How and Why it Works
The inevitable consequence of Enterprise Leadership in your company, is your company performing at its peak level.
When you embrace the fundamental truths of Enterprise Leadership in your organisation, you'll find a never ending flow of customers who desire your products and services.
You'll find the most talented employees who love their job and excel at their work - AND wouldn't work anywhere else other than for you.
Enterprise Leadership works simply because everybody within your company (both leaders and teams) understand they can have anything they want out of the company, but first they must GIVE your customers what they want.
This comes from understanding that the core purpose of your company is to provide for your customers and therefore every action, decision and behaviour must be for the benefit of your customers.
To understand why Enterprise Leadership works, you must first understand...
...that customers have no inherent reason to buy from you, other than the belief that YOU create in them that YOU are the best provider of products and services in your market.
When you truly put your customer at the heart of everything you do, and you make decisions for the benefit of your customer, then they will reward you by buying more from you.
All too often though, companies get this simple equation wrong.
Companies think that doing business is all about them - and their employees think first and foremost about what they can get out of the company and what their company can do for them.
To borrow a phrase from the former US president JF Kennedy, “Ask not what your company can do for you, but what you can do for your company (or your customers)."
When a customer believes in you, then that customer will buy from you.
Enterprise Leadership Turns Things Upside Down!
The traditional structure of a company is a pyramid with the management at the top giving direction to its employees. It is employees who in turn interact and interface with customers.
Unfortunately, more often than not, the leadership of the company is unaligned with the rest of the team and their customers. This typically means that the aspirations shared by the leadership do not connect with their employees or customers.
When you acknowledge that business is ALL about making customers believe in you, you change your own viewpoint and understand that business starts with creating customer belief.
For when customers believe in you, the following will happen:
- They’ll buy from you
- They’ll buy from you time and time again
- They’ll do your marketing for you and tell their friends, family and business associates.
All of which will grow your business rapidly and exponentially.
But to do this you need to invert the pyramid and understand that business is about putting your customer first. Your customers should always be at the top of the pyramid. In Enterprise Leadership, this is known as THEY BELIEVE (the customer).
With your customers at the top, the next level underneath them should be your team, as it’s the responsibility of your team to make your customers believe. In Enterprise Leadership, this is known as WE BELIEVE (the team)
Under the team is the leadership of your company, as it’s the responsibility of the leaders to make the team believe. In Enterprise Leadership, this is known as I BELIEVE (the leader).
If your team doesn’t believe in your company, there’s no way they’ll be able to make your customers believe, and if your leadership doesn’t believe, there’s no way they’ll be able to make your team believe.
If you align the belief of the leadership (I BELIEVE), the team (WE BELIEVE) and the customer (THEY BELIEVE) so that everybody believes in the purpose of your company and believes in your product and service offerings – then you can truly maximise profits.
But this all comes solely from putting your customers first and understanding that customers will only buy from you if they believe in you.
Customers will not believe in you if you’re not relevant to them.
In order to be relevant to your customers you have to be innovative and creative. You must adapt and respond to their changing needs, which in itself is an entrepreneurial process.
Do you want to become an entrepreneurial company who leads and dominates its market place?
Then first you need employees in your company who think, act, operate and make decisions like entrepreneurial thinkers. You need employees who think, act and make decisions like business owners for the good and benefit of your customers.
When you put your customer first and at the heart of everything you do, you will truly become a world-class company which others look to as a market leader.
None of this will happen though with ‘traditional me-focused employees’ – but it will certainly happen when you turn your employees into Enterprise Leaders.
