Some people will go down in history as the best customer experience leaders ever – and there’s one thing they’ve never done.
They’re familiar names: Richard Branson. Steve Jobs. Walt Disney. Henry Ford.
And none of them ever gave up.
They forged ahead despite clear business failures — failures to understand customer needs and meet them. Eventually, they got it right, creating the right customer experiences and building business empires.
They fell and got up
Consider these leaders and their impact on the customer experience:
Walt Disney. He was fired from an early job at the Kansas City Star Newspaper because the boss believed he lacked creativity. A few years later, his Laugh-O-Gram, a business that produced cartoons and advertising films, went bankrupt. Knowing it was important to make customers happy, he took the concept to Hollywood and created the happiest place on earth.
Richard Branson. He runs everything Virgin — Virgin Atlantic (formerly Virgin Airlines), Virgin Music, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Active, etc. But there are plenty of Virgin businesses that won’t sound so familiar — Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Clothes. Why? They are failed businesses. Branson learned from each and forged ahead in the industries where he knew he could succeed providing exceptional customer service.
Henry Ford. He pioneered the commercial motor vehicle, and more than a century later his company wins industry awards year after year for customer satisfaction. But that wasn’t until after his first motor car company had to be dissolved twice because investors lost confidence in him.
Steve Jobs. The founder of Apple was also fired from Apple. He didn’t give up, though. He was invited back to lead what has since become one of the world’s best known companies — famous for its products and the knowledgeable professionals who support them.
