If you knew that each time you engaged with a customer, the relationship was going to be long-term, do you think it would change the way you interact with them? Absolutely it would!

Jonathan Hornby, of SAS, discusses this very idea in his new book, Radical Action for Radical Times.

“It’s so important to understand that although you may not be making any money today from a specific relationship, over a period of time, you and that customer could become very profitable,” Hornby insists.

“If you hear somebody say, ‘I can always get another customer,’ forget it. There are only a limited number of people who want your product or your service. Instead, consider: 'Is the propensity for this customer and I to do business together going up or is it going down?’ If you concentrate on making sure the propensity is always going up, you will have a profitable future.”

When we think about the long-term consequences of our relationships, it really does change the way we serve people, the way we serve organizations, and the way we serve teams.

Watch the video version of my interview with Joanthan Hornby below:

I had never seen so much raw emotion and anger tear into concrete and steel. Bare-handed with picks, shovels and spray paint, a snarling, tearful crowd attacked the 11-foot wall with no regard for their own safety. They were going to rip it down, flesh against stone, no matter how long it took. Soldiers, peasants, children and elderly all joined side-by-side to celebrate the destruction of a structure that had taken lives and independence for generations.

This was a day that overflowed with joy and relief. "Ich bin ein Berliner" was the phrase that Kennedy thought up moments before his famous speech in 1963. I am a Berliner was his sentiment and the crowd went wild.

But they would lose almost 30 years waiting for the East and West to be reunited. We spoke with dozens of people that day whose families had been renewed or reunited as they flooded out of East Berlin. We struggled to keep with their broken English and our broken German. I tried to buy strawberries at an open market for lunch, and got a puzzled look. Literally translated, strawberries are 'earthberries" and I'd accidentally said I wanted an earthquake for lunch.

I felt a bit better when I read that JFK had similar difficulties. As it turns out, a 'Berliner' is a favorite local confection. The Lonely Planet Guide observed that when Kennedy pronounced: "Ich bin ein Berliner", literally translated, he'd really said, "I am a jelly doughnut."

Fortunately, Berlin knew what he meant anyway.

Standing there in front of the crowd 20 years ago, it was easy to feel blessed that we are all Berliners.

When the going gets tough, the tough make things simple. During the Great Crash of 1987--still the biggest one day drop in stock market history--our stock in Charles Schwab Corp. dropped 70% in a day. This seemed like a perfect time to accept the job of chief communications officer!

As with the most recent Economic Crisis, the incident resulted in a serious loss of confidence from customers. Investors were panicked, and distrustful.

The first instinct of many companies is to reduce frank dialogue with customers and instead ramp up their features in an effort to attract attention from nervous consumers. But Chuck Schwab did the opposite: he reached out with frank conversation and focused on making services easier, more accessible and simple than ever before.

As a dyslexic, Chuck constantly coped by making complicated things simpler. And when a customer is already already confused and frightened, more sophistication only adds to their frustration. Simplification and added clarity, on the other hand, give people a feeling of confidence. When people feel confident that they understand what's happening with their money, they trust you.

Check out my friend Jonathan Hornby's new book, Radical Action for Radical Times. It redefines what it means to be a leader in the face of extraordinary challenges and is an inspiring recipe for success in the depths of the greatest cycle in history. It features some of my experiences working at Charles Schwab, too.

This week, I saw our dear friends at the Leader to Leader (formerly Drucker) Institute dinner: Ford CEO, Alan Mulally, was ebullient after announcing much better than expected results in a very tough market. As the only American car company to avoid a bailout and bankruptcy, Alan has driven new discipline and customer focus at Ford. "We beat the estimates by every measure," Alan beamed.

Pictured here, from left to right, is Alan, his wife, Jane, myself, and John and Gaye Christensen. Alan won last year's Leader of the Future honor and John is author of the decade-long mega-bestselling classic FISH!.

The event was held at Park Avenue's Mutual of America building and enjoyed record attendance, including the leaders of Heidrick, Avon, General Mills and over a dozen others.

This year's Leader of the Future was General Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Veteran Affairs and former Chief of Staff of the US Army--an extraordinary American hero.

Everybody talks about the importance of customer service in a successful business. But what is that secret ingredient, the special sauce that really makes the difference between success and failure?

Alex von Bidder, of the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City, knows exactly the right magic:

"It is crucial to us that our staff at the restaurant think of themselves as individuals with a personal mission to serve in their own unique way," he insists. "It is not great magic to put a plate of food in front of someone. But it is great magic to make the customer feel welcome and taken care of. You need to create the safety that is required for a wonderful, social event and each staff member has to contribute to that."

When we think about service, we often forget that making it great requires that we give the people who serve the customers the room to make it personal in their own special and unique ways.

Check out the video version of my interview with Alex von Bidder below: