Customer Reviews

Built to Serve: How to Drive the Bottom Line with People-First Practices

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Built to Serve is a book that every CEO, executive, business owner, manager, and employee should read. I enjoyed the insight given by Dan on building one of the most successful supermarket chains in the country. Dan Sanders, CEO of United Supermarkets, has shared how focusing on people and building a corporate culture around our true nature as human beings will lead to an organization where employees truly enjoy their work and financial success is a by-product of the culture. Dan shows how to unlock the true greatness that is inside each individual at your company which in turn drives success. By focusing on people instead of the bottom-line, good performance by management and employees comes genuinely and naturally as we each are designed to serve. The results of such a strategy are both personally and financially rewarding.

One great book....easy to read and understand! Should be read by all -- not just those in management. Full of wisdom, wonderful ideas, and simple models that anyone can follow. The best book I've seen in a long, long time!

This book finally spells out what's important in business. I've waited for someone to stand up and declare that money isn't the bottom line in business. If Corporate America would grasp these principles, I'm convinced we would see tremendous results!

This is a great book with many life changing principals to learn. It speaks to company leaders, but has just as much to say to people in every stage of business. From the head office to the deliveryman, this principle of (serving people) is number one and it is what people want when deciding where they will do business. Every person in your company should read this!!!!! This what you can use to compete in this highly competitive environment.

The book was an easy read and reminds us that our people are what make our business great. I was reminded that tactics that apply to big business can apply to my small business as well. It was inspiring to hear that business leaders today are still leading with intelligence and integrity. I wish more successful businessmen would share their insights in this way.

As a business owner, I am inspired with what Dan had to say. Bravo! You've captured the True essence of effective leadership. Thank you!

This is one of the best books I have ever read. If every person would read this and put it into action I cannot imagine how much smoother, profitable and delightful every customer interaction would be.

It's a joy to read a book by an author who clearly 'gets it' - that businesses excel by taking care of their most important asset: their employees. While many businesses are able to create short term success by emphasizing performance and processes over all else, long term success comes from following "People-First Practices."

Built to Serve provides an excellent business case for putting people first. Mr. Sanders provides a step-by-step progression that clearly illustrates how creating a strong people culture results in sound financial results.

The key is to create a mission and vision for the organization that is based on the company's values and is so compelling that employees not only remember it but also live it as they do their jobs each day. If you find this idea intriguing, Built to Serve will be a joy for you to read. If you find this idea unlikely, then read it at your own peril - you may change your mind.

Built to Serve draws examples of the key principles from many different companies and industries proving that they are applicable to more than just United Markets. I also appreciate that each chapter ends with a summary of its key points called "From the Express Lane." Overall, Built to Serve is an informative and compelling read. - Karen L. Jett, CMA author of Grow Your People, Grow Your Business

This is a great book in looking at your colleagues and customers as partners in a business. We get so caught up in the "business" that we forget it is the people in our business that make the business work. A great discovery in understanding people create the true bottom and top lines.

An Important Book written by
Dan J. Sanders
CEO United Supermarkets

Reviewed by M. Joyce McMenamin

CALL IT THE CLEVERLY PACKAGED LITTLE BOOK
THAT CAPTURED MY ATTENTION & INSPIRED US TO
CREATE A NEW SECTION IN OUR
LITTLE MAGAZINE!

CALL IT WHAT YOU WILL, WE THINK THAT MR. SANDERS HAS DONE A SUPERB JOB OF POSITIONING THE IDEA THAT "BUYER & SELLER'S INTUITION", COMBINED WITH EMPIRICAL DATA, CREATES A BLENDED SUCCESS MODEL OF THOUGHTFUL & INTELLIGENT PROFITABLITY & LONGEVITY.

SANDER'S GOES BEYOND MERELY MIMICKING PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED MODELS AND
WE WERE ACTUALLY IMPRESSED WITH THE DOWN-TO-EARTH MODELS PRESENTED IN
THIS NEW BOOK BY THE CEO OF UNITED SUPERMARKETS. NO SMALL FEAT. THE CAREER,THE BOOK, NOR THE SUCCESS OF THE ORGANIZATION. ASIDE FROM THE
"INSIDE THE BOOK" ADMIRATION BESTOWED BY BEST SELLING BUSINESS AUTHORS,
STEPHEN R. COVEY & KEN BLANCHARD, THIS BOOK DELIVERS ON IDEAS THAT NEED
TO BE DISCUSSED MORE IN THE FUTURE. IDEAS THAT NEED TO BE TAUGHT IN BUSINESS SCHOOLS & NEED TO BE PUT INTO PRACTICE BY ANY ORGANIZATION THAT
WANTS TO GROW AND THRIVE, LET ALONE SURVIVE, INTO THE NEXT DECADE.
THIS IS A MESSAGE THAT ALL LEADERS NEED TO HEAR, BELIEVE & PUT INTO ACTION.

SANDERS SHOULD GET A TEAM OF FACILITATORS TOGETHER TO BUILD WORKSHOPS
AROUND HIS PRINCIPLES & TAKE IT TO THE MILLIONS OF MANAGERS OUT THERE THAT
STILL DON'T "GEDDIT". BACK WHEN I WAS CONSULTING & FACILITATING CORPORATE GROUP SESSIONS, I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE HAD MATERIAL LIKE THIS TO DRAW FROM. SANDERS GETS IT!

WHAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE?

IN A WORLD WHERE TOO MANY, WHO "SHOULD KNOW BETTER",MERELY SPEAK TO THE METRIC-MODEL, IT'S OBVIOUS THAT SANDERS & UNITED LEARNED HOW TO WALK BEFORE THEY TRIED TALKING. SOMETHING MANY PROFESSIONALS SHOULD EMULATE. IN LIFE LEARNING HOW TO WALK, STUMBLE, FALL AND GET BACK UP AGAIN, IS THE NATURAL PROGRESSION TO GROWTH. WHO KNOWS? IF THIS BOOK HAD BEEN AROUND 20 YEARS AGO MAYBE WE'D STILL HAVE A STRONG AMERICAN AUTO INDUSTRY! BY THE LOOKS OF THINGS, UNITED SUPERMARKETS AND THE GROCERY INDUSTRY IN GENERAL ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE... AFTERALL, WE ALL GOTTA EAT, RIGHT?

BRAVO!
UNITED, WE STAND & APPLAUD.

Reviewed by: M. Joyce McMenamin
Publisher, Producer and author of The Integrity Channel [m.j.m. estrada]
Network Abundance sponsored by Sensitive Pie Productions

This review originally appeared in NoNiche Magazine November 2007 Issue