Just about every company these days says they’re committed to serving their customers. But how many really mean it? Here’s a slice of life I recently came across that suggests Toyota deserves to be on the short list.p>

Howard Vann, an assistant service manager (ASM) at Daytona Toyota in Daytona Beach, Florida was chosen to represent his colleagues at Toyota Motor Corporation’s "Assembly of Champions" awards ceremony held recently in Japan. Service and parts professionals from some 52 different countries gathered at TMC’s headquarters in Nagoya, Japan, where they were given VIP tours of Toyota’s manufacturing facilities as well as some of Japan’s historic shrines and temples.

However, the highlight, says Howard, was the closing ceremony, where none other than President Katsuaki Watanabe personally handed out the awards. But it didn’t stop there. At the dinner that followed, Howard says Watanabe was on hand to mingle with these front-line workers, conversing and posing for photos. Can you imagine the top executive at another company of Toyota’s global scope doing the same?

Howard was blown away by the gesture. It’s safe to say he and his compatriots returned home with a renewed sense of purpose. If the president of the company cares about them, odds are they are likely to care about their customers. It’s a karmic flow that, at Toyota, starts all the way at the top.