No business should be customer-centric.

The term implies that the customer is at the center — the focal point of decision-making — and by virtue of that fact, other things are orbital or of lesser importance.

This can't be true because a business is a complex, dynamic system with inter-connected parts. To function well it shouldn’t have a center, it should balance elements of equal importance — customer desires, competitiveness, profitability, compliance, adaptability, employee well-being et. cetera — for the good of the whole.

The key to success is always making astute trade-offs, not maximizing along a single axis. Fixation on one piece of the puzzle always ends in failure. Lurching from obsession to obsession wastes money and induces instability.

Imagine an F1 team saying they are engine-centric, tyre-centric, driver-centric, or aerodynamics-centric. They’d never win because the real challenge is combining these elements into a single package. Great engine and bad tyres? Back of the grid for you.

Should many businesses be more focused on their customers? Absolutely. Should they be customer-centric? Absolutely not. What you need is a balance between desirability, profitability and longevity. Get just one right without the others and your days are numbered!

See this post on LinkedIn