Becoming customer-centric requires courageous leadership

If you fully recognise that customer experience is not a nice to have but rather a must have, and if you understand that the time has to be now because your competitors are already working on their strategy, then there is really only one answer left. That answer is the root cause of the entire issue: lack of courage.

During his many engagements with clients, Lior Arussy of the Strativity Group identified one distinguishing factor among successful leaders. They were courageous.

Says Arussy: "Those leaders who successfully transformed their organizations to become customer centric were courageous in many ways:

• They had the courage to admit that their current value proposition was not good enough to differentiate them from their competition.
• They were courageous enough to recognise that the days of product centricity were over and that they needed to start collaborating with their customers.
• They were courageous enough and humble enough to listen to their customers.
• They had the courage to break down silos and fight against private internal agendas.
• They had the courage to align measurements with customer action outcomes.
• They had the courage to stand up to the naysayers and say "This is the new direction! You can join us or you can leave us."
• They had the courage to face change and overcome their fear of the unknown.
• They had the courage not to hide behind complacency.
• They had the courage to allocate sufficient funding to make customer centricity a real success.
• And most of all they had the courage to lead the charge! They were there front and center and lead by example. "
  

Arussy furthermore states: "The question of how to design and deliver exceptional customer experiences is not a marginal one. It goes to the core of your value proposition and ability to differentiate. Your customer experience is the reason you exist! Becoming customer-centric is not something you delegate – it is the strategy you lead!

As you plan for 2010, the first and only item on your agenda should be 'what are we doing for customers in the coming year.' Customers must be at the core of everything that happens in your organisation. From innovation to leadership up to and including employee engagement, it is time to take this question seriously. The time is now to be courageous and lead the charge."

Hear hear! I would like to add my two pennies worth: No organization rises above the level of commitment of its leadership...