Winning at Service: Lessons from Service Leaders

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