The year is 2020 and the entire world is in the midst of what many are calling The Great Repression brought upon by a global pandemic. National and local governments have placed us into a social lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19 and the tragedy it has brought to countless victims. The result of these measures has slowed the spread of the disease, but it has come at a severe economic cost.
Mass business closures deemed non-essential have resulted in a scale of employee layoffs that hasn’t occurred since The Great Depression. Individuals and businesses everywhere are left in desperate circumstances, uncertain if they will be able to survive these challenging times. Yet, all is not lost.
There is A Way Out.
If you are searching for a solution to improve your situation, then I assure you that you will find it in this book. I used the mindset and practices in this book to turn my own life around and succeed amid challenging economic circumstances. I also used what I learned to help companies build new products and services to transform and grow their business. You can use the mindset and principles to change your situation, too.
During the past twenty years, I have worked to deepen my understanding of what skills lead to success in career and business. My journey led me down some winding and often divergent paths into academia, the applied sciences, and the trenches of corporate America as a consultant and executive for some of the most respected brand names in business.
The central philosophy governing my academic pursuits was framed by the famous management consultant, Peter Drucker.
He wrote, “Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business has two—and only two—functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation create value. All the rest are costs.”
I set out to hone my skills, accordingly. I went on to earn a master’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in product development, both from Northwestern University. But my efforts to identify the “magic formula” for generating lots of value for myself and others didn’t end in the classroom.
In the applied sciences, I conducted myriad market research studies to understand customer behavior, how to serve customer needs, and how to identify the critical success factors that motivate people to buy products and services. Those insights helped me understand how to drive value in the marketplace.
In business, I led customer-service teams, launched marketing programs, and innovated new products, all of which have generated hundreds of million dollars in revenue and
earnings. That experience gave me an inside track into what works and what doesn’t when it comes to driving value.
With the experiences I have gained in my career, I have concluded that success, either in life or in business, comes down to how good you are at serving the needs of others.
It’s that simple.
When you provide great service to people, they reward you for it. This is proven by the success of individuals, companies, and even national economies.
You will achieve success in life when, and only when, you focus on serving the needs of others. In fact, if you adopt a business perspective and start serving everyone like a customer, then you can achieve super success.
I am not the only person who has made this connection. Many successful people have also identified with this principle, and some have written about it. However, through a lot of research, I have identified many hidden benefits to an around- the-clock service mentality that does more than improve customer satisfaction.
Serving everyone like a customer will have profound impact in every area of your personal and professional life. How? As you’ll learn, it builds mental acuity that helps you become sensitive to the needs of others. This sensitivity will help you to innovate new products, improve productivity, and grow income. In addition, the act of service itself will do more to improve physical health and increase emotional well-being than just about anything else.
A Way Out: The Hidden Fortune of Service will help you discover the power of service, educate you on all the benefits, and provide you with strategies for applying skills that will lead to success.
If you use what you learn in this book you will find a way to succeed, no matter your current circumstances. I guarantee it!