Page 29 - The Apple Experience

FedEx as their exclusive priority delivery company and continued to do so for
years. According to Basch, “The biggest lesson was that if you were clear

about what you wanted as leaders and then let people give it to you without

tying their hands behind their backs, you got it.”
3
In hindsight, Basch believes it would have been worse if FedEx had

delivered 300 packages on its first day. Why? Early success breeds

complacency. FedEx might have become sloppy about service and the

customer experience. Instead, everyone began to obsess about creating an
extraordinary service culture. According to Basch, “One of the most valuable

lessons was the power of people when they have a common vision and

commitment.”
4
Basch says that a well-designed culture has six primary attributes, the first

of which is vision, a clear picture of the desired customer experience (the

other five are also relevant to the Apple experience and will be explored in

the next chapters). “The vision provides the light and the gravitational force.
The vision is the compass of the enterprise—its purpose for being. More

practically and specifically, it is the experience that the organization is

attempting to create for its customers, employees, and owners… the

experience is then condensed into a headline that provides direction.”
5

The Apple Vision: Enriching Lives

Let’s get back to the vision behind the Apple Store. Recall from my

introduction, the vision behind Apple Retail can be found on the credo card:

Enriching Lives. The former head of Apple Retail, Ron Johnson, said that

when Apple opened its first retail store, not one analyst gave Apple a chance.

Apple had 3 percent market share, Gateway had shuttered its retail because

the stores were attracting only 200 or so people a week (today 22,000 people