The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

Joseph A. Michelli

McGraw Hill,  June 2008

Five Leadership Principles that set the "Gold Standard" for your industry:

  • Define and Refine
  • Empower through Trust
  • It's Not about You
  • Deliver "Wow!"
  • Leave a Lasting Footprint
Discover the secrets of world-class leadership

When it comes to refined service and exquisite hospitality, one name stands high above the rest: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. With ceaseless attention to every luxurious detail, the company has set the bar for creating memorable customer experiences in world-class settings. Now, for the first time, the leadership secrets behind the company's extraordinary success are revealed.

The New Gold Standard takes you on an exclusive tour behind the scenes of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Granted unprecedented access to the company's executives, staff, and award-winning Leadership Center, bestselling author Joseph Michelli explored every level of leadership within the organization. He emerged with key principles that provide a customer experience unlike any other:
  • Understanding the ever-evolving needs of customers
  • Empowering employees by treating them with the utmost respect 
  • Anticipating customers' unexpressed needs and concerns 
  • Developing and conducting an unsurpassed training regimen
Sharing engaging stories from the company's employees -- from the corporate office and hotels around the globe -- Michelli describes the innovative methods the company uses to create peerless guest experiences and explains how it constantly hones and improves them.

The New Gold Standard weaves practical how-to advice, proven leadership tools, and the wisdom of experts to help you create and embed superior customer service principles, processes, and practices in your own organization.

hardcover | ISBN: 9780071548335 | Publication Date: June 2008

Reviews:
"No doubt this behind-the-scenes look at The Ritz-Carlton will inspire you to work toward your own Gold Standard. Michelli's five principles will help you break through the sea of sameness plaguing most industries and equip you with what it takes to blow the doors off business-as-usual -- a must for thriving in this economy!"
--Dr. Jackie Freiberg, author of BOOM! 7 Choices for Blowing the Doors Off Business-as-Usual, NUTS! and GUTS!

"As a business leader, there are two vital aspects required of the books I choose to read -- insight and information. Dr. Michelli's new book provides an exponential measure of both -- information on how The Ritz-Carlton creates such a compelling experience for their customers, and insight on why it is so critical to do so! He has provided a compelling book about The Ritz-Carlton experience. "
--Scott Mckain, vice chairman of Obsidian Enterprises and author of What Customers Really Want

"The Ritz-Carlton is truly the New Gold Standard, and Dr. Joseph Michelli has done a great job of capturing the five key leadership principles which Simon Cooper and the Ritz-Carlton team have been applying relentlessly, energetically, and with localized creativity. Anyone interested in excellence in the 21 st century would profit from reading The New Gold Standard."
--Newt Gingrich, founder of Center for Health Transformation and former speaker of the house

"Simon [Cooper] and [The Ritz-Carlton] leadership team understand the role human nature plays in driving business outcomes better than any organization in the world."
--Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO of The Gallup Organization, Washington, D.C.

"The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company has a global reputation for service excellence because their leadership team insists on it -- every day, in every business decision and every communication inside and outside the company. We've learned a lot at Bank of America from The Ritz-Carlton team in our own work to build a customer-centered culture. All those lessons are captured here in this book. The New Gold Standard offers a view inside one of the most successful customer service cultures in the world, and is a valuable addition to business literature on the subject."
--Kenneth D. Lewis, chairman and CEO of Bank of America

"The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company wrote the book on legendary customer service. And in The New Gold Standard, Joseph Michelli writes the book on The Ritz-Carlton. Required reading for anyone who wants to learn how to create passionate employees and raving fan customers!"
--Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and The One Minute Entrepreneur

"The Ritz-Carlton is the best hotel chain in the world because of the unique experience they offer. This book shows you how to install the same customer-focused attitude toward service that makes a world leader. "
--Brian Tracy, author of The Way to Wealth