Introduction

Abstract

As I write this, I’m flying from Newark, New Jersey, to Las Vegas on a major airline, sitting in the first-class section. Trish, a flight attendant, approaches me after takeoff, smiles, and says, “Hello, Mr. Giannetto, will you be joining us for lunch?” She turns to the two women with Russian accents across the aisle and asks them both the same question, also addressing them by name. Perhaps because I spend a great deal of my life working with companies to help make them customer-centric, information-driven, highly integrated enterprises, I notice that Trish is doing everything she can to make sure she personally connects with each passenger. She addresses all of us by name and seems genuinely interested in every passenger to whom she speaks.