It may look like there's one uniform pattern going on below, but in reality there are millions of individual scenarios that combine and separate continuously. The only way CEOs can really understand their customers is to spend time out on the street, moving within the crowds and listening to their beat. The leaders shouldn't depend upon the second-hand information they get from sales, marketing, public relations or service personnel. They need to get out of the black-tie meeting where champagne is served and stop in the local pub for a beer. It's been said that the pen is mightier than the sword, but few acknowledge that deeds are mightier still.
Most executives give lip service to customer relations, and that's as far as it goes.
Every vice president, division head and middle manager should be required to spend time talking with or serving the organization's customers. The mayor of every city should spend one day a month riding in a police car. Louis Gerstner, chairman and CEO of IBM, should spend one day a month responding to customer complaints. Mike Gunn, American Airlines' executive vice president for marketing and planning, should have to eat the food he feeds to weary travelers. John Smith Jr., the CEO of General Motors, should spend one day a month at a dealer's repair shop, seeing what fails and talking to the customers.