The Ice Cream Maker - Subir Chowdhury

Do you feel that your products/services are good, but that sales are not so good? Or that your employees are not doing the best for the company? Subir Chowdhury can help you with the book "The Ice Cream Maker".

According to the author, one of the most respected quality strategists in the world, these and other issues can be solved by implementing a culture of excellence in your company.

Want to know how? Keep reading this summary and discover the secrets of quality!

About the book "The Ice Cream Maker"

The work "The Ice Cream Maker", written by Subir Chowdhury, was published in 2005 and has 115 pages. It is a short and easy-to-read book, but rich in teachings that aim to transform your company into excellence.

The book tells the story of Pete, who runs an ice cream factory, called Dairy Cream, which was in imminent danger of being closed. To get around this, he gets help from Mike, a senior executive of a retail network, who gives him valuable insights.

Through a fictitious narrative, the author seeks to teach the values of quality and how it can be applied and maintained in companies.

About the author Subir Chowdhury

Subir Chowdhury is a quality strategist, president, and chief executive officer of ASI Consulting Group, LLC - a world leader in Six Sigma and Quality Leadership implementation, consulting, and training company.

He has received numerous awards for his leadership in quality management and contributions to various industries around the world.

Besides "The Ice Cream Maker", he wrote several books, one of great success: "Power of Six Sigma", which sold over 1 million copies.

To whom is this book indicated?

The book "The Ice Cream Maker" is indicated for all those who want to achieve a culture of excellence in the company, that is, to implement true quality.

Also, it is suitable for anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge in the business world, since it has a rich content that is easy to understand.

Main ideas of the book "The Ice Cream Maker"

• "If you have a job, you are needed. Otherwise, your position would not exist";
• The basis of quality is strong leadership;
• Besides focusing on results, you should also focus on what you do;
• Quality is supported by teamwork and how the business is managed;
• Quality is defined by the customer;
• Create an environment that rewards creativity;
• You must strive to achieve the level of excellence;
• Everyone is responsible for quality;
• The satisfaction survey is an important tool to know the quality of your product.

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Overview: Implementing quality

Quality must be part of the company's culture. This means creating a culture of excellence. The first step in achieving excellence in the company is to look after the people who work there.

As the author Subir Chowdhury says in the book "The Ice Cream Maker", profit is the result, the byproduct of good service.

That is, if people work with the same dedication that they demonstrate when they are having fun, profit will come as a consequence, since a motivated team will always strive to deliver the best result.

Overview: Why motivate the team?

According to the book "The Ice Cream Maker", there are two types of clients: external and internal. Internal customers are the company's employees; if the teams aren't engaged, they won't offer good service to the outside customers (external clients).

To have that engagement, people need to feel that their work is being useful, that they are important to the company. For this, the company must always value the opinions and suggestions of employees, delegate responsibilities, and always encourage them to make their contributions.

The author Subir Chowdhury emphasizes the importance of giving them the right tools and training, fair pay, and motivation, plus the opportunity to be heard. By doing so, they will be more committed to the job and dedicated to the company.

Having a good work environment, with employees who do the best for the company, who have a sense of responsibility, will make themselves demand better results from other employees. Also, the better the company treats employees, the better they will treat their customers.

Overview: CEO - Consider

Subir Chowdhury defines CEO as the next step towards achieving quality. CEO means: Consider, Enrich, and Optimize. And that implies that one must listen and consider customer opinions, enrich the products or services offered and optimize the customer experience.

The author also points out in the book "The Ice Cream Maker" that one of the biggest mistakes companies make is to think that they have no obligation to take care of customers.

This way, the company must offer what customers want, in fact, not what they think they want. In order to satisfy customers, you must meet 3 needs:

• Basic: offering the minimum so that the customer leaves without complaining;
• Performance: which is to meet the customer's requirement;
• Enchantment: offering something that catches the customer's attention, making the product stand out from the competition.

Overview: CEO - Enrich

As explained by the author Subir Chowdhury in his book "The Ice Cream Maker", in addition to listening and considering customer opinions, you should enrich the experiences they have had with your product/service. For this, it is necessary to develop a culture of creation in the company.

Once again, the need to give voice to employees is emphasized, so that they can propose ideas and, perhaps, some that can improve resources, generate more efficiency, and more satisfied customers, which would increase profits.

But, how can creativity be stimulated? By creating an environment where creativity is rewarded.

Overview: CEO - Optimize

The last stage is to optimize what is being done in the company. To do this, one must strive to achieve excellence. You can do this by following the 5 steps indicated in the book "The Ice Cream Maker":

• Recognize the price of failure: this makes you more willing to do everything to avoid it;
• Get it right the first time: that is, plan ahead to prevent inconvenient situations;
• Be absolutely obsessed with details: since customers pay attention to the smallest details;
• Develop the perception of "productive paranoia": which implies thinking at all times about what can be improved in the company;
• Instill in everyone a passion for perfection, always.

The author Subir Chowdhury concludes that the true quality indicator is not how you do when you are on the best day, but on the worst. That is, products/services that are not "on their best day" have to be even better than those of the competition.

What do other authors say about it?

In the book "Scaling Up", the author Verne Harnish gives some tips for the search for continuous improvement, for example:

• Employee feedback must be constantly collected, in order to identify obstacles and opportunities for improvement;
• The pace of communication must be well established, making the flow of information within the organization fast and accurate.

In "Good to Great", the author Jim Collins explains how applying the culture of discipline in a company can leverage the results and the importance of disseminating this practice to all employees, which are essential for the success of an organization.

Finally, in the book "Winning", Jack Welch addresses that we should always seek quality in our professional life. If you are not satisfied with your job, find a job that provides enthusiasm in your career, as it is very important that you don't settle and leave the comfort zone.

Okay, but how can I apply this to my life?

Subir Chowdhury shares many lessons in the book "The Ice Cream Maker" that can be applied in order to improve business performance. You can do this by sharing such knowledge in your work environment, or in your own company:

• Set the correct indicators;
• Always take the customer's view of your product;
• Encourage creativity among your employees;
• Focus on the processes.

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