Dare to Differentiate
 The strategic use of service has become the differentiator for many successful firms. The W. P. Carey School's Center for Services Leadership has presented a conference that brings leaders in the science of service from academia and industry together with managers for 18 years. Knowledge@W. P. Carey offers a few highlights from the 2008 symposium, entitled "Dare to Differentiate." |
| Going for the Green: Companies Seek Sustainability for the Environment and the Bottom Line |
| As power costs increase and consumers and government put more pressure on business to reduce environmental harm, sustainability is becoming important to all kinds of companies. Sustainable service was the subject of a panel discussion at the Center for Services Leadership's 19th Annual "Compete Through Service" symposium. Managers are starting to understand the advantages of being cleaner and greener, panelists said, but in order to bring about real change, the commitment to sustainability must be organization-wide. The changes have to make sense for the business and achieve impact beyond public relations. |
| Sending Clear Messages: Communicating the 'Core Idea' |
| People who know Mike Figliuolo likely were unsurprised when he founded a training and development firm called "thoughtLEADERS, LLC" in 2004. Up to that point, every stage of his career led seamlessly to the next, as he groomed himself in teamwork, delegating, structure, strategy and leadership. "My background is critical to the firm," he explained. "I spent so much time in meetings, listening to presentations that were poorly communicated and left me and other participants unsure of what the message was, what the next step should be and how their research backed up their hypothesis." Figliuolo was a speaker at the 19th Annual Compete Through Service Symposium, sponsored by the Center for Services Leadership at the W. P. Carey School. |
| Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh: Customer Focus Key to Record Sales During Retail Slump |
| Wearing faded gray jeans, a gray striped shirt and black sneakers, Tony Hsieh hardly looks the part of a $1 billion company's CEO. But as Hsieh addressed a session of the 19th Annual Compete Through Service Symposium sponsored by the W. P. Carey School of Business, those in suits and leather shoes took notice of the witty but reserved 34-year-old with an uncanny business sense who a decade ago built a $265 million Internet advertising company and then sold it to Microsoft. Hsieh now is head of Zappos, an online company founded in 1999 to sell shoes, which has since expanded into clothing, housewares, cookware and even electronics. But more than merchandise, Zappos is selling customer service and corporate culture. |
| Geek Squad: Best Buy's Corporate Mythology |
| We all know the Best Buy brand -- the big-box stores have been around for 30 years, populated by employees wearing blue shirts, selling products emblazoned with the yellow tag. Around 10 years ago, services began taking center stage -- derailing some industry leaders and empowering others. It was time to do something different. Best Buy leaders "started looking at how to get closer to our customers," said Sean Skelley, senior vice president of services for Best Buy Co., Inc. They came up with the concept of "relatable mythology," a story that connects the business to its customers. Skelley was speaking to customer-service leaders attending the Compete Through Service Symposium, an annual event hosted by the Center for Services Leadership at the W.P. Carey School of Business. |
| Dave Lewis: Creating the Creativity Economy |
| In Canada, a group of Nike employees meets once a week in the same place at the same time for a creative brainstorming session. But there's an element that keeps the sessions from going stale. The meetings are on a Toronto subway car. "Gray Formica meeting spaces lead to Gray Formica thinking," Dave Lewis told an audience at the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University's 19th Annual "Compete Through Service" symposium. The mission of Lewis' company, ?What if! The Innovation Company, is to shake folks out of stale thinking. But Lewis knows that there isn't necessarily a fast train that takes companies to a more innovative and creative place. Creativity that leads to innovation, Lewis said, tends to be more a habit than a destination. |
