In Praise of Service Thinking
Hastings and Saperstein’s Service Thinking will help everyone become part of the next generation workforce. Their principles impact productivity, quality, compliance, sustainability, resilience, competitive parity, innovativeness, and how to increase them year after year. Service Thinking is an excellent primer for all ISSIP (International Society of Service Innovation Professionals) members who aspire to become better T-shaped innovators for business and societal systems with depth and breadth across all interconnected disciplines, sectors, and regions with a Service-Dominant Logic worldview. Service Thinking is the introduction of service science for practical business thinkers.
Dr. James C. Spohrer
Director, IBM University Programs Worldwide
Innovation Champion
This is a must-read for anyone trained in traditional process improvement or business architecture. In surprisingly clear language this book lays out the essentials of service thinking, and how the service paradigm transforms the way in which organizations innovate on behalf of their customers. It shifts the focus from product to experience, from one-sided production to co-creation of value, from the simply measurable to the emotional. I intend to buy a copy for every member of my team.
Dart Lindsley,
Sr. Manager of Transformation Planning and Analysis, Cisco
Service thinking is the missing link between a product or service and the consumer. The authors show clearly that it’s not enough anymore to just offer the best product or the best service. What’s needed is empathy with the customer and understanding of the importance of the overall service experience. A service experience is co-created with the customer. With the 7 Point Service Thinking Framework the authors give any practitioner an invaluable toolset to create a service experience beyond a pure service.
Mario Herger, Senior Innovation Strategist, SAP
Finally, a book that illuminates the massively important service innovation within a total brand experience. This book provides a comprehensive roadmap for electrifying customers. Service is the new “bright shiny object.”
Michael Perman
Dean of Global Innovation
Gap, Inc
We all know the world is changing. The challenge is finding a coherent paradigm to make sense of the change and bring clarity to what to do. Service Thinking is a compelling paradigm to help organizations evolve their thinking, processes and structures to meet today’s challenges. It’s profound yet obvious at the same time. Every business today is a service; Service Thinking provides the framework to adapt to this reality and win.
Doug Milliken, VP, Brand Development, The Clorox Company
This is a must read for anyone who hopes to stay ahead of the curve in the business transformation that is underway. Service Thinking not only reveals why the old business centric models no longer work, but suggests compelling ways that technology, innovation and service can be combined to create value in this new world
Jonathan Levy, Director of Employee Training, Autodesk, Inc.
What makes it a better company than your average taxi or limo company? It provides better service, mostly through much better data (you can see where your ride actually is, for instance). How can your company do the same? Hastings and Saperstein’s Service Thinking leads the way in how you can change your organization to provide the innovation that leads to breakthroughs like what Uber is delivering.
Robert Scoble
Startup Liaison Officer
Rackspace—the Open Cloud Company
The role and importance of services in the economy has long been underappreciated, and poorly understood, by most economists and management consultants. So it is great to see Hastings and Saperstein provide lots of innovative insights around service thinking in this book. Their excellent analysis should be required reading by entrepreneurs and analysts needing to understand the dynamics of our global service economy.
Eilif Trondsen, PhD; Research Director,
Strategic Business Insights (SRI)
Service Thinking is an extraordinary gift to those business leaders committed to taking their organizational game to the next level. Their lenses and language make the Service Thinking paradigm highly accessible. Their prescription of continuous design and redesign of complex business systems is spot on.
Bill Veltrop, Co-Founder Monterey Institute for Social Architecture
Preparing graduates to be T-shaped business-ready is a priority at Clarkson. This book is a major achievement to move business education ahead. Every business school should encourage faculty and students to use this as a resource to bridge the chasm between what is taught and needed to prepare students to participate in the emergent economy.
Dayle M. Smith, PhD
Dean, School of Business
Clarkson University