No. 2. in a series on the Fundamentals of Enlightened Service Leadership

The best leaders walk the talk.

It was the busy season at on-line retailer Zappos’ call center. On this particular day the number of calls waiting in queue was climbing and customer wait times were steadily rising. As hard as the reps tried to catch up, they were losing ground by the minute. Christina, a newly appointed supervisor, sent a message of encouragement to her team and got on the phone to take calls. Somewhere around her third or fourth call she looked over at a new team member who was staring at her in disbelief. Once the surge subsided, the rep came over, sat down and said, “I will do anything you want me to do. I’ve worked in several call centers but have never seen a supervisor get on the phone when it was busy and take calls along with us.”

This was an example provided by Christina Colligan to illustrate what it means to live the “L” in the “LEADER” [See photo at right] philosophy at the world’s largest (and most successful) on-line shoe store.

Christina was one of the Leads (supervisor) in the Zappos’ Customer Loyalty Team (their name for their call center) I had the pleasure to meet a couple of weeks ago when I visited Zappos’ headquarters near Las Vegas. I was so impressed with Zappos’ common sense approach to customer service I followed up with Christina to learn more about what they do to create an inclusive culture in which “Wow” level is service is the norm.

In summing up Zappos’ philosophy she shared a quote from a recent learning session in which they share best practices of other companies and books by thought leaders: “People will follow people who show skills and character. Not one or the other — but both.”

Speaking of walking the talk. At Zappos it’s not just the supervisors who hop on the phone to take calls when it gets busy, everybody in the company helps out — including Tony Hsieh, the founder and CEO.

This week be an even more effective leader by not just “talking it” but “walking it.”

Look for more ideas on what you can do to create a new, more enlightened customer service paradigm in coming weeks.