Lead Change Blog

APRIL 26, 2011

What is your organization’s claim to fame—operational excellence, customer intimacy or product leadership? If your focus is customer intimacy, do the employees who personally excel at operational excellence and product leadership feel engaged or disenfranchised in your workplace?

Customer Intimacy 281

Customer Intimacy Operations Productivity Products 281

Next Level Blog

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

The authors argued that companies had to pick between one of three paths to value creation and success in the market – operational excellence, customer intimacy or product leadership. And once you picked one, the work of leadership was to align the culture with the chosen path.

Company 246

Company Customer Intimacy Schein Long-term 246

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 8, 2011

Know your customers intimately. Never settling, IBM management charged a taskforce with developing a personal computer to compete in the young, growing market for smaller, more versatile machines. Faster, cheaper and more nimble competitors had eaten away at Big Blue's market leadership.

Customer Intimacy 15

Customer Intimacy How To Mass Marketing System 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 17, 2015

In this article we look at three very different organizations – IBM, Rich Products, and Intuit – and the three different paths they have taken in reconfiguring their operations for more customer intimacy, by changing methods, reengineering processes, and transforming culture. IBM: Applying a Hybrid Design-Thinking Approach.

Productivity 8

Productivity Products Customer Intimacy Software 8

Six Disciplines

OCTOBER 19, 2011

In a recently released study from IBM , based on face-to-face conversations with more than 1,500 chief executive officers worldwide, “creativity” has been identified as the single most important leadership competency for enterprises seeking a path through this complexity.

Creativity 82

Creativity CEO Customer Intimacy Chief Executive Officer 82

Lead Change Blog

OCTOBER 16, 2015

Bar coded packaging today drives inventory control, P&L calculations, and all manner of financial management processes. And, maximizing the clerk’s productivity meant keeping her focused on the rules of the registry more than on the concerns of the customer. We seem to be getting longer on high tech; shorter on high touch.

P&L 150

P&L Customer Intimacy Price Retail 150

Harvard Business Review

JULY 3, 2015

Example: Carol owns a small business and needs a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Supporters: These customers are aware of your company and brand, and buy from you consciously. Evaluate your leadership team’s openness to co-creation as well. Your customers are waiting.

CRM 8

CRM Brand Business Model Intangible Assets 8