Books you should read to become a better professional 📚 - Living on the edge with the ultimate alpinist: Marc-André Leclerc 🏔
Sometimes Superman is just Clark Kent… and this is ok.
Episode #75. Hey Sunday reader 👋🏼
This Sunday, The Timestamp is helping you get ready for the post-holiday season! Over the past weeks, I have received a couple of nice direct messages giving me their appreciation for the book recommendations I gave in this Sunday newsletter i.e “Le Mage du Kremlin” (Ed. Gallimard) or '“Good to Great” by Jim Collins this past week.
This gave me the idea to share with you a few more book recommendations. The types of books I would recommend reading before joining a new company or when starting a new chapter of your professional life.
I will also share a bonus recommendation with a breathtaking documentary about an ultimate mountain climber; so much inspiration and emotion in the story of Marc-André Leclerc.
#1. L’obsession du service client 🇫🇷
Sorry dear English readers, the best book I have had the chance to read on customer service is the book by Jonathan Lefevre. It is so good that I would retitle it the Green Bible of Customer Service. Yes, I feel blessed I had the chance to meet with Jonathan, the author of this great book (and also his editor Julie Robert who worked for Dunod Editions when the book was published in 2018).
In case you feel lazy and do not want to read the book, here are a few insights to give you a good incentive to buy this French book:
If you think your company is delivering superior customer service, you should make sure this is the reality perceived by your clients:
Ok, then what are the secrets to a really premium customer experience?
Answer fast(er) to your customers. Speed is everything because even if you do not (yet) have a solution… it will show you care.
Measure your customer service with KPIs. It can be the average time you take to answer a customer request or the time it takes to resolve a bug. Simple KPIs are often much better than customer satisfaction surveys; the survey bias is that customers have difficulties separating the product you offer from the service. You may even end up having outstanding customer service with a crappy product or just the opposite. Simple measurable KPIs will help you understand how you really perform.
Pay attention to the way you talk to your customers. Some companies, like Capitaine Train (now Trainline), chose to speak to their customers as if they were friends; this helped them create a differentiated tone from their competitors and helped them stand out. Capitaine Train launched handwritten messages to their customers… which created a massive positive bonus in the relationship.
Use simple and honest communication. The power of telling the truth to your customers will reinforce the trust they have in you and your company. Admitting that you have not been good in a situation is indeed a great message to build trust. Sometimes Superman is just Clark Kent… and this is ok.
Jonathan Lefevre is so kind that he created a summary of his book that you can access here (in French) 👇
#2. Good to Great
This book written by Jim Collins is not only a bestseller but a true must-read for any ambitious company. I talked about it last week in the previous episode of the Timestamp. But truly, this book is a great one. When it comes to building excellence in a startup or any bigger company, some people fail to describe what role discipline can play:
Creating a culture of self-discipline. It all starts with disciplined people. Do not try to discipline the wrong people into the right behaviors, but by getting self-disciplined people on the bus in the first place.
Disciplined action without self-disciplined people is impossible to sustain.
Very rigorous thinking comes before disciplined action within the system built around the hedgehog concept (deeply passionate about, can be the best in the world, drives your economic engine).
The more an organization has the discipline to stay within the 3 circles of the hedgehog concept, the more it will have attractive opportunities for growth.
“Once in a lifetime opportunity” is irrelevant if it does not fit within the 3 circles.
#3. Mission Blablacar & “On voit bien que vous n’y connaissez rien”
Many would-be entrepreneurs have now Frederic Mazzella, co-founder of BlaBlaCar as their guiding star… but do you know Sebastien de Lafond, co-founder of MeilleursAgents. Those 2 books were published by Ed.Eyrolles in 2021 and 2022.
With these 2 books, the editor Florian Migairou did a great job in picking 2 fantastic stories (in french again). Those 2 books take different narrative approaches. Mission BlaBlaCar tries to dissect important keys to the success observed at BlaBlaCar but also in many other successful companies.
Sebastien Delafond is telling the story of a startup that was less known to the general public. An emotional journey into the world of real estate agents; he explains very well how to innovate in an industry that was not so keen to innovate.
Both books are great and I am glad to see that our French entrepreneurs have more and more book production. After all, Entrepreneur is not a word coming from the US originally ;)
Bonus. The Alpinist 🎬
Wow! Incredible documentary that you can discover on several platforms (Netflix or Canal+ in France).
I am literally voiceless when watching those documentaries about mountain heroes. Some of you may have seen the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” featuring rock climber Alex Honnold which was a blast… Guess who Alex Honnold mentions when being asked which climber impresses him the most: Marc-André Leclerc 🇨🇦.
I will try here to give you the motivation to watch this 92min movie without spoiling:
Passion for an art (Climbing mountains here) can be limitless. 50% of solo climbers die practicing their art.
“You can control what you do” but “You cannot control what the mountain does”. This is what makes the mountain so dangerous; it is a living environment that evolves constantly throughout the day, seasons, and years. Climbing is being able to process live -on the spot- those moving elements.
Marc-André Leclerc developed mastery in his art… even though he was completely unfit for the traditional school education. Genius does not necessarily show during your school years.
Discover the climber that became the #1 reference for his fellow mountaineers. Thrilling, very emotional, mixing genius and madness, “The Alpinist” just left me voiceless when I finished watching it. Enjoy.
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See you next Sunday!