43. Think Friendly Customer Thoughts

There is only one boss: the customer.

—Sam Walton

Our customers are the origin, the originating source, of all the money we have and all the things we own. It’s not the company that pays us, it’s the customer. The company just passes the customer’s money along to us. When we take a vacation, it’s important to realize that the customer has paid for it. When we send a child to college, it’s with our customer’s money!

Sam Walton built his Wal-Mart empire knowing that there was always only one boss: the customer. “And the customer can fire everybody in the company,” said Walton, “from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

Why not begin motivating our people accordingly? Why not show ...

Get 100 Ways to Motivate Others now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.