The Customer Leader

Acknowledgments 11
Bios 15
Prologue—The Purpose of the Customer Leader 17

Part I: Great Value 23
The Canvas of the Customer Leader 25
The License to Operate (The Focus of Part I) 26
The Arena to Play in (The Focus of Part II) 28
The Proposition to Win (The Focus of Part III) 29
The Resources to Make it Happen (The Focus of Part IV) 31
The Balance of Endowments and Progress 33
Progress, for Whom? 33
Customers 34
Owners 36
Employees 38
Partners 39
Society 41
The Stairway to Greatness 45
Level 1—The Commodity Swamp 47
Level 2—Be Distinctive 48
Level 3—Extract Value 51
Level 4—Competitive Strength 54
Level 5—Build Momentum 57
Level 6—Outstanding Returns 61
Level 7—Reward All 64
Reflection 68
Crafting the Customer Leader Canvas, Part I: Great Value 69

Part II: Profound Customer Understanding 71
Understanding Our Customers 73
Four Market Structures 73
The Job to Be Done 78
In Real Life—360° 81
Navigating Market Segments 83
Understanding the Modern Arena 87
Markets Become Arenas 87
iCannotSee 89
The Forces Shaping Fluidity 93
Navigating the Arena 97
Customer Intelligence 102
The Power of Curiosity 102
Revising the Paradigm 105
Big Brother 108
Reflection 110
Crafting the Customer Leader Canvas, Part II:
Profound Customer Understanding 111

Part III: A Winning Proposition 113
Two Essential Questions 115
Where Will I Compete? 115
How Will I Compete? 118
Building Classics 122
Performance Is Everything 122
To Pioneer or Not 124
The Software of the Mind 126
Believing Is Seeing 126
Royal Branding 129
A Whole New Ball Game 131
The Customer in the Driver’s Seat 133
The Journey of the Customer 133
Going Online 134
May the Force Be with You 136
The Power of Wow 138
Experiences Are Memorable 138
Are You EPIC? 139
Gives and Gets 142
Value Is a Perception 142
Save the Profit! 144
The Price Is Right 147
Choosing Winners 149
Selling Ideas 149
Business Opportunity—Seize the Prize 150
Competitiveness—Can We Win? 151
Commitment—What Is Needed to Make It Work? 151
Leverage—What Are the Spillovers? 152
Reflection 153
Crafting the Customer Leader Canvas, Part III: A Winning Proposition 154

Part IV: The Customer-Driven Organization 155
Ambidexterity 157
The Factory—Exploiting the Present 158
The Architecture of Your Company 159
Optimizing Core Processes 162
The Right People 165
The Intelligent Firm 168
The Lab—Exploring the Future 171
Point A and Point B 171
The Innovation Portfolio 172
The Rubber Must Hit the Road 175
Organize for Innovation 177
The Atelier—Transforming Your Organization 180
See the Need 180
Start Up the Transformation 182
Sustain the Efforts 184
In Search of the Customer Leader 185
Discover the Sources of Progress 186
Move the Organization Forward 189
Connect with Stakeholders 191

Reflection 193
Crafting the Customer Leader Canvas, Part IV:
The Customer-Driven Organization 194
Epilogue—The Privilege of the Customer Leader 197
www.customerleader.org 203
Notes 205