Become Responsible for the People Who Are Responsible for the Results

It’s funny when we are given advice to always put the customer first. That means employees come second, inherently, if you’re going to put the customer first. Customers come and go. Obviously, we want to work to keep them loyal, but it’s employees who spend more time at work than they do with their families. It’s employees who we’re asking to give their blood and sweat and tears to advance our vision. And so it’s a leader’s responsibility to take care of the people first. And the people will take care of each other and the customer.

Make the transition

The wrong thinking about customers comes from the fact that we look at results more than we look at process. Results are much easier to measure. It’s human nature to go to the thing that we can easily see and easily count. We prioritize literally money over trust, because, how do you measure trust? It’s more difficult. The same with customer service. The result would be great customer service, but the process is the long, hard work of building a strong culture in which the people take care of each other so that they can take care of the customer. That – it’s more ethereal and harder to measure. I can measure customer loyalty, customer service and sales and return business, and things like that. At the end of the day, we have to go through this transition, as I said, where we are no longer responsible for the results, we now become responsible for the people who are responsible for the results.

Prioritize employees first

Any leader who prioritizes a customer literally is saying, “I care more about an external constituency than I do about the people who are actually working here.” True leaders understand that their responsibility is to take care of their people just like a parent. To see them grow, to see them gain skills, to put them in situations where they get to discover that they’re capable of more than they thought they were capable of. This is what leaders truly are. It’s not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in our charge. That CEO is responsible for the people who are responsible for the people who are responsible for the people who are responsible for the customer. And that simple change of perspective dramatically changes the way in which someone makes decisions or even speaks, and it has a profound impact on an organization as well.

Let me tell you a story – a true story. Some months ago I stayed at the Four Seasons in Las Vegas. It is a wonderful hotel, and the reason it’s a wonderful hotel is not because of the fancy beds. Any hotel can buy a fancy bed. It’s because of the people who work there. So in the lobby of the Four Seasons, they have a coffee bar. And one afternoon I went to buy a cup of coffee, and I happened to be served by a barista named Noah. Noah was wonderful. He was fantastic. He was friendly. He was funny. He was engaging. I think I ended up giving 100 percent tip. And so, as is my way, I asked Noah, “Do you like your job here?” And Noah said, “I love my job here.” So I followed up and said, “What is it that the Four Seasons is doing that would make you say to me, ‘I love my job’?” And without skipping a beat he said, “Throughout the day, managers will walk past me and ask me how I’m doing. They’ll ask me if I need anything to do my job any better.” He said, “Not just my manager – any manager.” And then he said something magical. He said, “I also work at Caesar’s Palace, and there the managers walk past and make sure we’re doing everything right. They catch us if we’re doing anything wrong. There, I just try to get through the day. I keep my head below the radar and I just want to cash my paycheck.” Same person. And the customer will have a different experience, not because of Noah – Noah is a good guy – the customer will have a different experience because of how the management regards Noah. Does management believe Noah is the number one priority, or does management believe that the customer is the number one priority? And again, the irony is is it’s the organization that believes that Noah is more important that then Noah is better capable of taking care of the customer. It is a linear process, and I think so many people in business forget that. Yes, of course, ultimately we want the customer to be happy. Of course. But the methodology is actually to prioritize the well-being of our people.