Comments on: CEO or the Customer: Who is Your Master?

By: sellgosell

sellgosell — Sat, 09 May 2009 09:24:14 +0000

Hello Jim,

Thank you for the comments following your line of thinking. If an employee
is to serve the shareholders, what is in the shareholders best interest? Is
it better for an employee to serve the CEO or the end customer, because in
most instances the two are rarely on the same path, and in some cases are at
opposite ends of the same path.

Val King
Business Development Alchemist & Sales Engine Builder
Visit My Blog @ http://saleslaundry.com

"The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the
person who is doing it."

By: sellgosell

sellgosell — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:24:14 +0000

By: Jim Sillery

Jim Sillery — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:33:47 +0000

I think the answer is that you serve the shareholders. The way that you create value for them is by serving the CEO and the Customers.

By: John

John — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:47:49 +0000

Although I am customer focused, It's important to remember that the customer isn't always right. As important as individual customers are, you're employees are more important and much harder to replace.
In response to your comments, I think the problem is that some people do what's best for themselves, and not the company. Because they are in positions of power they use their control to have a subordinate do what they want. I've lost a job for not being obedient, or for at least being honest but I would probably do the same thing again.

By: Val

Val — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:22:50 +0000

Thanks for jumping in with your thoughts, John.

So your line of thinking is that companies that are not “customer centric” could possibly be focused on short term goals or personal agendas rather than having a long term focus, or possibly be suffering from a fear or lack of trust issue?

Those are some thought provoking comments if I read that right.

I think fear certainly factors into it, but I don’t know if it is fear of the customer or fear of the consequences of not serving the guy you report to directly. If you get direction from your boss to do something that is not in the best interest of the customer, who is the average person going to listen to? Hopefully they would do what is right, regardless of who that is, but I am afraid in reality though, right or wrong, that they would follow their boss’s direction because their boss can punish them. The customer does not have a powerful representative voice in the company to protect their interests, with the possible exception of some front line account managers.

By: John

John — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:48:55 +0000

I love the upside down chart. As the account person, or one close to the customer, it makes perfect sense to me, and it’s how I “roll”. Unfortunately I’ve run into people in upper management who have the political skills and desire to end up in high positions, but their motivation is self preservation at the expense of the organization. It becomes more about reports that make things look good than true long term financial health. I’m sure it turns on power. Maybe it’s a lack of trust of the consumer, or a fear of turning over control. Doesn’t the same thing happen with political officials. The ones we admire serve us, but how many do we admire?

By: Val

Val — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:28:13 +0000

Thank you for taking the time to add your comments and join the conversation, Christian.

Do you really think greed is the driver preventing organizations from being customer centric? It would seem that focusing on the customer would actually increase sales and revenue if the products and services were designed with customers’ needs in mind, instead of quarterly profit reports and continuous growth for Wall Street. There are, however, millions of businesses that are not governed by the pressures of being a public company that do not seem to be truly customer centric.

I am not sure where this really comes from but I hope with more readers like yourself we will get more good input and maybe a little clarity.

Val.

By: Christian Maurer

Christian Maurer — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:38:33 +0000

If we believe what Peter Drucker, the great management thinker, once said that it is more important for an enterprise to have customers than factories your inverted pyramid is probably the appropriate model.

But as long as we have greedy CEO’s and Boards, we will not get customer centric enterprises. This takes an attitude change at the top. The approach to the customer of the entire enterprise up to the board must be guided by an attitude of service and contribution.