the #1 job changing book in the world…and has been for 15 years.

Fast forward to the present. John called me last week and said he had written a little book he wanted me to see: Insights for the Journey: …Navigating to Thrive, Enjoy, and Prosper in Senior Management. .Again, Lucht has written a book that set its sights high – senior management. This time I caught myself before telling him that he shouldn’t be so specific with his audience—obviously John knows what he’s doing. Of course when I received my copy, I immediately wished I had had the book a few years ago. For anybody working towards, just arriving at, or struggling as senior management, this book will become your primer.

The true beauty of this book is its brevity. There is not a wasted word. The book has 98 pages with over 50 chapters. Now, I know some of you are going to ask: “Yeah, but is it 98 pages of frivolity? Can there really be anything worthwhile to be learned from 98 pages? Is this just another of those cheesy little books full of empowering quotations that I impulse-purchased at the cash register and gave to Aunt Mabel for a Christmas gift?” No, I would describe this book as a book that may be “cheese”, but has some real meat in it. The 50 chapters deal with daily management issues, like being flexible, being a switch hitter--in a management sense, sharing glory. The writing style makes you feel like you are sitting at the knee of the mentor none of us have had, but wish we had, and even wish to be.

Now, here is an unprecedented offer from John Lucht and I: You call, email, fax and request a copy of the book, I’ll send you one for FREE and you can see for yourself that this is the book you want your middle managers (even if that is you) to read. This offer (free book, free shipping) is limited to the first 100 people, so don’t delay!