Business Insight Zone

Check out this post from Mark Hurst of Good Experience:

One number to grade any executive

Tesla stands for “time elapsed since labs attended.” In other words, your Tesla is how long it’s been since you’ve spent time directly observing customers as they use your product or service. . . . really it can be any method that your team finds effective – as long as it involves decisionmakers watching, in person, real live customers flail around with the product.

As I read Mark’s post, it got me thinking about a favorite quote from the playwright Arthur Miller:

“The writer must be in it; he can’t be to one side of it, ever. He has to be endangered by it. His own attitudes have to be tested in it. The best work that anybody ever writes is the work that is on the verge of embarrassing him, always.”

Same for businesspeople, in my book.

The moral of the story:

You can’t stand to one side and expect to succeed in business. You have to get right down into the mix — into your product, into your customer’s experience — to the point where your ego is endangered by the possible results.

One well-worn example for you to consider: Sam Walton used to take turns manning a register when he visited Wal-Mart stores. How better to get real, up-close-and-personal feedback from his customers?

Are you taking your turn tending the counter? What are YOU doing to run to that point of contact — to experience your customer’s pain for yourself?

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Related post:

• The Basic Basics: Solve someone’s problem.

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Photo by Daquella manera.

Category: Management