Every successful business is built on superior senses—of timing, opportunity, responsibility, and, not infrequently, humor. None, however, is more critical than the ability to sense the market. A senior executive’s instinctive capacity to empathize with and gain insights from customers is the single most important skill he or she can use to direct technologies, product and service offerings, indeed, all elements of a company’s strategic posture. People like Bill Gates brought this ability to the enterprises they founded. Without it, their ventures might have been short-lived or at least far less successful. But many top level managers, particularly those at industrial companies, consider customer contact the bailiwick of sales and marketing staff. And even if they do believe that market focus is a priority, most retain only limited contact with consumers as their organizations grow, relying instead on subordinates’ reports—second-or-third-hand information—to define and sense the market for them.
Every successful business is built on superior senses—of timing, opportunity, responsibility, and, not infrequently, humor. None, however, is more critical than the ability to sense the market. A senior executive’s instinctive capacity to empathize with and gain insights from customers is the single most important skill he or she can use to direct technologies, product and service offerings, indeed, all elements of a company’s strategic posture. People like Bill Gates brought this ability to the enterprises they founded. Without it, their ventures might have been short-lived or at least far less successful. But many top level managers, particularly those at industrial companies, consider customer contact the bailiwick of sales and marketing staff. And even if they do believe that market focus is a priority, most retain only limited contact with consumers as their organizations grow, relying instead on subordinates’ reports—second-or-third-hand information—to define and sense the market for them.
Having such acute senses of hearing, smell and sight, zebras often provide early warning to other grazers that
A B C D
predators are approaching. No error
E
Every successful business is built on superior senses—of timing, opportunity, responsibility, and, not infrequently, humor. None, however, is more critical than the ability to sense the market. A senior executive’s instinctive capacity to empathize with and gain insights from customers is the single most important skill he or she can use to direct technologies, product and service offerings, indeed, all elements of a company’s strategic posture. People like Bill Gates brought this ability to the enterprises they founded. Without it, their ventures might have been short-lived or at least far less successful. But many top level managers, particularly those at industrial companies, consider customer contact the bailiwick of sales and marketing staff. And even if they do believe that market focus is a priority, most retain only limited contact with consumers as their organizations grow, relying instead on subordinates’ reports—second-or-third-hand information—to define and sense the market for them.