PCI is a servant leadership organization. We have been practicing servant leadership for more than 20 years.
Dr. Danny Friedland believed there is a higher and better way of leading: Conscious Leadership, which he described as “servant leadership inspired by purpose.”
Conscious Leadership is “leading from your highest self in service of something larger than yourself,” he wrote in his book Leading Well from Within.
“Conscious Leaders focus on … continue reading
1: The year was 1962.
The United States was losing the space race with the Soviet Union.
In 1957, the Soviets had successfully launched the world’s first satellite, Sputnik 1. In April of 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. The Cold War was raging and there was a real sense that American prestige around the world had been badly damaged.
President Kennedy sought an achievement which would … continue reading
1: Focus. Focus. Focus.
This week we’ve been exploring “The Nordstrom Way,” a single-minded focus on the customer and providing outstanding service every day, one customer at a time.
Who is responsible for making this happen? Nordstrom’s salespeople and other associates. “Nordstrom consistently reinforces this dual message: (1) every single decision the company makes is for the benefit of customers; and (2) Nordstrom employees are crucial to that experience,” write Robert Spector … continue reading
1: Among the paperwork new Nordstrom associates receive on their first day of work is a single notecard entitled “Employee Handbook.”
“Our One Rule: Use good judgment in all situations.”
That’s it. That’s the handbook.
“This simple, straightforward directive is the foundation upon which The Nordstrom Way is built because it removes the roadblocks to taking care of the customer,” write Robert Spector and breAnne Reeves in their book, The Nordstrom … continue reading
1: “We can hire nice people and teach them to sell, but we can’t hire salespeople and teach them to be nice. We believe in ‘hire the smile, train the skill,'” says Bruce Nordstrom, who led Nordstrom for 40 years, growing the company from seven shoe stories and under $40 million in revenue to 156 stores in 27 states and $8.6 billion in revenue.
How has Nordstrom maintained its … continue reading
1: Imagine standing at a customer service counter. We have expectations. A good product. A fair price. If there’s an issue, it will be taken care of quickly.
“Simple stuff, right?” write Robert Spector and breAnne Reeves in The Nordstrom Way.
“But a funny thing happens to people when they move to the other side of the customer service counter (or the front desk or the reception area or the phone or Internet) … continue reading
1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something we are doing at PCI in our quest to earn a spot on Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.
Want to feel better? Enjoy life more? Have better relationships? Be healthier?
At PCI, we kicked off 2022 with … continue reading
Consider this: we need less than a third of the land to generate the same amount of food today vs. 50 years ago.
“Transgenic crops are being developed with high yields, lifesaving vitamins, tolerance of drought and salinity, resistance to disease, pests, and spoilage, and reduced need for land, fertilizer, and plowing,” writes Steven Pinker in Enlightenment Now.
Incredible. And yet, not everyone is happy about all this progress.… continue reading
1: The world has reached “peak farmland,” the environmental scientist Jesse Ausubel has estimated. We may never again need as much as we use today.
This reality is very good news for the planet, Steven Pinker writes in Enlightenment Now: “Despite their bucolic charm, farms are biological deserts which sprawl over the landscape at the expense of forests and grasslands. Now that farms have receded in some parts of … continue reading
1: “Vulnerability to famine appears to have been virtually eradicated” was not supposed to happen.
In 1798 Thomas Malthus famously wrote about the recurring famines of his era, which he believed were inescapable and would only get worse because “population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetic ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will show the immensity of the first power in comparison with … continue reading
