Notice that Commerce is indeed a collection of 5's (best) and I's (worst). The bank was so successful because it had the wisdom to know the difference, to know where it should be winning and losing. Being worst in class on the things that were least important to its customers allowed it to be best in class at the things that were most important to them. That's the trick. You have to be bad in the service of great — and you have to be very smart about which is which.

At Commerce Bank, if you recall, within the first ninety seconds, new hires learn that they (1) are part of a crazy tribe of congenitally happy people, (2) have a responsibility to go find others like them, and (3) must answer the phone with an attitude of "Wow!" In these three simple gestures, clocking in at less than two minutes, employees internalize what matters to the company. The firms that hand out binders in the first ninety seconds of orientation — what have they communicated as being important? The bureaucracy? Companies that really get it start the imprinting process in the recruiting phase. At this point, of course, it's part communication and part alignment. You want to identify people who are likely to be good cultural fits, but you also want to start making it clear what you're all about.

Notice that Commerce is indeed a collection of 5's (best) and I's (worst). The bank was so successful because it had the wisdom to know the difference, to know where it should be winning and losing. Being worst in class on the things that were least important to its customers allowed it to be best in class at the things that were most important to them. That's the trick. You have to be bad in the service of great — and you have to be very smart about which is which.

How did Commerce handle selection? The bank literally needed fifteen seconds in an interview to know if someone would be a good fit. Within fifteen seconds, the Commerce interviewer could tell if prospective employees smiled in a resting state. Commerce Bank understood that most of us smile when provoked, but we spend most of our day with a more neutral or even negative expression on our face. A subset of human beings, however smiles as a default position. Since an eight-hour day at Commerce required eight hours of smiling, the company looked for people with this "smiley gene." Of course, first the bank had to get these happy people into the job interview. Commerce Bank decided to leverage its best asset for this task: a payroll already filled with happy people. Like any tribe, smilers are great at recognizing themselves in other people. And so Commerce distributed handfuls of laminated cards to new employees with a printed message inviting people to join the Commerce family. Itthen instructed new hires to hand out a card to anyone who gave them a great service experience. Literally anyone. Commerce told them — whether it was a great toll booth operator or librarian or convenience store cashier. With one exception — no one in the financial services industry, including another re- tail bank. The effort it took to deprogram these employees was too high, and they were likely to be too expensive, given the aptitude requirements of most banks and brokerages.

At Commerce Bank, if you recall, within the first ninety seconds, new hires learn that they (1) are part of a crazy tribe of congenitally happy people, (2) have a responsibility to go find others like them, and (3) must answer the phone with an attitude of "Wow!" In these three simple gestures, clocking in at less than two minutes, employees internalize what matters to the company. The firms that hand out binders in the first ninety seconds of orientation — what have they communicated as being important? The bureaucracy? Companies that really get it start the imprinting process in the recruiting phase. At this point, of course, it's part communication and part alignment. You want to identify people who are likely to be good cultural fits, but you also want to start making it clear what you're all about.