800-CEO-READ Blog

Jack Covert Selects - The Customer Comes Second

The Customer Comes Second: Put your People First and Watch ‘em Kick Butt by Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters; HarperBusiness; 304 pages; $26.95; Hardcover; August 2002; ISBN 0060526564

Confession is good for the soul, so here I will admit to you that I am easily bought. Now, I don’t mean this in the Soprano sense of the word, instead, see this example: About six years ago, a publisher flew me to Philadelphia to meet Hal Rosenbluth, the owner of the third largest travel management company in the world, Rosenbluth International, and the author of a strong-selling book from the early 90’s called, The Customer Comes Second. I learned a lot about the company during my trip and could see why Fortune picked Rosenbluth International as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. However, the experience did not make me a convert to Rosenbluth’s ideas. In fact, I didn’t even deserve to be there (here’s the “easily bought” part) because I went on the trip without having read any of Rosenbluth’s books. Honestly, I thought Rosenbluth was wrong in this basic premise:

“Companies must put their people first. Yes, even before their customers. There. Now I’ve said it. I know it’s controversial. It makes people nervous just to hear it, but it works.”

At the time, this idea was indeed too controversial for me, a long-time merchant who believed with certainty that my customers drove my business, and that my employees’ roles revolved around satisfying and maintaining those customers. As I’ve grown as a businessperson and manager, I’ve come to love books that offer controversial ideas about how companies are or should be run, even if they rub against my ‘old school’ grain. In the past 3 months, I’ve begun a change initiative within my company, spent a lot of time thinking about my management style, and learning how to create a productive, positive and high-energy workplace. For me, this new edition of The Customer Comes Second comes at just the right time.

The programs that Rosenbluth International has developed and implemented are humanistic and employee-centered. The focus of the organization is to create an open environment populated with nice people who strive, as friends, to make their company better. Rosenbluth emphasizes that while the company’s main concern is its employees, its employees’ main concern are its clients, which makes for happy employees and happy clients. Some of the advice is timeless: only hire the right people, make learning fun, and create an environment that inspires ideas. For example, Rosenbluth’s associates created and contribute to a voluntary fund that will provide financial aid to any associate and his/her children, parents, spouses or partner, in a time of personal crisis. More specifically, in an industry devastated by 9/11, Rosenbluth International returned salaries to pre-9/11 rates as early as January 1, 2002. As you can imagine, Rosenbluth’s is a unique culture and The Customer Comes Second will inspire you to weave compassion into your workplace.

Jack Covert Selects - The 2R Manager

The 2R Manager: When to Relate, When to Require, and How to Do Both Effectively, Peter E. Friedes, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 200 Pages, $19.95 Paperback, July 2002, ISBN 078795893X

The innumerable books written about management range from 1st grade level primers to “467 ways to better management” guides to the driest of theoretical compositions. When I got my copy of The 2R Manager and read the subtitle, I was pleasantly surprised to have found a book on management that resonated with my life experience. The premise of the book is that the 2 key approaches to managing are to Relate and to Require (hence the 2R’s). The better you balance these two approaches the better a manager you are. I went into this book knowing that I was a relater, perhaps to a fault. Boy, was I wrong. As a result of this book, my eyes were opened to the fact that how I regarded my management style was not how my staff regarded me as a manager

Early in the book, the author offers a forty-question which reveals how you catagorize yourself as either a relater or requirer. I sat down, took the test and came up with numbers that supported my initial thoughts on my management style. Then, the author offers a twelve-question survey to be given to the folks who report to you. Well, guess who was delusional? Yup, here I thought I was the brilliantly caring manager and that I did a poor job demanding anything of my employees. Nope, turns out that in my employees’ eyes, I have real relational issues that I need to work on, but that they accept most wholeheartedly the requirements I place on them. The rest of the book gives very specific guidelines to help you balance your styles.

This is not a book on the theory of management. It is about becoming a better manager. And, the author is not some ivory tower academic. Friedes is the former CEO of Hewitt Associates, where, during his twenty-three year tenure, the company grew over twenty percent per year. So the guy knows from where he speaks. I thought so much of this book that I have bought two copies to give to friends. Buy it and learn.