Brian Solis has written an exceptional book entitled, “The End of Business as Usual,” in which he raises several critical points about how business leaders will need to evolve and adapt their mindset and approach to meet the evolving needs of consumers.
Steve Woodruff and I were so intrigued by these insights that we asked Brian if he’d Guest Host Leadership Chat one night, and he graciously said, “yes!” Please join the three of us tomorrow evening, December 13th at 8:00 pm Eastern Time on Twitter as we delve into:
1. The Culture Code
Brian gets at the heart of culture as a true market differentiator when he shares, “Customer-centricity, or getting closer to customers, is often the focus of many executive meetings I attend these days. The question always arises, ‘How can we use new media to get closer to customers?’ The answer is, change. Any organization that focuses on operations, margins and efficiencies over customer experiences (emphasis mine) will hasten the erosion of market relevance…
It’s not just about communicating with customers; it’s about showing them that listening translates into action within the organization to create better products and services and also foster valuable brand experiences and ultimately relationships with customers.”
Creating an organizational culture that fosters this emerging mindset requires a focus on values, communication, and executives who genuinely “walk the talk.” Brian’s insights fully align with what I recently heard from CEO Connection members who stated, “Culture is the only sustainable advantage.”
2. The New CEO – Chief Experience Officer
Given the points made in #1 it’s easy to see how Brian believes the CEO’s evolving role now includes being Chief Experience Officer:
“To compete for the attention, business and loyalty of the connected customer, a new type of CEO is needed…” Brian mentions Tony Hsieh of Zappos, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Richard Branson, Starbucks’s Howard Schultz and Best Buy’s Brian Dunn as, “an elite club of executives who are designing businesses to create unique customer experiences. It is these experiences that unite connected customers and increase the market for earned relevance. Their vision looks beyond the operation of the business. They strive to bring to life the future they see.”
Brian goes on to make a very bold and insightful observation that is critical for CEOs, and many marketers, to comprehend:
“The new CEO invests in the culture of the organization, benchmarking performance against the opportunity, not the competition. By default, competing for the future succeeds competition while also focusing on a higher mission and purpose.”
If you’re a regular reader here at Visionary Leadership, then you understand why I couldn’t be happier to hear Brian express such strong beliefs!
3. Leading an Adaptive Business
Ultimately, Brian defly explains how leaders must become adept at creating and leading adaptive businesses, where the business evolves with conditions “so effectively that it ultimately becomes predictive or able to see opportunities or threats before they present themselves.”
As Brian goes on to say, “an adaptive business makes sense of data – transforms it into intelligence it can act upon and evolves its people, process and technology to be able to respond in real time. The goal starts with aspirations of new relevance and eventually develops into market and thought leadership.”
Brian is not only as brilliant as he sounds, he is one of the nicest gentlemen in social media. You won’t want to miss this unique opportunity to learn from him and to tap into his experiences! Steve and I look forward to welcoming him – and all of you – to Leadership Chat tomorrow evening. See you then! ~
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12 Response Comments
Very much enjoying your new book. I share many of the real life examples that you describe in the pages. Can’t wait to get through it and look forward to joining in some conversation about it.
Have a compelling week.
Thank you so much, Mike – I sincerely appreciate that! Would love to hear your thoughts when you’re done. Have a spectacular week as wel!
Hi Lisa, I just purchased a copy of your book and look forward to reading it. I think that “business as usual” has come to an end not only within the context of leadership but for overall health, relationship and work life balance management as well. I see this time we are in as an opportunity for us to reach more of our true potential by learning to adapt instead of clinging to outworn patterns of thinking. The “survival of the fittest” competitive paradigm is one of these outworn models. Collaborative leadership that engages the mind and heart of people is certainly a path to greater innovation, ownership and alignment and a more efficient and productive leader and team. I believe when understood and used in a form that is relevant, brain science is a missing link to this new equation as well.
Thank you, Valencia! And I love the way you’re thinking about the new model. I hope you’ll be able to join us tomorrow evening to talk more about this as you raise some great points!
Lisa, I’d love to be there, it’s just these holiday parties conflicting and taking me away from the computer…it’s a business party though, so I need to go. I wish I could be there! I’ll read the stream later. 🙂
It’s amazing how you still see executives that are isolating themselves from the customer. It’s so important for a leader to pick up the telephone a few times a day and speak directly to the customer. I usually tried to do this and it makes a big differrence. The sad thing is that so many customers are not use to speaking to the leader that they are surprised. That shouldn’t be.
Henry,
Perhaps with new social tools customers will be able to feel much more connected to leaders at many levels. And great reminder to leaders to reach out to customers on a consistent basis!
Good Day Lisa –
Very Interesting Topic – One That Is EXTREMELY Relevant In Today’s Business Environment. My take away…it’s no longer about the organization, and what they have to offer…it’s about the consumer, and what the consumer wants, how they want, and how they want to hear about it.
It definitely takes a different mindset (from the company’s point of view) and it’s not as easy as utilizing Social Media, Changing Your Message, and Offering An Incentive…It Goes Well Beyond It.
In the long run, while it maybe tough to hear, it will only make us (Leaders, Marketers, Salespeople) better for it.
I hope I will be able to attend Tuesday Night w/#LeadershipChat.
Thank You Lisa for the topic and discussion
SPGonz
Steve,
I love that you point out it’s not easy and requires a different mindset. Creating and nurturing a different mindset, alone, is a tremendous task! I hope you will be able to join us as well… 🙂
Managers get their power from the top and leaders get their power from the bottom. Leading a network is very different to a conventional, command-and-control CEO role and the danger for all of them is that they become irrelevant in a network centric society and economy. Some of the most junior people in an organisation exert more influence than a CEO because they are ‘super connectors’.
Wake up and smell the coffee.
Leon, you raise an excellent point that being a connector is incredibly valuable in today’s economy, and leads to influence in new ways with new tools. I hope you’ll be able to join us tonight for the conversation at #LeadershipChat! Thank you for taking the time to read and to comment!