Customer Love: Listen
This example is why newspapers and TV must reinvent themselves, or die.
Obama is Lincoln v2.0
Taking a page out of Lincoln’s Handbook on How To Be A Good President, Obama is everywhere in the community: at dinner, on The Tonight Show, at the soup kitchens, in meetings, on The Hill. He’s like the “Where’s Waldo?” of Presidents. He’s also taking the regular temperature of the people and choosing questions from You Tube videos that were voted on by the public.
Lesson: Listen to your customers
Listening to and accepting outside-in thinking is the hallmark of great leadership. Yesterday, the Washington press corps was upstaged by these 3 questions. What was most interesting was the reaction of the press. Oh how banal, a question from the public! Must we? Hearing 3 college girls who probably stayed up all night rehearsing their questions – oh the torture …
In this moment, the American People were saying: “I’m a sophomore in college, how will I pay for my college tuition?” The question, while simple, highlighted that the press hasn’t been covering what is really top of mind to the people. To be honest, we don’t care about who sat on a woopie cushion in the last senate meeting, whose suit pants are too low cut, or who is having a bad hair day. And no amount of Magic Maps (which is the ultimate PT Barnum hand waving, imo) are going to make us care.
My point:
-
Obama is a great source of inspiration on the topic of leadership
-
This example illustrates how important it is to always keep the pulse on the community you are trying to reach (size does not matter)
-
Insiders, for all their value on “how things work today” often lose their way from the true concerns of the organization or machine they operate in, and it’s important to always reach out and have direct contact
What tactics do you use to stay in touch and how effective has it been?
March 28th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
It doesn’t matter if you are the government, Fortune 100, or a startup–what you must do is listen. It’s no longer about just going to the local coffee shop and talking to people. Today we can use all sorts of social tools on the internet to find out what people across the globe think. Start listening!!
March 28th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
While the basic point about listening to customers is perfectly valid for businesses, it is utter nonsense for political leaders.
Leadership is about leading, not polling and reacting! A leader forms a vision, communicates it, and pursues it on the basis of first principles; a politician puts his finger in the wind and lunges in whatever direction it happens to be blowing at the moment.
Businesses that “lead” the way politicians do will quickly dilute their message, pollute their brand, and become - after a lot of course-changes - an irrelevant fad.
This is not leadership.
P.S. How sophomores pay for college is not the President’s problem, not should it be.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:24 am
You can love your customers. Just don’t LOVE your customers.