Steve Ells Quotes

An exceptional company is the one that gets all the little details right. And the people out on the front line, they know when things are not going right, and they know when things need to be improved. And if you listen to them, you can soon improve all those niggly things which turns an average company into an exceptional company.

Many corporate leaders and employees have the right intentions, but it can be overwhelming when you consider how everything is affected from leadership styles, to organizational structure, to employee engagement, to customer service an marketplace.

It doesn't do much good to have a quality image, whether it's with the facility or whether it's with the merchandise, if you don't have real quality people taking care of your customers.

I talked about 12 to 18 months, and that's about reaffirming our foundation for sustained growth: getting the discipline back, getting the basics right, getting the customer focus back... so by the end of next year, I hope most of that's in place.

One, we committed to put about 650 people in the field to focus totally on customer satisfaction.

You want to make sure this particular car is going to please the customer and then you're going to be rewarded with something that is going to please the shareholder.

Sealed Management

I think at least my philosophy of leadership is you focus more on the areas you have to improve or the mistakes than you do on your successes. And that's just how I am in real life. I don't want to let down my customers, my employees, my shareholders.

You have to connect with your market and your employees. First, understand that what your market says is fact and what you say is opinion. Then, take the time to create a good connection with your employees. Without those two key connections, your business will be stuck in mediocrity forever.

If you get the product and technology right, then the rest usually falls into place.

Ultimately, we're in the service business. We will always have an important human element.

From the early days, Booking.com has been disruptive. Our aim is to create the best product for our customers, and we do that through constant innovation and testing.

There has to be active, hands-on management in concert with the manager to lead the organization and make sure that the standards that we set for the organization as a whole are being lived up to.

We are constantly reviewing our processes to identify areas where we can learn and improve.

Harman had great brands, but the processes were falling apart.

Grandpa didn't have any idea of customer service. But he wanted to make a living. Eventually, we saw it was not in our best interest to be arguing with customers.

After seven extraordinary and fulfilling years, during which we have transformed TalkTalk's customer experience and laid the foundations for long-term growth, I've decided it's time for me to start handing over the reins at TalkTalk and focus more on my activities in public service.

I've seen it again and again in my consulting: Most teams are too large to be innovative, despite their leaders' best intentions.

I wanted all my stores to be the same, to offer the same customer experience, whether I was there or not.

During my time growing a company in the private sector, one of my guiding principles was to meet and hear feedback from as many customers as possible.

The teams and how we perform and how we deal with customers, how we invest in the things we do right now - that's what writes the story for GE.

I am enormously proud of how we have transformed the TalkTalk customer experience.

Some corporations are extremely well managed; some nonprofit organizations are. It has nothing to do with the sector. It has to do with quality of management.

As a manager, you look at who is going to get the fans on the edge of the seats.

Our customers, system, and shareholders are best served when we direct our focus and energy towards executing against these critical customer expectations.