Foreword

Peter Drucker famously taught that “the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” He emphasized the importance of customer satisfaction as the true measure of success in every organization.

The central theme of this book is what you must do as an entrepreneur or executive to trigger the customer response, This is a great product! As Drucker inspired us to ask, “What does the customer value?”

Fully 90 percent of your organization’s success in these turbulent times will be determined by how often and how consistently you can serve your customers with excellence.

Now, Build a Great Business! shows you how to build your organization by focusing on great leadership, great people, and great products.

Success is the result of doing the right things over and over again, and this book shows you how you can measure your progress in every area, at every stage of your strategy.

My friends Mark Thompson and Brian Tracy know what it takes for the best leaders to achieve success with courage, integrity, and consistency. I have had the pleasure of working with them over the years and have come to deeply respect their knowledge and business acumen, and most important, their heartfelt commitment to serving others.

“To serve is to live,” is not a foreign concept to Mark and Brian. They are two great thought leaders.

This indispensible handbook for success gives you a practical track to run on, enabling you to inspire your organization to grow faster because you are serving customers better, with greater predictability, than ever before. Enjoy this great book as you “build a great business!”

Frances Hesselbein
Cofounder, President, and CEO, Leader to Leader
Institute, and Chair, Study of Leadership at the
U.S. Military Academy, West Point