ESCP Europe

The author recounts how he defied the conventional wisdom that companies must put customers first, then turned the hierarchical pyramid upside down by making management accountable to the employees, and not the other way around. He shows how he implemented the employee first philosophy by : creating a sense of urgency by enabling the employees to see the truth of the companys current state ; creating a culture of trust by pushing the envelope of transparency in communication and information sharing ; inverting the organizational hierarchy by making the management and the enabling functions accountable to the employee ; unlocking the potential of the employees by fostering an entrepreneurial mind-set, decentralizing decision making, and transferring the ownership of "change" to the employee.