Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2015
  • Book

What Great Service Leaders Know and Do: Creating Breakthroughs in Service Firms

By: James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser and Leonard A. Schlesinger
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Based on decades of collective field experiences, the authors present anecdotal evidence in support of eight things that great service leaders know and do. Great service leaders know that (1) leading a breakthrough service is different, and they take steps to ensure repeated memorable service encounters; (2) customers buy results and excellent experiences, not services or products, so leaders focus on the few things that produce results and experiences for the right customers; (3) the best service operating strategies don't require tradeoffs, so leaders foster "both/and" thinking in designing winning operating strategies; (4) great service starts with the frontline employee, and as a result leaders hire for attitude and train for skills; (5) effective operating strategies have to create value for employees, customers and investors, so leaders ensure the achievement of the leverage and edge that produce win, win, win results—the "service trifecta"; (6) the best uses of technology and other support systems create frontline service heroes and heroines, so leaders use technology to elevate the most important and eliminate the worst service jobs; (7) satisfying customers is not enough, so leaders take steps to develop a core of customers who are "owners"; and (8) knowing that their current beliefs about the future of services are wrong, great service leaders build agile service organizations that learn, innovate, and adapt. The book explores the ideas and leadership needed to achieve breakthrough service.

Keywords

Management; Leadership; Service Operations; Service Delivery

Citation

Heskett, James L., W. Earl Sasser, and Leonard A. Schlesinger. What Great Service Leaders Know and Do: Creating Breakthroughs in Service Firms. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2015.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Purchase

About The Authors

James L. Heskett

→More Publications

W. Earl Sasser

→More Publications

Leonard A. Schlesinger

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 31, 2020
    • Harvard Business Review Digital Articles

    Reinventing the Direct-to-Consumer Business Model

    By: Len Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Shaye Roseman
    • January 2020 (Revised March 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    SmileDirectClub: Better Is Better

    By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Aldo Sesia
    • January 2020 (Revised March 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    LOLA: Do You Know What's in Your Tampon?

    By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Aldo Sesia
More from the Authors
  • Reinventing the Direct-to-Consumer Business Model By: Len Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Shaye Roseman
  • SmileDirectClub: Better Is Better By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Aldo Sesia
  • LOLA: Do You Know What's in Your Tampon? By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Aldo Sesia
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College