| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JANUARY 25, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| READERS REPORT
What Middle Managers Can Learn from Ken Chenault ''The rise of a star'' (Cover Story, Dec. 21) should be read by all middle-management executives in any service business. Ken Chenault has a quality that is missing in many customer-service business executives today. It is no surprise to me that he has accomplished all he has at American Express and was instrumental in its huge gains in value and in its public image. Middle-management personnel today, as a whole, just do not seem to get it: You need the latter to achieve the former. Back in 1988, I had reached my boiling point with some of the middle managers who were handling a problem at American Express with my daughter's credit card. As a last option, I contacted the head of customer service at that time, and fortunately for me that was Ken Chenault. I was just one individual card holder with what seemed to be an unsolvable problem, but he took the time to put me in contact with an employee in their North Carolina office who turned out to be bright, receptive, and sensitive. She solved my daughter's credit card problem in less than one week and even upgraded her status in the process. It was just good business. Learn a lesson from Ken Chenault, all you middle-management executives in the hospitality industry: Care about every customer. Dan Krouner Saratoga Springs, N.Y. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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