3 ideas
Avis was losing money as the distant number two in car rental. It turned that position into an asset by openly admitting it and promising employees and customers extra effort. The public admission made harder work a pledge that could be checked, so it put pressure on the company's own staff as much as it attracted customers.
Reserved parking spaces, executive dining rooms, and similar privileges tell everyone below that rank matters more than contribution. That message weakens commitment across the organization. Removing the perks costs almost nothing and tells people the boss is one of them.
Personnel departments, consultants, and other staff functions justify themselves by creating procedures, forms, and approvals that line managers then have to feed. Seen this way, each staff unit is a likely source of bureaucracy rather than support. The book's remedy is to abolish the function, or shrink it to one person, and hand its real duties back to the managers who do the work.