Get Rid of Insulation
Early in a pre-program intelligence-gathering session with a giant car manufacturer, we discovered a critical vulnerability masquerading as a “perk” for senior managers:
“Every year, all the executives have the latest model delivered to their houses, and the old ones are just swapped right out of their driveways. And there’s a service that fills their cars up with gas right here in the company parking lot!”
You mean the folks responsible to improve the customer experience didn't have to put up with two of the most painful aspects of car-ownership? How convenient! For them…
Unfortunately, when we make things convenient for ourselves in regards to our own product offerings, we inadvertently insulate ourselves against the very pain we should be working to address!
It’s impossible to identify gaps in the customer experience — let alone disrupt the paradigm — if you aren’t intimately acquainted with that experience yourself. If you don’t feel the pain the customer feels, you won’t care enough to do the hard and rewarding work of innovation. One of the first pieces of advice we gave the company was to stop insulating themselves from the painful parts of the customer experience.
It’s sadly ironic that we’ll insulate ourselves against a bad experience, but leave it for the customer.
A simple but provocative prompt:
What do I hate about the experience of using our product or service?
Whatever the answer to that question is, rather than insulating the executives from it, reinvent it for customers!
Related: Challenge The Paradigm
Related: Drive Innovation Through Care
Related: What Stinks?
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I’ve noticed a troubling trend among organizational leaders: they’re hyping GenAI to subordinates, clients, and customers alike, but they’re embarrassingly inexperienced themselves. Time to start practicing what we preach.