Ron Kaufman is an American author, speaker, and educator best known for his work in customer service and organizational culture. He is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet.
Early Life and Education
Kaufman attended Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut. He enrolled at Brown University, where he founded and captained the university's Ultimate Frisbee team in 1974. His studies included international political history, and he spent time studying abroad with the Institute of European Studies and Vanderbilt in France.
Career
Early Career and Frisbee
After graduating, Kaufman founded Discovering the World, a company through which he organized tournaments, festivals, and community events worldwide, including the "International Frisbee Friendship Tour" in Europe, China, and the Soviet Union. He served as Master of Ceremonies at events such as the Smithsonian Frisbee Festival in Washington, D.C., and the World Frisbee Championships at the Rose Bowl in California. He sold Discovering the World in 1985. In October 2014, he was inducted into the Ultimate Hall of Fame for his role in spreading the sport globally.
Service Consulting and Speaking
In 1990, Kaufman moved to Singapore to work with Singapore Airlines and the government's National Productivity Board. He was involved in establishing the Service Quality Centre and served on the Workforce Development Agency's Go the Extra Mile for Service (GEMS) Committee. His company, Ron Kaufman Pte Ltd, was established in 1993 to manage his speaking and publishing engagements.
In 1994, Kaufman created the Uplifting Service model (initially called "UP! Your Service"), a methodology aimed at transforming service culture in organizations. He has worked with clients including Microsoft, Coca-Cola, HP, Singapore Airlines, Xerox, Nokia Siemens Networks, Marina Bay Sands, Wipro, Google, Pfizer, Sony, HSBC, Harvard Business School, and Toyota.
Kaufman has been a columnist at Bloomberg BusinessWeek and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and Business Insider.
Publications
Kaufman is the author of 15 books on service, business, and inspiration, including:
- Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet (2012) — a New York Times and USA Today bestseller
- UP! Your Service Action Steps: Strategies and Action Steps to Delight Your Customers Now! (2000)
- UP! Your Service New Insights: True Stories of Winners and Losers in the Quest for Superior Service (2002)
- UP! Your Service Great Ideas: Tools, Tips and Proven Techniques to Lift Your Service Higher (2005)
- Multiple titles in the Lift Me UP! series of quote and inspiration books
Awards and Recognition
- Ultimate Hall of Fame (2014)
- Asia Professional Speakers Lifetime Achievement Award (2016)
- GlobalGurus #1 Customer Service Guru (2018–2025)
- GlobalGurus ranked Uplifting Service the #1 Customer Service Development Program in the world (2020)
Personal Life
Kaufman resides in Singapore with his wife Jen. He is an avid scuba diver and a professional member of the Author's Guild, Global Speakers Federation, and International Association of Learning Providers.
