Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet

We are deep in a service crisis. In the operating room, surgeons and their teams communicate in a very precise language; airplane pilots follow a strict protocol to take off and land safely every time; and, when launching a new product, companies lay out a plan that all employees follow. But when it comes to building a strong service culture, the path to success is usually much less clear. We relegate service to a single department guided by anecdotal wisdom and less-than-helpful clichés like “the customer is always right.”

With global economies transforming at record speed, we are largely unprepared for the service demands we face day and night from around the world. We promise our customers satisfaction and then allow internal politics and inefficient methods to frustrate our ability to deliver. With service so much a part of our daily lives, both in and outside the workplace, why aren't we doing it better?