Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 288 pages
- Published by: Free Press
- Edition: 1st Edition February 12, 1999
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0684845113
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0684845111
-
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
- Weighs: 1 pounds
Product Review
Leonard L. Berry looks at some of America's great service companies and finds "nine drivers of excellence" that are behind them all.
Discovering the Soul of Service looks at 14 diverse businesses, including the St. Paul Saints minor-league baseball team, Dial-A-Mattress, Midwest Express Airlines, and two of the world's fastest-growing service companies--Charles Schwab and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. "The lessons they teach are clear indeed," writes Berry, a marketing professor and director of the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A & M University. "Although the companies differ on the outside--the nature, size and structure of their businesses--to a remarkable degree they are the same on the inside, sharing the drivers of their ongoing success." The "nine drivers" that Berry uncovers are the following: Leading with Values, Strategic Focus, Executional Excellence, Control of Destiny, Trust-Based Relationships, Investment in Employee Success, Acting Small, Brand Cultivation, and Generosity. Berry, whose previous books include
On Great Service: A Framework for Action and
Delivering Quality Service, writes that the basis of a successful service organization is value-driven leadership and "building a
humane community that
humanely serves customers and the broader community in which they live."
Discovering the Soul of Service is inspiring--and potentially profitable--reading for anyone in business today.
--Dan Ring
Product Review
Berry, an influential writer on service quality, explains how to sustain excellence in any organisation through in-depth analysis of key companies and over 250 interviews with managers and service providers. He identifies nine core values of sustainable success and claims that the single most important factor in building a lasting service business is having humane values. (Kirkus UK)
Jerry Richardson Owner/Founder, Carolina Panthers A world-class resource on leadership values and the human side of business. --
Review
Reader ReviewsCorporate research has become quite popular towards the end of the 20th Century, and Professor Berry has dome a masterful job of centering his on present day champs of the service sector. Amidst surprising and inspirational stories of these 14 top service companies, Berry weaves a compelling study of nine capacities that, apparently, guarantee the success of a service business. Many of the lessons parallel current business management advice, but a few transcend simple processes and get at the emotional environment that keeps employees and the company motivated about and focused clearly on the long-term success of the enterprise. A great read, this volume is indispensible for managers and owners of service businesses that intend to sustain longevity.
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