Talk Time – Rohini Nilekani in conversation with tanmoy goswami – The Smart Manager

SMART SUMMARY: In 2008, United Airlines allegedly broke a $3500 custom made guitar belonging to Canadian musician Dave Carroll. Following many rounds of fruitless dialog, during which the company’s managers relentlessly cited ‘policy’ and refused to compensate the musician, Carroll made a music video called United Breaks Guitars that had amassed 10 million views on YouTube by February 2011. The impact: According to The Times, within four days of the video being posted, investors in the airline had lost $180m due to a fall in its stock price. The moral of the story: Managers need to talk meaningfully with their customers while they can…or face the music.

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