Recently, we came across this video of Richard Branson (of the Virgin Group) giving an interview on innovation and the importance of listening to customers.

After watching it, several key points resonated.

1. Branson makes a great point that listening is free, and yet it is an action oftentimes overlooked by leaders. Branson’s comments, “You don’t need to hear what you already know. You need to hear what others (your customers) think.” This sentiment is especially true as leaders look to execute new strategy. Too often, much time and money is invested in validating the internal ideas and assumptions for problems without any regard to what customers might ultimately appreciate. The time spent listening to your customers may be free, but it can produce great rewards.
2. Next, listening enables you to get great ideas from brilliant people. Branson’s comment that “a lot of your customers are the best brains out there” is very powerful. Human nature tends to encourage people to try to solve problems on their own before soliciting help. Yet, the reality is, great ideas are out there. Go get them! Your customers reap the benefits of your work. So wouldn’t you think they would like the ability to offer their best ideas to help you solve your challenges?
3. Finally, great leaders need to spend time getting out there to talk and listen to their customers. In order to lead effectively, leaders must be aware of outside changes that could impact internal work. Therefore, one could argue that in order to effectively set strategy and vision, leaders must be intimately aware of the needs of customers, firsthand.

Take a moment to listen today; it’s free!

Tags: Skilled and Motivated Workforce

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.