Excerpts A Troubled President The Numbers Do Not Add Up Sleepless Nights Torn in Half! The Military Understands Already Beyond the Value Chain Aspirations and Opportunities Emboldening Customers and Strengthening Their Capabilities Boxes and Lines Distrust Bigger than the Boxes Rethinking the Model

Excerpts #2 of Chapter 2 Excerpts: Next | Previous Aspirations and Opportunities Carol is focusing on the value-chain model. "Marjorie, you know what strikes me with this model is that it's hard for the company, our company, to see beyond our customers. Like driving behind a big truck, it's hard to see what's down the road. We've noticed that if we wait for customers to articulate their needs, it's often too late. Could you extend this model to the right, adding our customers' customers? And could you somehow indicate where the aspirations of our customers are?" Marjorie adds another box and notes the area of aspirations and opportunities. "Wait a minute, Marjorie and Carol, our engineering efforts don't focus so far upstream as to include our customers' aspirations. They're not concrete enough. We need concrete specifications that we can put directly into our CAD systems. How is it possible to sketch an aspiration, something that's so vague and ambiguous?" asks Wesley. If Wesley is Mr. concrete, with a small "c," then Vincent is Mr. Concrete with a big "C." Therefore, his colleagues weren't quite ready for Vincent's comment. "Could we find some significant patterns in the aspirations of our customers? I wonder if our customers know what's really possible without knowing how we can help turn their dreams into specific products and services?" "Say that again, Vincent," exclaims Marjorie. "Are you saying that by carefully listening to the aspirations of our customers we can find patterns? Moreover, in our interaction, we can help our customers crystallize their thinking about what's possible?" Alan, who has been so very quiet that most of them had forgotten he was in the room, because he did not know how to engage in the business discussion, finally says, "Vincent, you know how we've been stressing 'employee empowerment'? Well, I wonder if we could talk about 'customer empowerment'?" Excerpts: Next | Previous