The New Gold Standard
I stayed at my first Ritz-Carlton when I was 22 years old. I was sent on a 3-day business trip at Laguna Nigel. Just go take a peek at the pictures in this link and you’ll get the idea. Stunning. I was told before I went on the trip that I would need to “dress,” even in the lobby. That meant I would have to wear, at minimum, a sport coat at all times. I did, and when I arrived and checked in, a Gentleman wearing white gloves escorted me to my room overlooking the Pacific Ocean and gave me an orientation to the property. I’ve been hooked on Ritz-Carlton ever since.
It’s why I was so fascinated by Joseph Michelli’s look at how Ritz-Carlton works so elegantly. In The New Gold Standard, Michelli talks about how “Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen” is a motto that still works in 2008.
Throughout the book, which is filled with inspiring stories of staff making the Ritz-Carlton experience the best it can be, Michelli outlines two components that have particular interest for HR practitioners.
Inspire staff to focus on purpose and outcomes, not fulfillment and procedures. From the onset of their employee selection process, leadership at Ritz-Carlton looks for underlying talent in service characteristics. They then train and certify the skills necessary for the new hires to do their jobs while constantly linking job function to the overarching purpose of the business - namely to provide for “the genuine care and comfort” of their guest.
Empowering the front-line saves money. While many business leaders talk about their empowered workforce, few put money behind the hype. At Ritz-Carlton, staff members are given the authority to spend up to $2,000 per day per guest, without seeking the approval of their supervisors. This authority allows front-line workers to immediately resolve service breakdowns for guests or simply engage guests by doing something unexpected that will make the hotel stay memorable. Essentially, empowered employees consistently transform otherwise satisfied customers into fully-engaged brand loyalists that spend more and refer family and friends to the business.
I’ve stayed in many Ritz-Carlton hotels since I stayed at that first one in Laguna Nigel. (Note to self: You live a charmed life.) I’ve been lucky enough to stay 50 or 60 times in Ritz-Cartlon Buckhead when we were working on a project in Atlanta. I stayed for a week at Ritz-Carlton’s Hotel Arts in Barcelona. Singapore. Coconut Grove. Madrid. Ritz Paris. I can say that I had an excellent experience at every one. The New Gold Standard is a great inside look at why.
THE NEW GOLD STANDARD: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience
Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D.
McGraw-Hill; July 2008
ISBN-10: 0-07-154833-5; ISBN-13: 978-0-07-154833-5.
The Breakthrough Imperative: KnowHR Book Review
The Breakthrough Imperative starts with four simple ideas:
1. Costs and prices always decline
2. Market position dictates strategy
3. Profit pools don’t stand still
4. Simplicity gets results
With that straightforward idea, authors Mark Gottfredson and Steve Shaubert launch into an excellent and actionable approach to how to solve those problems. And simplicity isn’t as easy as it might seem.
Coming off of Economic Downturn Week at KnowHR, I was particularly fascinated with this book. Here’s a management book that has deep implications for HR:
Every general manager today—all the way up to the CEO—is expected by his or her stakeholders to achieve new breakthroughs in performance—and fast. Those who don’t make visible progress toward that goal within the first year or two will likely find themselves looking for another job. It is precisely because of this growing breakthrough imperative that managers today, whether in corporations or nonprofits, need to get off to a fast start. They don’t have time for mistakes or for going back and redoing what they should have done right in the first place.
I highly recommend The Breakthrough Imperative, especially for its “those who say things can’t be done are often overtaken by those already doing it” approach. We talk a lot here about HR needing to be businesspeople first. The Breakthrough Imperative talks about getting going or getting out. I like that.
The Breakthrough Imperative: How the Best Managers Get Outstanding Results
by Mark Gottfredson and Steve Schaubert
HarperCollins, March 2008
Escape from Corporate America
Short Read: Buy this book. Read it.
The Corporate Malcontent’s iPod Playlist
Who could go wrong with a book that includes “The Corporate Malcontent’s iPod Playlist” and “The Corporate Malcontent’s Movie Night”? (”Back on the Chain Gang” and “Office Space” as song and movie examples.) Journalist Pamela Skillings pulls off the early HR book of the year in my…book…with Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams.
Clever Writing and Stats: Quite a Mix for a Business Book
Skillings writes with a cleverness backed up with solid stats:
Recent surveys show that 50 percent of American workers are dissatisfied with their jobs and 80 percent fantasize about leaving their current gigs.
A Cautionary Tale for HR Recruiting and EE Development
With the economy declining and the workforce changing rapidly, Escape from Corporate America is an even more important read for HR professionals who care about the psyche of their employees. And the book can be read as a cautionary tale for those who are responsible for attraction and retention of an essential workforce. That’s very pointed by what Skillings writes in “We Are All Entrepreneurs Now”:
The age of the employee is over. No matter whom you work for or how many stock options you own, the future of your career is ultimately up to you.
Advice for Corporate Types, Too
The cool thing about Escape from Corporate America is that it’s not corporate bashing. It’s great advice for people who are considering escaping as well as for those who will stay. In fact, Skillings wrote an entire chapter titled “How to Get a Corporate Job That Doesn’t Suck: A Step-by-Step Guide.”
Daring Tales of Corporate Escape
Pamela Skillings interviewed dozens of escapees from corporate America, from Dilbert-creator Scott Adams to Samuel Adams brewer Jim Koch. The book is full of “Daring Tales of Corporate Escape” that are the results of the interviews.
I’m an Escapee from Corporate America
Perhaps Escape from Corporate America appeals to me because I’m a fellow escapee from the big office. I like having a small business where we make the rules (or get rid of most of them). I highly recommend this book. It’s my favorite so far this year and one that HR people should read…then put on their bookshelf.
Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams
Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 13, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0345499743
ISBN-13: 978-0345499745
Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused Leaders to Drive Performance and Build Lasting Value
Here’s a refreshing take on leadership: It’s not about the superstar individual leader. Sure, they matter, but what Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood cover in Leadership Brand is a system of leadership. What they call the leadership brand.
First, leaders versus leadership. They’re not the same thing. Both matter. Focusing on the leader emphasizes the qualities of the individual and how he or she leads and engages. [SNIP] Focusing on leadership emphasizes the quality of leaders throughout an organization, not just an individual leader and the systems and processes that create those leaders.
The premise the book is that companies spend inordinate energy on developing leaders, when, in fact, they should spend more resources on developing leadership. It’s a matter of not training people to be individuals, but to have a full pipeline of leaders who can articulate the values of the organization.
Leadership Brand is an excellent read. If you’re thinking about spending money in L&D on “leadership” training, it would be a good idea to take a look at the book and evaluate why you’re doing what you’re doing. Is it internally focused, or, as Ulrich and Smallwood ask, externally focused on what will satisfy customer needs?
I liked the book very much. I must admit I’m partial to business books by academics (Ulrich is a professor of business at the University of Michigan and Smallwood is his business partner at RBL), who go beyond the good idea and back up their writing with research. I like to see citations. I like case studies. Leadership Brand has those elements and then some.
Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused Leaders to Drive Performance and Build Lasting Value
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
ISBN-10: 1422110303
ISBN-13: 978-1422110300
Understanding Action Learning
In a little departure from my normal reading, my book this week was Understanding Action Learning. Authors Judy O’Neil and Victoria Marsick write for L&D and OD people, but their applied research is pretty grounded:
As much as adult learners can absorb in the classroom, they can learn and retain much more on the job.
O’Neil and Marwick offer a 17-step process to implement Action Learning in organizations. The authors’ experience with a number of global companies is interesting, even if this kind of process-driven approach doesn’t appeal to me personally.
I like the idea that people in companies make ideas real. I like the idea that there’s there’s time for talking and there’s time for doing. I like the idea of Action Learning — it’s a little bit of the guild model, only in this case apprentice leaders learn from company leaders. What I’d look for, though, is how Action Learning moves from the schloopy language of OD folks into the real world. (I think it has with some of the Hoshin Kanri work from the TQM days.)
Understanding Action Learning
Authors: Judy O’Neil, Ed.D., Victoria J. Marsick, Ph.D.
Pub Date: 2007
ISBN: 0814473954
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