Get Me a Person

Efficiency is a commodity. Being known is not. Get Me a Person is a playbook for doing it on purpose, every time.

I helped take Starbucks around the world, and the hard part was never the coffee or the real estate. It was keeping people at the center when financial performance lagged. Michelli has written the clearest guide I've seen on how to do that, and it matters more now than ever.

AI is not a strategy. Experience is. Customers will happily use your technology (as long as it works), but you'll be judged on human moments. Get Me a Person is both the proof and the playbook you must read to succeed.

At a moment when everyone seems obsessed with the possibilities of AI and automation, Joseph reminds us that no machine can create the sort of connection that earns a human's goodwill and loyalty. That human connection is demonstrably valuable because customers who feel a deep connection come back, buy more, and want to share the good experience with their friends.

Companies earn love by deciding, deliberately, what they will and will not do to people, then keeping that promise when it costs something. Michelli walks through how that decision gets made and then held. Generous, humane, and full of real operating detail.

Get Me a Person is far better than a what-to-do book; this is a how-to-do-it book. Michelli doesn't just identify the problem, he provides the tools every employee needs. I recommend it.

Stop talking about culture and start building it.

Joseph Michelli has distilled into a practical blueprint the cultural principles world-class organizations like Disney spent decades refining. This book doesn't just explain what great culture looks like. It gives you the roadmap for building it. You should use it.

We were nearly bankrupt. What turned it around was one simple intention: treat everyone as if they're famous. Joseph stood in our walk-in cooler while we made it real, and he wrote the book with me about our journey. Get Me a Person carries those lessons into the AI age. If you want people to come back and bring someone with them, buy it.

Joseph Michelli sets a high standard, then does the harder thing and shows you how to reach it. Get Me a Person gives leaders the system that makes human connection dependable, rather than asking good people to carry it alone.

We founded Macquarie in 1992 to serve customers that larger providers underserved and overcharged, and we've competed on how people feel about dealing with us ever since. Three decades later, that unwavering customer focus is something our larger rivals never copied, and it has fueled our growth from telecom into cloud, cybersecurity, and data centers. Joseph Michelli has traveled that journey with us, and Get Me a Person shows you how to build the same human-centered, technology-aided advantage on purpose.

The AI era won't reward companies for choosing between technology and humanity. It will reward those that know how to use one to amplify the other. In Get Me a Person, Michelli gives leaders a practical architecture for scaling human connection instead of accidentally designing it away.

As AI absorbs the transactional layer of business, competitive advantage moves elsewhere. Get Me a Person makes a powerful case that it moves toward the moments in which customers feel genuinely seen.

In a world increasingly driven by technology, efficiency, and automation, Joseph Michelli reminds us of a timeless truth: people still want to be seen, heard, and valued. Get Me a Person is a compelling and highly relevant guide for leaders who understand that technology should strengthen — not replace — the human connection. Joseph masterfully combines insight, experience, and practical strategies to show organizations how to create meaningful customer experiences while navigating the demands of a rapidly changing world. This is an essential book for any leader committed to building trust, loyalty, and lasting relationships.