VOC

"Frankly, your rates of THB3000 is a bit too high," David pointed out to Yim. "It's between you and the hotel near the Bangkok Convention Centre."

"Tell me what I have to do," Yim replied.

That's the measure of a leader who listens to the VOC (voice of the customer)

"We don't need customers telling us how to run our business" - that's the single worst aspect of excessive loyalty to a company mission. It prevents leaders from hearing what their customers are trying to tell them.

Once leaders get into this frame of mind, they tend to assume that whatever customers want is whatever the company has to offer.

In my MBA studies, I'd realised a lot of big names when down that road.

Motorola kept asserting that analog phones werethe best product

Starbucks argued that their high-quality dark-roasted coffee did not taste as good when customers asked for skim milk in their coffee.

Johnson & Johnson lost its 90% market share in its stent business.

I'm never arrogant. I respect and listen to customer's ideas and complains. I am conscious that I do not develop a "I-am-an-expert" mindset.

From left: Rosanna, Cherrie, Ernie