United Breaks Guitars

Songwriter Dave Carroll wasn't the first person abused by an airline's customer service. But he was the first to show how one person, armed with creativity, some friends, $150 and the Internet, could turn an entire industry upside down.

United Airlines had broken Dave's guitar after his luggage had been checked on one fateful day. After eight months of pestering the airline for compensation, Dave turned to his best tool - songwriting - and vowed to create a YouTube video about the incident that he hoped would garner a million views in one year. Four days after launching, the first million people had watched 'United Breaks Guitars'. United stock went down 10 percent, shedding $180 million in value; and Dave appeared on television to tell his story. United relented. And throughout the business world, people began to realise that 'efficient' but inhuman customer-service policies had an unseen cost - brand destruction by frustrated, creative and socially connected customers.

United Breaks Guitars has become a textbook example of the new relationship between companies and their customers, and has demonstrated the power of one voice in the age of social media. It has become a benchmark in the customer-service and music industries, as well as branding and social media circles. Today, more than 150 million people are familiar with this story.

In this fascinating book, Dave will tell you how he developed the 'just do it' philosophy that made him the ideal man to take on a big company, what it felt like to be in the center of the media frenzy, and how he's taken his talents and become a sought-after songwriter and public speaker. And businesspeople will also learn how companies should change their policies and address social-media uprisings.

Since Dave's story came to light, nothing has been the same - for consumers, musicians or business. Whether you are a guitarist, a baggage handler or a boardroom executive, this book will entertain you and remind you that we are all connected... that each of us matters, and that we all have a voice worth hearing.