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14

INTRODUC TION

pain, fear or ambition. The frst is unarguable because something is going wrong now (the burning platform). The second is less effective as a stim- ulus because the temptation is to wait and see (maybe the worst won’t happen). The third is least common because it requires having so much ambition that you’re prepared to risk the current, perfectly adequate status quo to pursue it. Once you have become a customer-led success, you’re not in pain. You have to summon up from within yourself the ambition, or maybe amplify a distant fear, to the degree needed to continue to pull up trees on behalf of the customer. Tough. In summary, this book explains why so much hot air is wasted eulogis- ing customers to so little effect. It seeks to demystify ‘customer-centricity.’ It illustrates why so many companies have not backed up their words with effective action in their pursuit of customer-led success. It describes what it takes to become a genuine customer champion and how to sustain it. Above all it challenges you to ask, ‘what do I truly believe success is, and how do I believe that success can be achieved?’ The question everyone else will rightly ask, why should we believe you? 1 www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312517120198/d37336 8dex991.htm 2 www08.wellsfargomedia.com/assets/pdf/about/investor-relations/annual -reports/2015-annual-report.pdf 3 Zook, Chris & James Allen. 2016. The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth . Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. 4 Jensen, Michael C. & William H. Meckling. 1976. ‘The Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure.’ Journal of Financial Economics , 3 (4): 305–360. 5 Business Roundtable. 19 August 2019. ‘Business Roundtable Redefines the Purpose of a Corporation to Promote “An Economy That Serves All Americans”’ Business Roundtable. Retrieved from www.businessrou ndtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation -to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans 6 Martin, Roger. 2010. ‘The Age of Customer Capitalism.’ Harvard Business Review , 88 (1): 58–65. Notes