I’d like to start this post with a story about some great leaders. As you know, I published my book Winning Customer Centricity a few years ago. And being the customer centric champion that I am, I wanted to ensure that people could buy it wherever they were and in whatever format they preferred.
This meant offering hardback, paperback and Kindle versions. It also involved recording an audiobook. Now you’re probably thinking, as I myself did going into it, “How difficult is it to read out loud?”
I went for my first day of recording with not much more preparation than getting my book printed off. What a mistake! Luckily we had technical problems and Tony Johnston, who helped me with the project, decided to redo the first part again a week or so later.
That extra time gave me the chance to do two invaluable things. Firstly, to get some coaching from two incredibly talented – and patient! – actors, Pamela Salem and Michael O’Hagan. Secondly, to better prepare myself by reading the book out loud several times, and then marking it up with pauses, emphases and other notes, to make the recording more agreeable to the listener.
However, after successfully recording the first half of the book, I again fell back into my usual ways of presentation mode on the second day, and Tony once again, generously offered to re-record it. So I went back to my dream team of coaches, and did some intensive voice training and exercises. And lucky for me – and Tony – it was third time lucky. You can judge for yourself by listening to a sample on Amazon.
By now, you’re probably thinking “Nice story Denyse, but what does all of this have to do with me and my business?”
Great question; let me answer it by simply saying “A lot!” Read on, to find my easily applied learnings that will make your leadership style more efficient and effective, no matter what industry you work in. And in addition, by adopting all seven behaviours, you will be portraying a more customer centric style and become a great leader yourself.
1. We should never stop learning
As we rise in the corporate world, we seem to forget that we don’t know it all! We sometimes even think that we should have all the answers, or worse still, believe that we do!
I’m often quoted as saying:
“A day without learning is a day without living”
It’s vital that we continuously strive to keep learning and challenging our every-day habits and behaviours. Lifelong learning should be everyone’s mantra.
This has become increasingly important because technical advances are coming almost daily, so we need to constantly rethink the way we work. We should be adapting and integrating those technologies which could improve our business processes.
2. We should accept help
Some people find it hard to ask for help or even to accept it when it is offered. This is foolish, since we cannot be an expert in every area of business. In fact if we lead a team, whether just a few people or many thousands, we should above all else, be an excellent people manager.
You can never know as much as everyone under you and that isn’t your job. So stop trying to always be right. Ask the help and advice of the clever people you hired and then make the right decision based on their input.
Great leaders understand this and surround themselves with experts in different areas where they may need support. Are you a great leader?
It’s not only perfectionists that think they’re never good enough. (Anyone else putting their hand up with me to admit this trait?)
We should always strive to be the best we can be. If this means that we have to practice our presentation ten times when all our colleagues only do it a couple of times, then so be it. We’re all different and perhaps they have a talent for speaking, or maybe they are just satisfied with a less polished performance than we are.
We should never compare ourselves to others, only to our previous selves. Thats what great leadership is all about; showing rather than telling.
When I was learning to fly, my instructor never stopped prompting me to complete the pre-flight checks and how important it was to do them thoroughly. He reminded me that once you’re in the air, it’s too late!
The same goes for meetings, events and conferences once they’ve started. Make and use checklists, like pilots do, and complete that final check thoroughly and completely.
You can rarely recover from anything that’s missing once you’ve started, or if you can, it will take far more effort than making that final check before your event takes flight.
5. Accept defeat and mistakes
We’re all human, so we all make mistakes sometimes and get defeated occasionally. However, those mistakes and defeats are great teachers.
If we learn and grow from them, then the pain involved should be short-lived, as we move on to bigger and better things.
One of my favourite quotes from Edison is
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
View errors as opportunities to learn and grow. In fact it’s the people who don’t do this, who make the real mistake, and a BIG one at that.
Also, as a leader, instead of punishing mistakes, encourage their sharing so that others won’t have to make the same ones in order to learn the lessons. A healthy business environment is one in which failure is celebrated just as much as success.
Tony, a naturally positive person, reminded me of this after our first “disastrous” session. He said:
“Don’t dwell on past deceptions Denyse. Think about what you learned; what actually developed your skills.”
6. Honesty is always the best policy
Somehow honesty is rarely discussed these days, And yet we all know that trust is one of the main reasons people do business with companies.
Therefore it seems odd that we speak a lot about trust but not honesty.
In today’s world of immediate sharing of experiences on social media, dishonest behaviour is quickly known. Therefore it continues to amaze me that companies try to cheat their customers. Read more about this topic in the post “How to cheat the customer – or not!”
It is so much easier to be honest than to recover from an act that was not. And the trust built over the longterm will enable companies to be forgiven for any occasional mishap that may occur.
Everyone is speaking about the Millenials these days; this is the generation, also known as “Gen Y” or “Generation Me”, generally accepted as having been born since 1980, after “Gen X.”
While Millenials may be trendy, there are other groups which are arguably more profitable to consider for a successful business.
For example, 2020 was an important year for the population in the US, because for the first time, there were more Millenials than Baby Boomers. In addition, the first Gen Xs turned fifty.
A great article in TIME Magazine written way back in 2014, already highlighted several key points that would impact businesses in the future. While the article speaks primarily about the importance of Gen X, Baby Boomers are also considered as important since they are usually a larger group in most developed countries and generally also richer.
Another article in Forbes about Generation Zers provides some interesting statistics on their size, wealth and spending. It discusses how mature consumers are changing the landscape of the digital world we live in.
As they mention, Generation Z is the most digitally savvy generation yet and cannot imagine a world without it. Although millennials “grew up with the Internet,” Gen Z appears to have a very positive relationship with technology.
Aging has taken on a whole new meaning with the internet. It is no longer so clear cut between generations. So it is certainly worth taking a moment to evaluate whether you are ignoring certain customer groups merely because of their age.
BONUS: #8 Prepare for the Unthinkable
I would encourage all leaders to revise their vision with these seven points in mind.
But I’d like to add a bonus idea that will truly impact the success of an organisation by preparing it for future challenges. And we all know that the world is constantly changing and usually not in the ways we expect.
To face such uncertainty, I tell my clients that they should not be content with following the latest fads and trends. Everyone is doing the same thing, so there is no real competitive advantage in doing so.
Instead, I encourage them to work with future scenario planning; and you should too. I will be sharing my 10-step process in an upcoming post so I suggest you watch out for it if you want to learn more about the topic.
These are just a few of the ways that the great leaders I have had the privilege to meet and advise, make a real difference in their organisations. I hope you have been inspired to make a few changes in your own thinking.
If you have something to add, then please do leave a comment; the more challenging the better!
Although I love quotes, especially about how to succeed, I love success even more. Do you?
One of my favourite quotes on the topic of success comes from Winston Churchill during his address to the Harrow School (UK) during WWII in 1941. It was one of his shortest speeches but probably one of his most quoted. He said:
“Never give in, never, never, never, never”
If you are interested, you can read his full speech – which is not a lot longer! – here.
Hearing this quote again recently, got me thinking about failure. Failure in our lives, our businesses, our jobs, our relationships. And you must admit that we are just at the beginning of the impact of covid on the world and I know we need to prepare for a lot of failures in the coming months and years. But I ask myself how often we fail merely because we give up too quickly?
Another of my favourite quotes on success and failure comes from Napolean Hill:
“Most great people have achieved their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.”
Now whereas I do advise people today on how to find more happiness in their lives (See my new website on intuitive coaching at Finding-Your-Happy.com), I want to address here the many current and possibly future failures in business.
Over almost a decade of blog posting, I have written many other articles which include my solutions to failing in countless areas of marketing. I, therefore, thought it would be useful to share four of the most popular ones here in a single post (Links to original full-length posts in titles). Let me know what you think.
For this first summary of a post, I’d like to share not a list of solutions but a selection of inspiring quotes on reacting to failure. I think it sets the stage beautifully for the other articles to come.
In the full post (which you can read by clicking the above link) you can also find suggested actions for each of them. They will make you realise that there are great opportunities in every failure! So don’t be afraid to fail. Just never give up!
1. “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure” Bill Gates, American Businessman
2. “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be” John Wooden, American Coach
“Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be” John Wooden, American Coach
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3. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” Benjamin Franklin, American Politician
4. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently” Henry Ford, American Businessman
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently” Henry Ford, American Businessman
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5. “The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure” John C. Maxwell, American Clergyman
6. “Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure it just means you haven’t succeeded yet” Robert H. Schuller, American Clergyman
“Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure it just means you haven’t succeeded yet” Robert H. Schuller, American Clergyman
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7. “Enjoy failure and learn from it. You can never learn from success” Sir James Dyson, British Designer
8. “Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something” Frederick W. Smith, American Businessman
“Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something” Frederick W. Smith, American Businessman
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9. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall” Nelson Mandela, South African Statesman
10. “Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure” Jack Lemmon, American Actor
“Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure” Jack Lemmon, American Actor
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They say that pride comes before a fall; I say success follows failure! I wish you much success in failing fast, learning faster, so you can enjoy more success! And remember the full post linked in the above title contains suggested actions for each of these quotes. What are you waiting for?!
This post mentions the ten reasons innovation fails and then shares ideas on finding a solution to each of them. If you are struggling to fill your pipeline (and shame on you if you are still using a linear approach – see why below), or can’t seem to get the same number of successful launches you used to have, then this article is for you.
#1 The process: Introduce some creativity into the process. Use a virtuous circle (as shown above) rather than the usual linear or funnel approach. All innovation processes should start with a deep understanding of the potential customer segment you want to attract and then the insight developed about them.
#2 Meeting company quotas: Instead of company quotas on the number or proportion of new product launches, a better target is a percentage of sales. This should eliminate all but the very best ideas, which are expected to increasesales rather than merely replace current products or expand on-shelf display.
#3 Lack of customer understanding: The best way to innovate successfully is to start by looking at the target customer’s lifestyle and seeing how you can make it easier and more enjoyable for them. Watching and listening to your customers with an open mind, rather than with a pre-prepared hypothesis in your head, will enable you to identify pain points the customer may even be unaware of.
#4 Lack of category understanding: Never assume you are competing in a certain category until you have identified how your customers are choosing and using it. You might be surprised to learn that your competitors are not those you thought they were!
#5 Not living up to your promises: In today’s connected world, false or exaggerated promises are quickly identified and shared on social media. Nothing is every hidden for long these days, so if you make a mistake, admit it, own it, correct it and move on. It will be forgotten or forgiven quicker than if it becomes a scandal.
#6 Not being sufficiently differentiated: With such an abundance of information available to everyone, comparisons are easy to make. Solution-based offers will always be able to charge more than product-based ones. It’s up to you to decide which you want to be.
#7 Being too different: Identifying a sub-category of users with a precise need and then meeting that need better than anyone else, is the more successful way to differentiate.
#8 Pricing yourself out of the market: Understanding how much potential customersvalue your offer is essential to the success of any product or service. Neither cost nor price is relevant to your customers other than in helping them to decide to purchase when they see the value you offer. If they perceive greater value then they will buy, otherwise, they won’t. Pricing really is as simple as that.
#9 Inappropriate distribution: Appropriate distribution doesn’t mean being in stock everywhere at the lowest price. But it does mean being available in the retail outlets that your target customers visit more often, whenever they are ready to buy.
#10 Being too far ahead of the customer: If you can’t afford to wait for your customers to catch up with your new product or service idea, then you should certainly reconsider your launch decision. Keep the concept in your “back drawer” until customers are ready. You will then be the first to respond to these new needs and beat the competition to market with the correct solution. Launching too early and failing, gives the competition time to catch up and probably launch at a more appropriate time.
The full article goes into more detail on each of these solutions of course. So if any of them resonate with you, it is worth checking out the full post.
You must innovate to stay in the game, but that doesn’t mean launching anything just to meet the company’s innovation targets. Launch bigger, bolder and better, as one of my bosses used to say. And never give up!
This post summarises my easily applied learnings that will make your leadership style more efficient and effective, no matter the industry in which you work.
1. We should never stop learning. As we age and rise in the corporate world, we seem to forget that we don’t know it all! We even think that we should have all the answers, or worse still, think that we do!
2. We should accept help. Some people find it hard to ask for help or even to accept it when it is offered. This is foolish since we cannot be an expert in every area of business. In fact, if we lead a team, whether just a few people or many thousands, we should be good at managing people first.
3. Practice really does make perfect. It’s not only perfectionists that think they’re never good enough. We should always strive to be the best we can be. We should never compare ourselves to others, only to our previous selves.
4. That final check is worth it. When I was learning to fly, my instructor never stopped reminding me that the pre-flight checks were vital to do thoroughly. He reminded me that once you’re in the air, it’s too late!
The same goes for meetings, events and conferences once they’ve started. Make and use checklists, like pilots do, and complete that final check thoroughly and completely.
5. Accept defeat and mistakes. We all make mistakes sometimes and get defeated occasionally. We’re human after all.
However, those mistakes and defeats are great teachers. If we learn and grow from them, then the pain involved should be short-lived, as we move on to bigger and better things.
6. Honesty is always the best policy. Somehow honesty is rarely discussed these days and yet we all know that trust is one of the main reasons people do business with companies. Trust built over the long term will enable companies to be forgiven for any occasional mishaps that may occur.
7. Business isn’t only about Millenials. Everyone is speaking about the Millenials these days. While Millenials may be trendy, there are other groups which are arguably just as important if not more so, to consider for a successful business. For example, there are now more Baby Boomers that Millenials in the US; and guess which has the money?!
Great leaders are aware of these seven points; are you? If not, then read the full article for further details. Leaders don’t know it all but they do know how to learn, and especially from failure. Never give up on your plans, just adapt them when needed, which these days is almost monthly!
Be honest! Everyone struggles to develop true insights about their customers. Most times we accept summary information or facts about the marketplace and call them insights.
But we all know that insight development is difficult. So hard to get to that “aha” moment when what we have said about our customers is so obvious we can’t understand how we – or anyone else for that matter – never realised it before.
If you are struggling to develop insights that truly resonate with your consumers or customers, I suggest you follow these 8 tips.
#1. Turn business objectives into customer-centric ones. Identify what you want to change in terms of your customers’ behaviour or attitudes. This way you will be thinking about your customers’ objectives rather than (just) your own.
#2. Insight generation should start with customer connections. When was the last time you personally spoke with your customers? If it wasn’t in the last week or two, you’re not getting out enough!
#3. Have regular contact with all other departments. It is impossible to really understand the business if your contact with other groups is limited to meetings and presentations. Make a habit of taking a coffee or lunch with people from other spheres of the company and exchange your latest ideas and learnings. You will both discover a lot about the organisation and its customers!
#4. Get MRI (Market Research & Insight) to share their nuggets of information regularly. Market research and insight teams learn new things about the business every day, so why not ask them to share more? Don’t wait for a formal presentation of the results of the latest piece of research. Get them to share findings and analyses with you on a regular, (at least) monthly basis.
#5. Get into the habit of speaking with consumers at every chance you can. Suggest to join in when research projects are being run. Listen in to call centre conversations, speak to demonstrators and merchandisers, or even talk to shoppers at retail (but always ask the permission of the store owner).
#6. Ask MRI to analyse more than market research information alone. They are the best synthesisers you have and can integrate multiple data sets from all available sources. Ask them to manage more information and you will both be happier.
#7. Remember that insight development takes energy and time. It usually takes days, if not weeks or even months to refine, group and synthesise information down to an actionable insight.
#8. Insight development should involve more than the insight team, which is why it is important for them to build relationships with other departments.
Following these 8 ideas will make your business one of the most successful in insight development. How would that feel? Read the full article HERE. Insight development may be difficult, but it’s not impossible. Never give up.
And if you want to improve even faster in any areas of learning from failure, you can invite us to give a 1-Day training that will catalyse your team in record time. Download the summary brochure of all our current training courses HERE.
These are some ideas and processes for avoiding failure or even more importantly, learning (a lot) from them. Whether it is in business management, innovation or customer understanding, you can learn from the best, so you don’t have to make the same mistakes. I hope you appreciate it!
This post summarises my easily applied learnings that will make your leadership style more efficient and effective, no matter the industry in which you work.
Be honest! Everyone struggles to develop true insights about their customers. Most times we accept summary information or facts about the marketplace and call them insights.