It's Time To Drive "Customer Obsession" From The Top

"Companies know that their end result—a consistently great (actually, greater and greater) customer experience—needs to drive everything they do. Just as all roads lead to Rome, all strategies must lead to the delighted customer, and the fewer twists and turns along the way, the better. That's the directive handed down by the gods of globalization and cyberspace, who've decreed that customers can jump from one company to another on a whim (often armed with reams of research on your product). The problem is that most big corporations were forged in different fires, the fires of an era where competition was less intense and issues like product quality trumped service. Customers were more like to simply accept what you had to offer. As a result, many players (even market leaders) are fundamentally unsuited for the new marketplace. What's more, they're painfully aware of it."