Closing the Service Gap: How to connect customers, employees and organisations

Ben Laker is a Professor of Leadership at Henley Business School. Prof Laker has authored several books, most recently the Financial Times bestseller, Too Proud To Lead (Bloomsbury), which focused on leaders within the workplace and was critically acclaimed by The Telegraph and The Association of MBAs (AMBA), among others. In addition to his role leading postgraduate research programming at Henley Business School, Prof Laker also serves as a regular contributor/columnist for MIT Sloan Management Review and Forbes, in which he shares, promotes and distils key lessons from his books and research.Dr Lebene Richmond Soga is a Program Director at Henley Business School and a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Leadership. His research explores a range of themes, including the social aspects of technologies in organisational life, entrepreneurship ecosystems, and manager-employee relations. He regularly presents his research at international conferences for business leaders, academics, and policymakers to progress the understanding of various organisational challenges for startup businesses, multinationals and the implications of new technologies for the practice of leadership. Dr Yemisi Bolade-Ogunfodun is a Lecturer in Organisational Behavior at Henley Business School who serves the African European Centre for Investment and Trade (AECIT) and frequents international research symposia - regularly presenting her research to academics and policymakers the world over - to advance societal understanding of cultural diversity, particularly about values that underpin work practices, such as productive job design.

• Part A: Connect1. From empires to ecosystems2. Sledgehammers, optionalPart B: Strengthen3. There are no employees without customers 4. How to engage the distracted customer5. The corporate need is simple – its employeesPart C: Lead6. Learn to lead with RenDanHeYi7. Serve more than just the customerWhat's Next?8. Mark the trajectoryConcluding thoughts

"This important book provides lessons for all of us on how businesses can better interact with consumers to advance economic prosperity for all." Dorie Clark, Wall Street Journal contributor and bestselling author of The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine."The challenge of leading an organisation while creating sustainable businesses that create economic prosperity and achieve societal good is one that few businesses can conquer. Closing The Service Gap pushes readers to reconsider traditional management models and power structures in the name of the engagement model of tomorrow, which will be key as businesses navigate a hybrid, post-pandemic world. A must read for anyone taking on these challenges with customers and employees." Courtney Rose, Vice President at Google  "Post Covid where the world as a whole and even more the business world is learning how to re-adapt post pandemic and the importance of understanding the whole value chain of customers-employees-organizations and how they are interconnected. The interdependencies, the role of culture and technology in this work-related transformation. Organizations, managers and employees who will fail to understand the roles of engagement and the importance of interconnections will fail to emerge on the other side of these world challenges. This book is a good starting point to understand this important lesson and build a new engagement blueprint around it." Tzahi Weisfeld, Vice President at Intel Corporation"Closing The Service Gap provides a worthy reflection on the advancement of economic prosperity — promoting a fundamental reconsideration regarding how businesses interact with consumers. The subsequent lessons for law and policymakers, as articulated by the authors, are sizeable." Prachi Mathur, Business Planning and Strategy Lead EMEA at Apple“In a world where customer obsession is an often used phrase in business, this book challenges traditional corporate principles and provides alternative, applicable suggestions on how leaders should re-think their organisation, employee and customer ecosystem. Through real life case studies, the authors' insights into organisation's application of technology are particularly relevant in succeeding in the hybrid working world we now live in." Dilip Mailvaganam, Senior Director at Microsoft"Closing The Service Gap provides an illuminating reflection on how organisations can advance in an increasingly unpredictable and disconnected world. By fundamentally reconsidering the way companies should interact with consumers and employees, it pushes past well-meaning platitudes about balancing profit and social good to reveal a roadmap for producing both. The lessons for leaders are sizeable." Tasha Eurich, New York Times bestselling author of Insight and Bankable Leadership “Closing the Service Gap is an exciting guide full of important information for those of us who want to include the client in the organization's ecosystem. In simple language the authors share how organizations ignore the inextricable link between well-being of a company and a customer retention. This book is a roadmap to deepen the connections between customers, employees and organizational structure!" Tatiana Mitrova, Research Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “Closing the Service Gap explains  what “The customer is king” means when customers can change what they buy, and who they buy it from, at the click of a button. Employees and customers need to connect – with each other, with the firm, with its purpose and rationale – if the firm is going to produce what people want to buy, and thus be successful.” Tim Leunig, Associate Professor at the London School of Economics."Closing The Service Gap offers organizations a solution to transform and redefine their relationships with employees and customers with a fresh and actionable alternative to fatigued models of "customer obsession" that is better suited for the future of work. In a world where technology is rapidly removing boundaries and hierarchies, business innovation and success require service models that embrace connectedness and value all key players in the ecosystem equally." Kate Nowak, Principal Applied Scientist at Microsoft