Story of Our Logo

Our logo intentionally captures the essence of one of the most important paradigms for customer-focused transformation. The notion of the "inverted pyramid" is a powerful metaphor for customer-driven change. Traditional organization charts and structures are typically hierarchical. Hierarchical organizations have the leader at the top of the organization chart, VP's are below and report to the leader, managers report to the VP's, supervisors report to the managers and finally at the bottom of the hierarchy, are the frontline workers. One of the implications of traditional org charts is that managers direct the work of the frontline workers and frontline workers are accountable to their managers.

By taking the traditional organization chart and turning it upside down (inverting the pyramid), we can create a powerful image for change. Subtle shifts and roles and accountabilities are clear. In the customer-focused organization frontline employees are accountable to meet and exceed the expectations of customers. The role of managers is to support frontline workers and help them succeed in satisfying customers. The leader of the organization has many roles, including leading with a service vision, demonstrating commitment to the customer and making sure managers succeed in helping frontline employees to satisfy customers.

My favorite quote from Karl Albrecht & Ron Zemke is: "If you're not serving the customer, you better be supporting someone who does." This underscores the philosophy of customer focus and the notion of the inverted pyramid. Leaders who believe in this advice have a good foundation for building a culture for service.