'An attitude that leaders serve customers first is especially
vital to sustaining success. Employees are only empowered by serving customers.
They’re not motivated by getting the stock price up, cutting the budget, or
increasing the earnings. They don’t see tangible rewards from succeeding by
those metrics, even if you make them shareholders. They get turned on about
customers. In a Starbucks store, the barista gets excited about creating an
environment that’s fun for the customer. I was at Starbucks earlier this
morning and saw a barista greet a customer by saying, “Oh, Rick, nice to see
you. Do you want the Rick special?” Rick comes there every morning because he
has a relationship with that Starbucks employee.'
Bill George - is a professor of management practice at Harvard Business
School, where he has taught leadership since 2004, and the former chairman and
chief executive officer of Medtronic.
