They share everything freely, they support us, they are always there for us, for better or for worse, they always have our best interest in mind, they are courageous: this is how we describe our mothers. In the same way, we can describe the companies that follow their example in the way they have decided to grow their business.
Our mothers taught us to share, to trust others, to be kind and to treat others as we would like to be treated. These lessons are still the best advice we have ever been given. The companies that "make mom proud" grow by embodying these lessons, their actions place the human being as the final point of every decision, they establish a balanced relationship with customers and partners and empower employees to act on the job as they would act at home. Such behavior cannot be learned suddenly, it takes one action and then another and another to give people examples to imitate.
This book offers you a simple way to help solicit these actions, a lens to guide your company's decisions: think of your customers as if they were your mom, think about what you do, and how you do it, from your mother's perspective. But there is more, of course, leaders must build an environment where asking these kinds of questions is celebrated and rewarded.
This perspective will bring great benefits to every part of the organization: to the people on the front line, "mom's lens" will provide help to recalibrate the answers to be given to customers on a personal level; within the organization and in the teams, the lens will solicit collaboration to improve experiences; for leaders, it will be a litmus test to determine the actions the company decides to take.
During our lives, we remember the companies and people who honored us as friends, as partners, as customers. Bilateral trust, open and honest communication and fearless sharing are the cornerstones of the relationships that mean the most to us.
As we are becoming increasingly self-sufficient in almost every part of our customer lives, it has become even more urgent that, when someone comes into contact with the humans of our company, this contact is significant. The authenticity of these connections - people's ability to truly help - is more important today than ever. Focusing on human interaction in an increasingly self-service world will set you apart.