Ok, I admit, I got the idea for this blog post from leadership expert John Maxwell’s book, There’s No Such Thing As “Business Ethics” (There’s Only One Rule for Making Decisions). His thesis was plain and simple – The Golden Rule applies in all aspect of life. The same thing with customer service. Organizations nowadays focus on delivering the best customer service they could ever provide and believes that this will become their leading edge. I believe that there is really no such thing as customer service. What I do believe in is the concept of service as it is. Organizations simply highlight to staff that providing utmost customer service to customers or anybody bringing in revenue to the company should be a top priority. But this undermines a very important principle. Real service does not know discrimination – whether they’re customers, staff, business partners, even people on the streets. What’s surprising is that organizations treat their custmers really well but not their employees and staff. What they don’t realize is that while customers bring in the revenue, it’s the employees and staff that maintain and keep customers. How many times have you heard of customers being mistreated by disgruntled employees? Or even revenue loss due to productivity loss caused by demoralized staff? If we create a culture of service, both for our external and internal customers, it would propell our organization for success. It would break down organizational barriers as managers would no longer care about their status but rather focus more on how they can better serve their staff. I like what Michael Bergdahl’s book What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World indicates that Wal-Mart practices “servant-leadership”. Essentially, that means all managers put the needs of their employees and colleagues first. Managers are required to respond to any request for help, even if it means delaying their own work. The concept stems from Sam Walton’s oft-stated belief that “if you take care of your people, your people will take care of the customer and the business will take care of itself.” That in itself is the true meaning of service