All Book Reviews.

Book Reviews: Creating a Customer-Centered Culture: Leadership in Quality, Innovation, and Speed, by Robin Lawton

This book review was written by Ken Beller

With today’s rapid pace of change, customers demand and expect nothing less than great service. As we move from a manufacturing-based society to one that is more focused on service, companies need to address the fundamental ways in which they conduct business.

According to the1990 US census, more than 70% of Americans were in service work, both within and outside of manufacturing organizations. Within the past ten years, the Information Age has exploded and this figure is probably already greater than 80%. Unfortunately, many of the skills that helped Americans to become winners in the industrial revolution will not meet our needs today.

In this book, Mr. Lawton shows us how to move our business and management philosophy from “producer” centered to “customer” centered. Throughout most of this book, the focus of discussion continually returns to 4 main themes:

Defining our customer expectations

Measuring our performance to these expectations

Managing our processes to obtain the desired results

Checking for success

A key point that Mr. Lawton makes is that what we measure reveals our values and priorities. Measurement is management’s way of saying, “we care.” As the age old adage goes, it matters not if you do things right, if you’re not doing the right things. This book is aimed at helping you succeed at this and is reflected in understanding the answers to these five key questions:

What do we do?

Who do we do it for?

What do they want and why?

How can we better improve their satisfaction and our performance?

What is the strategy and process for creating a customer-centered culture?

In short, nothing in this book is rocket science, however, most of it is applicable to today’s fast paced environment and is aimed at focusing one’s efforts on the definition and measurement of success. This book is well written and easy to read. It is laid out in a logical and concise format and can be used as a reference guide as well as a learning/teaching aid. Although this book is not new (it was published in 1993), in our opinion most of its views will stand the test of time. It is worth reading for anyone interested in succeeding in today’s quickly changing environment.

We believe that focus on customer desires will guarantee success in the future. We hope you do too!