The easiest and most direct way to find out where the customers’ heads are is to find out from the customers themselves.

In today's intellectual capitalism world, the performers must be responsible for their own performance. The success or failure of the business must rest with the individuals who possess the critical capital. The leader's job is to determine the direction, remove the obstacles that prevent focus, and then get the intellectual capital holders to deve

When the leaders stop conferring benefits, people assume responsibility for delivering great performance for their customers.

Your continuing leadership task: Help everyone in your organization identify what's crucial and not crucial, and be dispassionate in dumping the noncontributors. Eliminate the “fat.”

Clarity is power. Clarity motivates people to use the vision as a criterion to evaluate their actions. People ask, “Does my action support the vision?” The answer must be clear. Vision provides the tight focus on thinking strategically. It insists that everyone direct his or her energies toward creating the tomorrow we want. Brevity helps. Use a sh

As the leader I work to keep the competitor clearly in the forefront of everyone's thinking.

One day it finally hit me: The real expert in great performance is the customer. Everything begins with delighting the customer. That's why every one of our job descriptions begins with this statement: “The things I do to get and keep customers are …” Things really improved when I modified my focus to ask, “From the customer's point of view, what i

Getting better at delivering great performance for your customers is the only answer to the “How high is up?” question.

Watch Your Neighbors. Customers and Suppliers Can Become Competitors. Beware of Left Field