“There are lessons in baseball that apply just as easily to success in business: You have to give your best effort every day, overcome the hurdles in front of you, and lift up others around you. While establishing a standard of excellence is the first challenge, the keys to sustaining success are a strong team culture and, as my friend Edward Mady calls it, a honed human edge. “As manager of the Yankees, I often said, ‘You have to keep getting better just to stay the same.’ Ed keeps getting better as a CEO because of his commitment to communication, transparency, and trust. His faith in his teams always makes them feel engaged, and that is how they push through the tough times together. “Ed Mady is an ace in the business of delivering superb service and bringing out the best in others. He has authored a must-read book on authentic leadership.” —Hall of Famer Joe Torre, four-time World Champion manager of the New York Yankees and cofounder of the Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation

“Anyone who leads teams, serves customers, or runs a business needs to take Honing the Human Edge very seriously. I know I do. As founder of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, I based our product on a culture of service excellence, and we were rewarded for this approach with two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, a first for the hospitality industry. Edward Mady worked by my side to earn this achievement for The Ritz-Carlton, and the individual hotels he led also became the best in the brand, ranked first in every metric and winning countless awards. He understands that whether you are talking about clients, purchasers, passengers, or guests—the personal wishes, desires, and expectations of ‘the customer’ are everything. Of equal importance, he has a genuine desire to provide growth and add value to his teams, and this can ultimately drive business results. “Customer centricity and keen perceptions about teams and company culture are in Edward Mady’s DNA, and in this playbook he shares real-world, proven examples of just how this works. Honing the Human Edge will help you to truly serve your own customers and employees—and to enjoy their loyalty even in times of crisis. Do not miss this inspiring and highly useful read.” —Horst Schulze, cofounder, president, and CEO, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company; founder, Capella Hotel Group

“It’s easier to get results in the good times with access to resources, a stable environment, and a lot of economic tailwinds. Observing leaders like Edward Mady successfully lead and strengthen organizations in times of crisis is like finding a unicorn in the sea of management mediocrity. On the surface, people might attribute his success to decades of professional management experience and leadership talent. Although experience and talent are important, having a leadership methodology is vital. Ed has developed his leadership methods from coaching winning teams from bottom to benchmark performance. His method proves practical and proven in resetting your leadership compass to win the hearts of employees, the loyalty of consumers, and the confidence of investors.” —John Timmerman, PhD, GM and chief operating officer, Brays Island Plantation; former chair of American Society for Quality; chair of Judges for the Baldrige National Quality Award; cochair for U.S. Quality Council; chief scientist, Consumer Experience & Innovation, Gallup; former VP Operations, Mercy Hospital St. Louis; quality advisor, Cleveland Clinic; VP Operations, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company; VP Guest Experience, Marriott International

“Edward Mady is without any doubt the most professional hotelier I’ve ever come across in my thirty-year career. His experience working with people, building outstanding service concepts, running and operating in headwinds, and building powerful cultures is equal to none. Mady has an exceptional talent at placing things in perspective and combining theory with reality in a captivating and highly thought-provoking way. In fact, I’d claim that in many ways he has defined the hotel industry. Mady’s Honing the Human Edge is a masterpiece—a power tool without comparison. It’s rare I say things like this, but Honing the Human Edge is a tool every business leader should live by.” —Martin Lindstrom, New York Times best-selling author

“If I could assign one book to every person in leadership, it would be Honing the Human Edge. This transformative, easily accessible manual provides a powerful and practical system for navigating the opportunities and challenges of leadership. Crafted by Edward Mady, a vice president and general manager for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and regional director for The Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air, Honing the Human Edge provides tools for success across essential domains of leadership like culture, strategy, teamwork, and customer centricity. Thank you, Ed, for writing the must-read playbook of the decade for business coaches in every field. Buy Honing the Human Edge, share it, and unleash its power.” —Joseph Michelli, PhD, CCXP, CSP, certified professional speaker; New York Times #1 best-selling author; assistant professor, Service Excellence, Campbellsville University; certified customer experience (CX) consultant; CX Hall of Fame inductee; 2023 CXPA Impact on the CX Profession Award recipient; TEDx presenter; board member

“For more than thirty years, Talent Plus has studied high-performing leaders and helped to create Talent-Based Organizations. Edward Mady is an exceptionally gifted leader with the ability to build winning teams on a foundation of trust, collaboration, and bias for action. There’s both a science to what he does (his management method) and an art (his leadership philosophy) that are key ingredients for delivering sustainable results.” —Kimberly Rath, chairman and cofounder, Talent Plus

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