Robert Spector

Robert Spector, a Seattle-based business writer and speaker, is an observer of corporate cultures. He is the author of corporate histories of an eclectic array of companies, including Chevron, Eddie Bauer and Kimberly-Clark.

Robert has written on business for the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, UPI International, NASDAQ Magazine, Customer Service Management and Corporate University Review; fashion for Women’s Wear Daily and Details, and civil liberties for Parade; and has been a ghostwriter for Dr. Joyce Brothers. His humor writing has been published in The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and National Lampoon, and performed by Don Imus and Stiller & Meara. He is best known for writing the national bestseller, THE NORDSTROM WAY : The Inside Story of America ‘s #1 Customer Service Company the first and only up-close and personal look at how this company became the national standard of customer service. Robert is the only journalist ever given total access to the inner workings of the Nordstrom culture.

The Nordstrom Way spent 17 weeks on the Business Week Bestseller List, and was nominated for the Booz Allen Hamilton/Financial Times Global Business Award. It has been translated into Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Tom Peters called The Nordstrom Way, “A real winner,” and Business Week said it “bubbles with customer service insights.” Robert is an international speaker on Nordstrom’s culture of customer service. His audiences have ranged from Cadillac to the Red Cross. His talks break down the elements of the Nordstrom philosophy and explain how they can be adapted for virtually every kind of organization. His new book LESSONS FROM THE NORDSTROM WAY: How Companies are Emulating the #1 Customer Service Company (Wiley), shows how companies of any size–and in any industry–are giving world class customer service. Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, called LESSONS FROM THE NORDSTROM WAY “ a blueprint for providing superior customer service. There are lessons here for people in every industry.”

Robert is the author of AMAZON.COM: GET BIG FAST: Inside The Revolutionary Business Model That Changed The World (HarperCollins). Professor Philip Kotler of Northwestern University called the book “a business history classic”, and Patricia Seybold, author of CUSTOMERS.COM said, “This is a must read for any serious player in the Internet Economy. Jeff Bezos’s fanatical focus on the total customer experience is the key takeaway.”

Robert also wrote the foreword to CUSTOMER SERVICE, the second in HarperBusiness’s “Business Masters” series. Edited by Fred Wiersema, co-author of THE DISCIPLINE OF MARKET LEADERS, the book spotlights Southwest Airlines, Charles Schwab, Lands’ End, American Express, Staples and United Services Automobile Association. He has been a television guest on the National Business Report, CNN, CNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg Business, CNET News.com and numerous radio interview shows across the United States

A native of Perth Amboy, N.J., and a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., Robert lives in Seattle with his wife, Marybeth, and their daughter, Fae.