Minter Dial, president and founder of The Myndset Company, spoke with marketing veteran Stan Phelps about moving beyond customer centricity.
Dial: You talk about how business is moving and a new 4.0 version. What does that look like?
Phelps: The 1.0 version of business was all about the shareholder. Your only purpose was to engage in activities designed to maximize shareholder return. The 2.0 version was a little more enlightened. About 30 or 40 years ago, people started to understand, “Let’s actually put the customer first.” In the last 15 or 20 years, you’ve seen the emergence of a 3.0 version, which was all about a focus on culture and putting the employee first, understanding that the experience that you provide for your customers is almost never exceeded by the experience you provide to your employees. We’re on the cusp of the 4.0 version, which is actually putting purpose at the center of everything you do, with potentially employees second and customers third. Ultimately, if you do that right, the profits will be much greater than when “profit first” was the motive.
Dial: I think companies have barely moved to 2.0.
Phelps: One of the great quotes is “the future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.” You can’t go to a conference these days or throw a stick without hitting the term “customer experience.” Some companies have realized we have to look inward first to our own employees, but I think the ones that are really hitting the bull’s-eye in the center are the ones who understand their own reason for being and are able to communicate that reason for being to their customers and their employees.
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