We all know who the CEO of the company is…the Chief Executive Officer…the one in charge of everything…the Big Kahuna…the “Boss”…the Big Cheese. It’s the top person in any organization and where the “buck ultimately stops” in anything that goes on in the company. But their role is also going to be changing and becoming something many have not had to be in the past…the CHIEF “EXPERIENCE” OFFICER of the company.
Why the change in their role?
With all the emphasis and demand being put on companies today to differentiate, create a unique brand, offer more value, and elevate themselves above their commodity competitors, a much stronger emphasis now has to be put towards the Customer Experience for companies to survive into the future. The Digital/Internet Economy is demanding this from companies.
Those that move rapidly to changing their customer experience to one that is awesome and incredible will be gone (according to Forrester, McKinsey, Gartner, Accenture, and many other well respected consulting/research firms) but the ones that see this and make the changes will be the winners in the future. There is incredible OPPORTUNITY for companies today to break away from their pack of “commodity competitors” and differentiate themselves through an awesome customer experience.
This change in direction IS SIGNIFICANT.
This isn’t deciding to carry an additional product line or open a new location or offer more services…this is a FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE in how a business will operate going forward. It is a change in Mission and Vision for many companies…at a minimum a change of most strategies they have developed in the past.
This is akin to deciding to go into an entire new line of business…one you haven’t ever been involved in before and one that will take a whole new set of skills inside the organization. If this were to happen for any business, you can bet the CEO would be actively involved, committed, communicative, and fully engaged in the endeavor.
Because this is such a dramatic change for organizations, the Chief Executive Officer has to not only be involved, they have to be the leader, the one that commits the organization to this direction, is passionate about seeing it become a reality, and the biggest cheerleader.
This is an ACTIVE ROLE for the CEO/Business Owner…not something they delegate.
If the CEO/Business owner isn’t the one driving this significantly new direction, IT WILL FAIL. I don’t say that lightly…it just has very low odds of being successful if delegated to someone else, other than the top leader, in the organization.
If the CEO doesn’t understand this, the change in focus, importance, and commitment will be overrun by other initiatives and projects and directions inside the organization. In other words, it will get smothered by traditional operations. And the number one reason companies fail at making this transformation…
NO ONE LIKES TO CHANGE WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
Employees don’t like to change what or how they do…regardless of what the change might be. They know what they are doing and most likely do it well and want to keep doing it the same way all the time. It’s why they drive the same way to work every day, eat at mostly the same places, and function in very predictable ways…they don’t want to change and change means something new and different…something they aren’t familiar with and so it is resisted.
And by the way, this resistance isn’t isolated to one particular change, it’s any change.
Recall the latest innovative product, system, service that your company came up with to offer to the market. I can guarantee you there were some (if not the majority) of employees that fought the change and came up with a myriad of reasons why this shouldn’t happen and wouldn’t work. In any area of significant innovation this natural resistance to change pops up. Sometimes the organization can push through it and sometimes they can’t. When they do, usually great and more awesome things happen…but it isn’t without the armies of resistors.
And the number one reason the change was pushed through and implemented…the CEO BACKED THE CHANGE AND DROVE IT TO SUCCESS THROUGH THEIR LEADERSHIP.
Let me give you an example. When I am considering working with an organization who says they want to be CUSTOMER OBSESSED and build a new foundation around a REMARKABLE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE the first question I ask is, “Who is the one that is going to lead this effort to change your company?” If the answer is someone other than the CEO/Business Owner of the company, I usually tell them their odds of success just went down significantly…to a number that probably isn’t worth them even getting started.
While this usually doesn’t go over very well, it is reality. I had one of these situations not too long ago occur and the CEO was adamant that someone else in the company had the respect, authority, and passion to make it happen. After many discussions I wasn’t able to convince the Business Owner this was his baby and he needed to be the one driving this to success. He declined becoming the CHIEF EXPEREINCE OFFICER of the company…so I declined to help them get there.
As it turns out, they started an initiative with someone else to be their “guide” through this transformation. It (and they) failed. It ended after only 4 months of heavily invested time by his designated “project champion” and many others inside the organization. Since it wasn’t being led from the top person, the resistance was greater than they could manage and the time they were having to invest to get people onboard was too great…they stopped. They retreated back to what they know…selling products and services with the rest of their commodity competitors.
I share this story because it happens to be more of the NORM than the EXCEPTION…unfortunately.
Today, for me, if the CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER isn’t willing to take on the role of the CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER and lead the transformation to a CUSTOMER OBSESSED business, I walk away. But for those leaders that understand how important and critical this is to their future and to being a completely DIFFERENTIATED BRAND in their market, I embrace them with open arms and my own intensely high level of passion to see them through the transformation. This is not only exciting, it is really fun!
It takes the current CEO to become the NEW CEO to make this happen from my experience. This is what makes it such an incredibly unique opportunity for VISIONARY LEADERS because the majority of leaders are so focused on t their products, services, operations, sales, and financials that they miss this HUGE OPPORTUNITY TO BE DIFFERENT than their competitors. But to those who get it, they will reap the rewards of where the top consultants in the market are saying they need to go…to become CUSTOMER OBSESSED.
If you, the CEO/Business Owner, aren’t sure of what this really is about, give me a shout and I’m happy to help you at least understand what the journey entails and then you can make your own decisions of whether or not you want to become the new CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER or not. At least you will be making the decision with the right information and can determine if it’s the path for your business.
