In Search of Perfect Client Service

Picture this:  I'm driving to dinner with my four kids.  My wife is at her book club.  Desperate for a sound other than gameboys, I turn on NPR's Marketplace program.  The host, Kai Ryssdal, is interviewing Anne Mulcahy, the CEO of Xerox.  She had been with the company for 30 years when she was unexpectedly tapped to be the CEO, and it happened at a time when Xerox was not doing well.  You can read or listen to the interview here, but check this out:

RYSSDAL: So what did you do? You sat down in your office that day, that very first day in the corner office. How did you start thinking about how to turn this place around?

MULCAHY: I think I began by asking for advice. I knew that we had a very tough set of problems and that my best shot was really getting some great counsel and listening to what the issues were, so I took advantage of getting counsel from people that I thought could help me, and I basically got on a plane for 90 days and talked to our employees.

I talked to our customers. I talked to industry analysts, and I should say most of that time was listening, not talking, just really getting a handle on what had happened, what the real issues were, not the superficial kinds of implications, but what were the real fundamental issues and how could we put together a plan to solve them.

RYSSDAL: When you spent that 90 days on the airplane -- listening mostly, as you say -- what were people saying; the analysts, and, I guess, most importantly, the people who work here at Xerox?

MULCAHY: Well, I'll begin with our customers, who said that they loved our technology, but that our responsiveness was not what it needed to be. And the industry analysts would also agree this was a company that had great technology and innovation, but we'd spread ourselves too thin. We'd better make some pretty clear choices about who we wanted to be in the future and invest and focus on those.

And our people -- and this was the most encouraging part -- it was clear they would do anything that they needed to do to help this company survive. Very loyal, very strong culture, but they needed very clear direction.

RYSSDAL: Obviously, you did more things right than wrong because, first of all, we're sitting here today, and people who know way more about this than you or I talk about you in the same breath as people like Lou Gerstner, you know? That said, you didn't do everything right, probably. How did you recognize your mistakes and work around them?

MULCAHY: Well, there's no question that not everything was done right, and I think, from the outside, perhaps the progress looks a little bit more brilliant than it actually was. I would call this blocking and tackling; a lot of logic, a lot of back to basics, a lot of discipline.

It wasn't really the brilliance of the strategy. It was the discipline of the execution that turned this company around. So I think credit where credit's due would say it would go to the people of Xerox in terms of their combined set of actions that allowed us to execute with a great deal of discipline.

Imagine!  Going to your customers and listening to what they say, even when its not positive.  Responding to their input.  Having the discipline to execute your plan.  Part of me thinks "Business Success 101."  But the more knowing part of me can't help but admire the rarity of this formula.  Lessons for all of us.