Leadership Insights

Perfecting Marketing value for Service Excellence - it's a matter of a new mindset

AGILITY, ADAPTABILITY AND STAYING ON TOP OF YOUR GAME - MEET PROFESSOR DR JOCHEN WIRTZ - A GLOBAL LEADING AUTHORITY ON SERVICE MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT.

Professor Dr. Jochen Wirtz is Vice Dean of MBA Programmes and Professor of Marketing at the National University of Singapore (NUS), with a long list of international engagements and recognitions. As Advisor to Selion Global, he leads their highly engaging leadership retreats in Services Marketing delivered to global teams and organisations looking to optimise their collective impact. 

Wirtz is a passionate advocate and ambassador for lifelong learning, having chartered his professional journey from his birthplace of Germany via years of study and consultancy work in London, where he obtained his PhD, to his current home base in Singapore. He describes himself as a man who wears many hats, including as an academic heavily engaged in service research and executive development via his Executive MBA teaching programme alongside his consultancy work.

His research expertise focuses on service marketing and management, with 20 books and over 300 published academic articles, book chapters, and industry reports to his name. The latest titles are Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy (9th ed, 2022) and Essentials of Services Marketing (4th ed, 2023). With translations and adaptations for more than 26 countries and regions and combined sales of some 1 million copies, they have become globally leading textbooks.

As a leading global authority in service marketing, he has had his hand in developing the next generation of entrepreneurial start-ups and founders keen to translate their learning into commercial success. He comments that this aspect is one of the most rewarding parts of his work as he witnesses the firsthand impact of the insights and knowledge they take away upon graduating.

Occasionally, one meets extraordinary minds with equally intriguing life stories. Selion Global caught up with Professor Dr. Jochen Wirtz to talk about his career and what motivates him to keep at the cutting edge of research in his field. He generously shares insights into his professional and personal life as he pursues excellence and innovation whilst balancing precious time with a growing family and close friends.

Six words that best describe your mantra for living a good life? Where do you find inspiration and the best advice for your readers?

Family, Health, Career, Focus, Growth, Fun.

Prioritize your family (spouse, children) and health (sport, sleep, time to reflect), and only then your career.

Focus on the important but often not-so-urgent things (for me - writing a book, working on research projects); avoid letting the clutter zap up your time and energy.

I love growth in all aspects of my life – new family members, doing and learning something new, citation counts, and rankings of my programmes.

Have fun wherever you can. Don’t be so serious.

What pivotal moments in your life and career influenced who you are today?

My friend and I left school at 16 with O-levels – he had a brain tumor (which was surgically removed, and he is fine until today), and I was dyslexic and neither of us did well in school. But both of us were smart.  His dad was a professor and he asked us, “Why don’t you two do your A-levels in evening school together? You can help each other.” he was good in English and German, and I did well in Maths.  I hadn’t even thought of that possibility, and we did it together, and the rest is history.  I made it all the way to a Ph.D. at London Business School and became a professor, and he is a successful thought leader in sustainability and healthy living (he is the CEO of an institute).

Taking risks is inevitable. I went into the Ph.D. programme at London Business School, which probably was the toughest thing I ever did in my life.  I gave up a high-paying consulting job in London to follow my wife to Singapore and switched to academia at a 75% pay cut.

No risk, no change, no growth!

If you were sitting next to another leading expert in your field of professional activities, what would you ask them?

As academics, we constantly email, message on social media, meet F2F with the leading experts in the various fields we do research in, and attend their conference presentations. It is an open and collaborative community that makes knowledge travel fast and its creation a fun and social activity.

So, if I ask them something it would be about what excites them right now, what their next research projects will be, and where they see their work going.

What motivated you to become what you are today; has anyone inspired you in earlier years and how do you feel about the importance of risk-taking?

I majored in finance and accounting but was truly mesmerized with marketing as a subject largely because we had a truly charismatic professor teaching it.  I loved it so much that I took marketing as a second specialization.

Then, in graduate school I was lucky enough to have one of the globally leading professors in services marketing as my Ph.D. supervisor who was equally charismatic, energetic, and so highly motivating.

Again, the rest was history, and I focused my entire career on services. For me, that means teaching, research, consulting, and my role as Vice Dean MBA Programmes all center around service strategy, services marketing, and service operations.

What personal experience did you have about good leadership?

Plenty – my best bosses were highly empowering, supportive, consultative, and otherwise got out of the way.

What initiatives would you suggest as metrics to measure and reach milestones of personal success?

Pick what’s relevant to you!  For me, it is the citation count of my research, book sales, teaching ratings, and happy clients.

What is one thing which took you by surprise that your work/business had an impact on others?

I am always amazed how far ahead academia is compared to industry in standard service management thinking. Theories and principles that should be no-brainers seem to be so slow in their diffusion in industry.  In contrast, other areas such as tech are moving incredibly fast and this relationship between is reversed. Nevertheless, academia typically cuts through the hype and distills key relationships, lessons, and what matters, but that takes time.

There are two instances I recall; both are related to strategic service recovery. I teach some basic principles on how to do service recovery cost-effectively and strategically (e.g., don’t “waive the bill” or give discounts, but offer additional value and use it for cross-selling and upselling). One of the entrepreneurs in my class built his own USD200+ million business, and he told me that single lesson resulted in cost savings that paid for his entire EMBA. And in an in-house programme for a leading cruise company, that same session changed their entire service recover policies and training with millions of dollars in savings over the years.

What advice would you give aspiring executives to find their true north?

This is almost a motherhood statement, but do follow what interests you, what is important to you, what you feel passionate about.

To be successful in any career requires hard work and working towards perfection. One can only do this if one’s heart is in it. Otherwise, it is too exhausting, and people will burn out. 

Where do you find inspiration, and what drives you? What brings you harmony in your life?

I need time to find harmony, I need time to think, and to do quality work. Often, I go jogging or hiking to find that harmony.

What inspires me are discussions with my Executive MBA students, friends in industry, and writing books. These show me where the knowledge gaps are, what’s hot, what hasn’t been resolved, and these are the topics I focus my research on.

For example, we started to work on service robots and AI in 2016, on peer-to-peer sharing platforms in 2017, on Intelligent Automation (IA) in 2019, and on Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) in 2020. These are the topics we all still struggle with, and I am working on integrating these into a larger research stream on cost-effective service excellence.

What has shifted in your life in terms of importance?

We’re now a certified “empty nest” with our three kids gallivanting around Europe, and we’ve levelled up to the “grandparents” status. My mum already told my sister and me that the two of us were louder and more childish than our six kids combined in our table tennis, soccer and volleyball games. Today, our kids roll their eyes when my sister and I refer to us as the “elder council” and ask how the most childish in the family can be trusted.

Becoming empty nesters brought massive and predictable changes – we have more time to work (which is great as I am passionate about what I do), we prioritize fitness and health to stay young for our children and grandchildren, and we enjoy more couple and family getaways. This circle of life continues to bring a whole lot of adventure and fun!

What is the best compliment you have ever received?

It is not a single compliment, but something I hear frequently after teaching Executive MBAs or executive education courses. I love to hear when participants say something to the effect “Wow, I learned so much I can implement right away in my business”, “I didn’t know Service Management can offer so much, this course is one of the best I have taken”. I love what I do, and I am absolutely delighted when a participant shares my passion for all this knowledge we have available to us.

Can you reveal your most beloved holiday spot?

Hintertux in the Zillertal, Austria.  There is this magic when carving through the glacier in beautiful powder snow, bright sunshine, and blue skies. This skiing resort is within driving distance of Munich where much of my family is based and they can easily join. We have shared many special family skiing adventures, togetherness, and fun.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I love where we live (i.e., Singapore) but probably will spend more time in Munich where many of my family members live. To me, loved ones are most important and so is being close to them. I enjoy exploring the world and travelling to beautiful places, but home is where the heart (and family) is.