Growth is often found far from the crowd

One of the first books my brilliant management lecturer, Tony McGuiness, recommended to me was Jan Carlzon’s 𝘔𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩. A proper oldie from the mid-80s, and one of the many books I find myself going back to nearly twenty years on.

Jan Carlzon, the former CEO of SAS - Scandinavian Airlines, was one of the world’s biggest advocates for the belief that the smallest details in customer interactions make all the difference. Sounds obvious right?

“𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 10 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 5 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 15 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 50 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 ‘𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩’ 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺.”

Tiny moments can unlock entire memories. A campaign jingle or song lyric, a smell, or a single word can trigger vivid experiences because our minds reconstruct the bigger picture from just one small detail.

I love a big vision as much as the next person, but the real work is in the detail, every micro-interaction, a delayed email, a poorly designed button, or a rushed or templated customer conversation shapes the bigger perception of who you are. Scandinavian Airlines' brand is re-created 50 million times a year, 15 seconds at a time.

𝗔 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗝𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱.

Here is a link to the book.