CX Book Gems #35: "The Nordstrom Way to Customer Experience Excellence" by Robert Spector
Book summary of "The Nordstrom Way to Customer Experience Excellence: Creating a Values-Driven Service Culture" by Robert Spector.
Today’s newsletter feature is The Nordstrom Way to Customer Experience Excellence Way to Customer Experience Excellence: Creating a Values-Driven Service Culture by Robert Spector.
📘 Book Summary
This book is a behind-the-scenes look at how Nordstrom became America’s gold standard for customer service. Through empowering frontline employees, flattening hierarchy, and building a culture rooted in trust and entrepreneurial spirit, Nordstrom shows how values, not rules, can drive exceptional experiences. The Nordstrom Way is a practical, values-driven playbook for any organization seeking CX excellence.
Nordstrom gives its employees the freedom to make decisions. And Nordstrom is willing to live with those decisions.
💎 3 CX Gems
Empower from day one
Nordstrom gives employees the authority to make independent decisions, with only one rule: “Use your best judgment.” Empowerment extends to returns, pricing, and problem resolution on the floor, building trust and ownership.
Inverted pyramid culture
Customers are at the top of Nordstrom’s hierarchy, followed by sales and support staff. Leadership exists to serve the frontlines, not the other way around. Everyone, including executives, starts on the sales floor.
Celebrate heroic service
Nordstrom promotes a culture of recognition where “heroic” customer service stories are shared weekly. Top performers are honored as Pacesetters, reinforcing the importance of service excellence and peer inspiration.
✅ 3 Quickstart Tips
Start everyone on the frontline
Whether it’s onboarding new hires or rotating managers, let every employee understand the customer experience firsthand. This grounds decision-making in empathy and practical context.
Replace rules with values
Instead of a long handbook, craft a single guiding principle that empowers judgment. Train and trust your people, and support their decisions publicly, even when mistakes happen.
Create a culture of stories
Collect and share real customer stories internally that celebrate above-and-beyond moments. Recognize publicly and often because culture grows through what’s repeated and rewarded.
The Nordstrom Way proves that extraordinary customer experiences don’t come from rigid rules, but from a shared service mindset. By hiring the right people, empowering them deeply, and reinforcing a culture of accountability and excellence, any organization can turn service into its biggest competitive advantage.