Discovering the soul of service - Leonard L. Berry

In DISCOVERING THE SOUL OF SERVICE Leonard L. Berry goes beyond the scope of his previous works on service quality to show how flourishing service companies can sustain their success. Focusing on 14 companies that stand out from the pack, including Rent-a-Car and Midwest Express Airlines, Berry identifies nine core values of sustainable success for any service organisation. The single most important factor in building a lasting service business, Berry found, are humane values. Values-driven leadership, he argues, enables employees to realise their full potential as individuals inside and outside of the company. Blending existing academic research with new observations, insights, and examples from field research on the best service organisations, Berry finds that the components of sustainable success in labour-intensive service businesses are common across disparate industries. For managers everywhere, Berry demonstrates the 'grand possibilites accompanying leadership with heart.'