It's the customers, Stupid!

Firstly, I don't want to get into any political debates. To allow me to make my point, if you are a conservative, please suspend your disbelief in the legend I am about to recount.

Legend has it that Bill Clinton entered the White House inheriting a 300 billion dollar deficit. His predecessors had told him...

"You'll see how it is. You think you'll fix the economy, but something more important will always come up. You will get caught up in the crisis of the moment, and you will take your eye off the ball."

Like most of us, Bill was getting older and had to make notes to keep from forgetting. On his first day in the White House, he brought in a sign from his election campaign with writing on the backside in large print permanent marker.

The sign read:

"It's the economy, Stupid!"

He looked at the sign every time he entered the Oval Office—as did everyone who worked with him—and when Bill Clinton left office, the large deficit had morphed into a 200 billion dollar surplus.

[Again, I am just recounting the legend, and I have conducted no independent investigation. Please focus on the story or you will miss an important point.]

 Sometimes, Decade staff—the management team especially, with myself included—forget that the crisis of the day is only a small brush stroke in the big picture. If one customer calls with a problem, everyone's on it, until the customer is happy.

This is not entirely a bad thing, but sometimes we become so focused on a single client that we delay tasks that will benefit the entire customer base.

We forget that ancient Vulcan axiom...

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few—or the one."

So—to help everyone focus—today, I will hang a sign on my office wall.

The sign will say...

All together now...

"It's the customers, Stupid!"