The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All

Chapter 31Progress

The next week was the best ever in the history of the company. Not in terms of financial success because they still didn’t acquire more clients, but Michael could feel the shift happen as everyone focused on Love, Serve, Care with each other, each customer, and each sales call. Sarah and Michael decided they would no longer measure success by how much money they made, but rather by the people who were impacted by their love, service, and caring—and of course their software. Ironically, they sold technology that connected the digital and physical worlds, but their biggest priority was to create human connections. If they focused on the process they would love what the process produced.

With their new approach, their customer service improved dramatically. Their customer service scores were at an all-time high and even though their employees were caring more and giving more to each interaction, they were also more energized than ever. Sarah told Michael that caring more doesn’t make you tired. It energizes you and others. She also said that hard work doesn’t make you tired. A bad attitude and belief that you aren’t making a difference is what makes you tired. Michael was glad he had married a woman who was a lot smarter than he was.

Together they championed their one-person-at-a-time approach to everyone in the company and also decided to model it for each other. They talked about the fact that if you don’t have strong leadership at the top, the organization ...