A few years ago, I helped organise several offsites and strategy workshops for senior executives in large well-established companies.  Typically, the newly enlightened CEO would press the senior team to have more of a focus on the customer, rather than the internal machinations of the firm.  The recurrent customer-led theme was all the rage, with numerous presentations on customer centricity, customer insight and the importance of “outside-in” thinking.  We cheered the video clip of the CEO’s appearance on ‘Back to the Floor’, fixing boilers and stacking shelves on the front-line of the brand-customer nexus.  When we finally were convinced that we had “got it”, we sat bemused while a different guru told us it was nothing to do with brilliant service, or products, of after-sales, but that “customers don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

Deep into the workshop, huddled around flipcharts, we would nod sagely at how easy this customer mission sounded and we would depart later with “Putting the Customer at the heart of everything we do” emblazoned on our collective minds and branded gift-bags. Unfortunately, in my experience, few of these workshops, or tactical initiatives (however well done) did much to change anything fundamental in the firms I worked with.  The more common senior team obsessions were already deeply ingrained and they were internal, organisational, or political. This ought not to have been a surprise, because companies that are truly and manifestly customer-centric are so very rare in the first place, and rarer still is the organisation that manages a successful transition from self-obsession to being customer obsessed. 

Helpfully, a new vivid and entertaining book, The Customer Copernicus, unpacks the ingredients, values and mindset of those rare organisations that are not only customer-led, but also stay that way.  The authors come from different disciplines; Charlie Dawson is the founding partner of a London based consulting firm and Seán Meehan is a Professor of Marketing at IMD in Switzerland.  They have spent some time (several years in the development) in producing their book, curating and exploring several compelling stories to illustrate their core idea. They start in behemoth territory, quoting Jeff Bezos’ advocacy for customer focus as a “Day 1” fundamental at Amazon, and the CEO of Wells Fargo saying something equally unequivocal about his customers, but then presiding over a mis-selling scandal impacting millions.  

To be truly customer focused they argue is like being Copernicus, heretical, odd, and baffling to others, with your face set against the prevailing wisdom and the many stronger claims for the soul and belief of an organisation; be they colleagues, shareholders, stakeholders, communities, or regulators.  Dawson and Meehan may have discovered the secret sauce behind this rare focus and adherence to the customer, which they describe as “moments of belief”. These moments are uncovered in a humble setting such as Timpsons’ repair shops, as well as sophisticated services firms like Handelsbanken and Sky, and are evidenced not just in terms of business outcomes but also how it “feels” to be part of an organisation that acts differently.

The book has a refreshing ‘first-hand’ take on its cases; not just relying on fancy aerial shots, but getting close to the people, arguments, dilemmas, and lessons learnt amidst the subject firms. Organisations like Sky often reside in the commentator’s mind more for the politics around the Murdoch family’s ownership than the inside story. Here they explain CEO Jeremy Darroch’s brand vision to ‘Believe in Better’ and how the internal culture of the firm spawned exponential growth, as well as new platform innovation like NOW TV.  Copernicus-like, Sky thrived because of its difference to the establishment thinking deeply ingrained within the incumbents BBC and ITV.  Because Sky took belief from making things simple, it programmed according to customers’ desires, rather than editorial preferences, and guided by Darroch’s belief that acting or behaving like those incumbents would be a “death warrant”.

Being different is a challenging route to maintain and not everything is so rosy as they tell the tales of O2 and Tesco, who purposely grew with such a focus but meandered (or risked malfeasance) when that focus was lost.  They head to Sweden’s Handelsbanken for a more sustainable story of continued deep-rooted (and localised) focus on customers.  Across each of the case studies they highlight discernible patterns, where organisations lead with strategy, ideas and services that are grounded in these moments of belief; or as they see at Handelsbanken in the run up to Brexit in the UK, an organisation determined to stay on course by relying on a deep heritage of a “continual flow of moments of belief”. 

Because this steadfastness is rare and the forces of conventional thinking are so strong, they conclude with a call to be bold; noting that “when the chips are down, outside-in companies are brave.”  They tell the Lego story (unfamiliar to me) born as we know it today, out of the disruption of the Wall Street Crash and a devastating fire in the 1930’s, which meant a pivot from using wood to plastic bricks; creating a “new and better way” for customers.  By being brave (and proved right) their critical Moment of Belief created decades of growth and prosperity.  Then in the early 2000’s, Lego’s disastrous losses precipitated an extraordinary and ruthless downsizing and re-focus of its sprawling businesses.  In a time of crisis, where did Lego find its focus? Where did they draw their fundamental beliefs from?  Right back at the beginning, from their core customers – boys and girls aged 5 – 11. 

Dawson and Meehan have done something refreshing and admirable with this book; providing clarity and conviction about an area of business thinking that is so often infused with jargon and waffle. Their distinctive “moments of belief” idea is clearly articulated and substantiated and provides food for thought for leaders and managers wrestling with how to re-anchor and renew the purpose of their firm.  They encourage us to consider that when companies have lost their way, they could do a lot worse than adopt Darroch’s approach and believe that sustainable growth comes from serving the customer better. 

John Dore

You can find out more here: www.thecustomercopernicus.com