Winning at Service: Lessons from Service Leaders

As service becomes a more and more important factor in customer choice, all executives with the ambition of a building world class company should read this book.

"This book identifies the critical common practices of highly successful, international service enterprises. These businesses are led by inspiring teachers, who connect employees to customers to the benefit of both, and who build business models that are internationally mobile, while locally contextually relevant ... a must read for students and practitioners alike who wish to understand the ingredients for successful growth of service business around the world." Gary W. Loveman, CEO, Harrah′s Entertainment Inc.

"Winning at Service is not just about food and security services. It is about how to succeed in the service industry, and shows how sharing the vision with employees and customers, sticking to it and empowering employees to act upon it are the key ingredients for success." Rob Kuijpers, Former CEO, DHL International

"Gate Gourmet started on a journey similar to the four companies in Winning at Service, albeit on a smaller scale. Before we took off, we could sure have used the enduring lessons from this remarkable ′tour guide′ in our own toolbox. But it is deeply reassuring to see that Gate Gourmet′s key focus and basic beliefs are very much aligned with the winning strategies and values of the four service leaders in the book." Henning Boysen, President and CEO, Gate Gourmet International

Foreword ix

Acknowledgements xiii

1 Introduction 1

The Investigation 5

The Framework 6

How this Book is Organized 8

2 The Journey to Leadership 9

The Challenge 9

Four Journeys to Leadership 12

Signposts 2002 33

Four Companies: Four Winning Traits 37

3 Pick Your Game and Play it 39

Decide What You Want to Do 41

Follow a Simple, Replicable Business Model 49

Use Simple, Transparent Performance Measures 58

Questions for Service Leaders 61

4 Leadership at the Heart 63

Visionary Industry Shapers 67

Passionate and Inspirational Leaders 80

True Entrepreneurs 93

Intimate Business Knowledge 97

Questions for Service Leaders 98

5 Passion for People 101

Recruit 106

Integrate and Develop 111

Retain 122

Build Partnerships with Unions and Works Councils 132

Questions for Service Leaders 135

6 Keep It Simple 137

Flat Organization and Decentralized Decision–Making 138

Small Head Office 143

Questions for Service Leaders 147

7 Winning at Service: Final Words 149

Win by Relinquishing Power 153

Win with the Right Outlook 154

Win at Golf: Play with a Full Bag 159

Win by Turning Non–Core into Core 160

Can all Companies Win? 161

Assa Abloy: Lessons from a Non–Service Winner 166

How Large Can Winners Be? 167

Appendix 171

Index 175

Waldemar Schmidt, Executive–in–Residence, IMD, Lausanne. Before becoming Executive–in–Residence at IMD, Waldemar Schmidt was CEO of ISS, the world′s leading facilities support services group with 26 5000 employees in 35 countries. To cap his career accomplishments he now serves on the supervisory boards of 12 European companies and serves as chairman of 5 of them.

Gordon Adler, Senior Writer, IMD, Lausanne. In addition to serving as IMD′s Senior Writer, Gordon Adler also works as an editor and communications consultant/writing coach at a number of international companies. A freelance writer, he recently co–authored a book about family business, and has published in leading journals and magazines.

Els van Weering, Research Associate and Project Manager at IMD, Lausanne, creates case studies for IMD′s executive education programmes. Her areas of special expertise include corporate learning, international growth, entrepreneurship in large corporations, talent retention, strategy and leadership.