Jan Carlzon Quotes

Giving someone the freedom to take responsibility releases resources that would otherwise remain concealed.

We have 50,000 moments of truth every day.

SAS is ‘created’ 50 million times a year, 15 seconds at a time. These 50 million ‘moments of truth’ are the moments that ultimately determine whether SAS will succeed or fail as a company. They are the moments when we must prove to our customers that SAS is their best alternative.

You cannot improve one thing by 1000% but you can improve 1000 little things by 1%.

If anything goes wrong, the customer doesn’t care whose fault it is. He’s the one who’s going to suffer anyway.

Problems should be solved on the spot, as soon as they arise. No front-line employee should have to wait for a supervisor’s permission

The moral of the story: perceptions are everything. During each moment you are in contact with a customer, you are the organization.

Do not fear adversity. Remember, a kite rises against the wind rather than with it. People are not willing to take risks when they feel afraid or threatened. But if you manage people by love-that is, if you show them respect and trust-they start to perform up to their real capabilities.

If you’re not serving the customer, your job is to be serving someone who is.

I learned that, before you reach an objective, you must be ready with a new one, and you must start to communicate it to the organization. But it is not the goal itself that is important.

Quality doesn’t mean we have to be 100 percent better in any one thing; it means we strive to be 1 percent better in 100 things.

A true leader is one who designs the cathedral and then shares the vision that inspires others to build it.