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This is where a confused culture can be turned into an aligned culture by doing something well in each of these areas. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Common language we already talked about. Teach those principles and let everybody understand how to apply them and use them with each other. Engaging service vision means that you have a short way of saying who you are, what you do, what you care about, what you’re committed to that turns people on.

For example, when Singapore Airlines began, it was currently rated the number one airline on the planet. And yes, I’ve been working with them for a bunch of years. They had this phrase. Would you read it with me? Ready? Go.

Service. Even. Okay, Now I want you to read it out loud to your partner, but I want you to read it like you’re 20 years old, you applied for a job with cabin crew, and this was 15 or 20 years ago, when, at 20 years old, your dreams about being able to go around the world and see the major cities and be part of a national carrier and, you know, incredible. But the competition was intense. You were 20 and there were 30 people applying for that job. And that’s true. And they picked you. And you now are going to be able to go out and show the world who we are, what we do. And you know what? They’re not known for being a great paymaster. You’re not going to make a lot of money, but you’re going to be part of a national icon from this tiny little country that’s going to demonstrate to planet Earth who we are and what we’re capable of. Alright? Your partner, the one sitting next to you, that person is 20 years old and they just got the job, too. Congratulations.

This whole room is now filled with the next batch of cabin crew for Singapore Airlines. You’re all 20 years old. You were selected, 29 other people for each one of you didn’t get the job. And now what are you going to do? We’re going to go out and we’re going to show the world what we’re capable of. It’s a tagline, but it’s an engaging service vision. At the Ritz-Carlton, they call it a credo. Read it with me. Go.

“We Are Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen.” That credo saves Ritz-Carlton millions of dollars every year on recruitment because it automatically keeps away people who are hard drive and want to go out and make those targets. And it automatically attracts people who want to work in a refined, elegant ladies and gentleman environment. This is NIIT Technologies. They had an entire culture that was focused on hitting the SLA. Like much of the Indian technology industry developed in response to Western CTOs, chief technology officers who would write up all the specifications and then submit an RFQ or an RFP. And NIIT technologies said, No, no, no, no, no. We don’t want to be reactive like that. We want to get out in front.

We want to be known as the company that comes up with good ideas, that’s proactive about creating value. And so with four simple words “New ideas. More value”, and a lot of work on the building blocks and a lot of service education, they literally shifted the culture.