Built to Serve: How to Drive the Bottom Line With People-first Practices

by Dan J. Sanders

In Built to Serve, Dan Sanders, CEO of the award-winning, service-oriented United Supermarkets, makes this bold claim: the prevailing business culture is broken, and a radical transformation is required that reshapes our understanding of the true purpose of work. Sanders reveals how your people can adopt United's mission of Ultimate Service, Superior Performance, Positive Impact.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Management, Nonfiction

Audio CD

First published August 27, 2007

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

So far, I'm half way through this. It's not very well written, and the author is the CEO of the company he's extolling the virtues of, so I take much of what he says with a grain of salt. But I have hit upon a few nuggets here and there that would have been nicer as just a couple of short blog posts.

Weeks later ...

The book is poorly written and lacks any insightful tidbits. There are so many great business books, that I would strongly recommend others (Good to Great, Built to Last, Crossing the Chasm, etc) and wouldn't waste time on this one.

[Janelle Año · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended to everyone who has to manage a team. (But I'm sure the author would argue, in a mission-oriented, people-first culture, everyone can make a difference, not just "those in charge.")

Some points I really like:
*Leaders can delegate authority, but they can never delegate responsibility
*Servant leadership requires time and patience, resulting in building relationships and friendships based on trust
*Leaders understand the role servant leadership plays in helping others realize their potential
*Leaders must spend more time communicating the vision to people and less time devising ways to catch people intent on disrupting the process
*An effective vision statement has more to do with significance than success
*An organization must control and pace its growth or risk compromising its mission and vision. Growth is a good thing, but not at the expense of an organization's unique value system
*Culture dictates whether great ideas will spring from anyone in the organization
*A focus on the future keeps people motivated to achieve whatever is necessary for sustained success

If you liked this, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose is very similar.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

READ NOV 2010

Easy read about aligning service with strategic outcomes. While the book focused on the United supermarkets, the application is easily leveraged in other business sectors.

Best quotes, "What is compelling about a great vision well communicated is people will do almost anything to keep from compromising it" (p. 97); and "People are always more important than the process" (p. 179).

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

To sum it up: People run your business. Treat people with respect and they will run your business into great success. Also, treat customers with respect and help them to no end. Decent book, but somewhat unrealistic if your company is on a large scale.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is obviously a book I read for work. It had valuable insights that were practical and simple, but were shown in a new light, but it could be a little preachy at times.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good info on culture-making and people-first practices!

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Autor mówi głównie o sobie i swojej firmie, a ja nadal uważam, że niektórych rozwiązań z USA nie da się przenieść ot tak na grunt polski.

[Salutino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creo que como administradores, jefes, lideres estamos para hacer la vida de quienes dependen de nosotros mejor, somos facilitadores.

[Mark Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sanders has a good core message: people first. A bit heavy on the anecdotes, but the principles are sound.

[Jediah Logiodice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely going on my 'to recommend' list of leadership books.