Photo by Jaizer Capangpangan on Unsplash.
During my lunch breaks, I’ve been reading a copy of Harvard Business Review from 2018. There’s a long article by Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria titled, “How CEOs Manage Time.” [1] Then, the percentage of time CEOs spent with their organizations’ customers was striking.
Most of our CEOs [in a 12-year study capturing behavior across 60,000 hours] were dismayed to discover how little time they spent with their customers - just 3%, on average.
Well folks, as the quote-unquote CEO, the highest-paid worker, and the reigning Employee of the Month on Danny Rehr’s Blog, I haven’t spent much time with my customers. Nor, I might add, have I consumed the content I've created in a setting my customers would.
In My Customers' Shoes
Yesterday, I downloaded one of my recent podcasts, How Strategy Happens: A Framework (Spotify, Overcast). The information was good. I thought out strategy as its own framework, one that needs yet another framework to make it work. Frameworks aren't the sexiest topics, granted. I still found the podcast to be... Boring.
My own product made me feel that way. It's likely others who listen to my podcasts may feel the same.
What needs to change? My writing style and my verbal delivery.
What's the Goal?
I am not against others critiquing my work. I am not going to win everyone over. Above all, I don't blog for a grand audience or the prospects of widespread thought leadership, fame or celebrity. That's just not me. What is me is pure interest in business, and a desire to share that information. Yes, I have my own style. It is necessary to consider that style to make it more palatable. The reason is I have good information to share. It's worth knowing.
My takeaway has been this. Experience your own product or service as one of your customers would or does. You might be surprised with what you learn.
[1] Porter, Michael E., and Nitin Nohria. “How CEOs Manage Time.” Harvard Business Review, vol. 96, no. July-August 2018, 1 July 2018, p. 49.