Your Secret Is Out — And Now the “Get Customer-Centric Quick” Industry Is Here

As with most things in life, that little secret you knew (and didn’t tell your friends) gets “outed” because something changed. Suddenly, your competitive advantage is exposed to the world — and then Paul Greenberg has to go write a book about it. What changed? Well, the customer, of course! But while exposing this little gem something that many businesses had used as as competitive advantage was revealed — customer-centricity.

There are at least three types of business cultures out there.

This list could go on forever, but I’m making a point here —

1. Passive Inside-out culture — competitive because they dominate a niche. Don’t know if and when a competitor will out-innovate them and don’t really think about it. They are focused on delivering the product that got them there and not much else.

2. Aggressive Inside-out culture — when email came they abused it thinking the numbers would simply work in their favor. The have a product to sell, and they want you to know about — when you open your in…