Strategic

CHAPTER 15Customers

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

—Maya Angelou, author, poet, and civil rights activist

The Sherpa are a Tibetan ethnic group populating areas of the Himalayas, Nepal, and Tingri County best known for their navigational abilities and skillful mountaineering, often in service of others. Their excellence helping others climb the Himalayas and Mount Everest has fostered the use of the term “sherpa” as a generic descriptor for a skilled guide on any type of journey. While a guide doesn't typically select the destination, they have the ability to show people how to reach it. In business, customers determine their destination and we, in a sense, act as sherpas to help them reach it. Do you and your team have a clear and consistent understanding of your customers' destination? How effectively are you guiding them toward it?

When we hear the word “customers,” it's natural to first think of the external customers who purchase our offerings. After all, without the influx of revenue, a business becomes a hobby. However, insightful leaders realize the power of treating employees like customers by providing them with a high level of development and support so as to maximize the value they can bring to external customers. Herb Kelleher, co‐founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines, explains, “I was criticized at business schools. They would try to pose a conundrum, ...